Coming up in October

Our walk, the monthly meeting,  and our coffee morning 

Our monthly walk: Saturday 10th October 

When: 11.00am

Where: Meet at 

City of London Information Centre

adjacent to St Paul's Cathedral

Thanks to Christine for her suggestion for this month's walk.

We'd planned to discover more about the City of London when the heat wave hit so we had a number of "walks" in cafes and cooler destinations.

This month we'll meet at The Tourist Information Centre adjacent to St Paul's and then decide to walk the introductory trail to the city or try out one of the more specific trails, as suggested by Christine this year's sculpture in the city trail.

The visitor centre has copies of all the trails to help our decision on the day.

Monthly meeting - Thursday 15th October

Time: 7pm for 7.30pm

Where: Usual venue; St Margaret’s House

Mosaic making

We have a "hands on" meeting this month when Alison's sister joins us and will lead a workshop in making mosaics. She sent us this about herself.

Lucinda Denning is a Fine Artist,

she paints in her Tooting studio painting in oil and acrylics on canvas and paper, or using 3D materials like clay, plaster, or fabric to construct figures.

She will often incorporate visual elements gleaned from plants, fabric and costume into her

pieces (often dressing her imagined characters in luscious coloured and patterned garments),

She has always loved colour in her work both in its simple form and in juxtaposition with other

colours.

The life of an artist is fairly solitary and for a bit of contrast Lucinda does some occasional work

as a film extra.

Our monthly coffee and catch-up: 

on Friday 23rd October 

Time:  Meet between 10.30 and 11.00am

Where: Ahaba

All Hallows Church Bow.

1 Blackthorn Street, E3 3PX 

Thanks to Bridget for this month's coffee suggestion 

Why is our cafe called Ahaba?

Words have meaning, some words give life, 

As well as containing the initials of our church name, ahaba is also a Hebrew word for love. Cream tea for £5.

Campaign news

The main WI campaign issue for the coming year is to secure better access to public toilets, since 2020 

50% of public toilets have been closed.

This impacts upon a number of groups, not least women of a "certain age".....!

One suggestion is to "map" provision in our local area,

If you'd be interested in being in a sub-group looking into this please whatsapp Sally on the WI whatsapp group.

Coming up in September

A walk, our monthly meeting,  and the coffee morning 

Our monthly walk: Saturday 12th September 

When: 11.00am

Where: Meet at

Three Mills adjacent to Tesco at Bromley by Bow. 

There are a number of options, including a stroll to Cody Dock to see some of the Line artworks or take a walk along the famous Limehouse Cut to visit Limehouse Marina (this route is on the "go jauntily" walks app)
Plenty of potential good coffee stops along the way. 

Monthly meeting - Thursday 17th September

Time: 7pm for 7.30pm

Where: Usual venue; St Margaret’s House

Meet Jennifer Watt - Surgeon PHD MBCHB DFFP MRCS

We meet Jennifer is a UK-based General Surgeon with an interest in Trauma Surgery. She has a diploma in Medical Care of Catastrophes. 

Throughout her medical career she has worked with Projects for Sustainable Development in Nepal providing medical support to them for charitable humanitarian projects in rural Nepal. She has also provided medical support for several trekking expeditions around the world and led humanitarian surgical missions across the globe.

For more information  Operation International website

Our monthly coffee and catch-up: 

on Friday 25th September 

Time:  Meet between 10.30 and 11.00am

Where: Forno Ragged Cafe at the 

Ragged School Museum

46-50 Copperfield Rd, 

canal side, 

London E3 4RR

Looking forward to seeing you at 

one or more these events!

August with the East End WI

 A walk, our monthly meeting,  and the coffee morning 

Our monthly walk: Saturday 8th August

Time: 11.00am 

Where: 

Meet at Riverside East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, 5 Thornton St, London E20 2AD

In view of the continued heat wave we suggest meeting at a cafe in the Olympic PaRk and then decide if we want a walk or just to chill and have a good old catch up.

Riverside East, is the primary dining and social venue located at the foot of the ArcelorMittal Orbit. It features a café, restaurant, rooftop garden, and outdoor courtyard

Monthly meeting - Thursday 20th August

Time: 7pm for 7.30pm

Where: Usual venue; St Margaret’s House

Jacky Cooks Her Books

We meet Jacky who pens a substack called Jacky Cooks Her Books

"Join me to browse my cookbook collection looking at recipes and the folks who wrote the books"

Jacky has provided us with a summary of her proposed talk

"My talk will feature some women who led extraordinary lives and made brave choices, career women who supported themselves and their families in the post war years, in business and journalism, and sometimes also wrote a cookbook…

I will bring some books for members to view and I have also printed some sheets of recipes which will be available to anyone making a donation to the Stroke Association, the charity I am working for this year. My fee will be a donation to this important cause."

We have suggested that members may wish to bring recipes made from the many 1960s cookbooks that we have squirrelled away .... Zena Skinner, Elizabeth David f. Betty Crocker for example.

Our monthly coffee and catch-up: 

When: Friday 28th August 

Time:  Meet between 10.30 and 11.00am

Where:

St Paul's Kitchen  102 St Stephen's Rd, Bow, London E3 5JL

This lovely local cafe in St Stephens Road, E3 is conveniently situated on the No 8 and 339 bus routes.

I'll leave it up to a regular's review to sum it up.

"Always found this community cafe wonderful! Atmosphere, food and service is amazing!"

 

Coming up in July

A walk, our monthly meeting,  and the coffee morning 

Our monthly walk: Saturday 11th July 

Where: Meet at The City of London Information Centre 
St. Paul's Churchyard, London EC4M 8BX

Time: 11.00am

EEWI wander London's Square mile.

Meet at The City of London Information Centre St. Paul's Churchyard, London EC4M 8BX where we can look up some of their suggested walking routes; or if you plan to join us, maybe look up some routes beforehand available on various websites, for example, Go Jauntily, One London (the new tourist office website), my London walks, living London history, amongst others.

If like me you have walking tour books tucked away amongst your other books, perhaps bring one/some of those along for further inspiration.

Monthly meeting - Thursday 18th July

Time: 7pm for 7.30pm

Where: Usual venue; St Margaret’s House

Anna Talks about volunteering in Ukraine

Anna Bowles has a where she talks about her experience of volunteering 

in the Ukraine -

She has provided us with the following introduction to her life and talk

Anna Bowles is an independent blogger and volunteer who has spent 14 months in Ukraine over the course of seven visits since the full-scale invasion in February 2022. 

She speaks Ukrainian and Russian, and immerses herself in local operations, sometimes going for weeks without encountering another Westerner. Consequently her blog, Anna Talks Ukraine is one of the most highly regarded sources of information about Ukrainian volunteer activity on the ground along the eastern front, including the rapidly developing situation with drone attacks on civilians. As she is financially self-supporting, her reporting has no commercial angle, enabling her to go into depth, and convey nuance, in a way not always possible in contemporary journalism.

Her talk, entitled Home is the Front, uses her personal travels and expertise as a context for highlighting the work of local Ukrainian groups such as: 
The Union of Kramatorsk Volunteers who conduct civilian evacuations from the 
‘kill zone’ in Donetsk oblast. 
East Life: a community hub offering emergency aid such as hygiene items to 
refugees arriving in Kramatorsk city. 
Ukraine Will Win: a collective of women volunteers operating out of a former 
torture chamber in de-occupied territory 
Masha and Jack: a Ukrainian-UK partnership who supply aid to the army all along 

the eastern front. 
Big Family: a free shelter for destitute disabled elderly people in Kharkiv. and

Druzi Space: who rescue and re-home animals abandoned near the front line.

This will be an informative personal insight into the war in Ukraine.

Our monthly coffee and catch-up: 

When: Friday 24th July

Time:  Meet between 10.30 and 11.00am

Where: Chittagong Banoful. 20 Cambridge Heath Road E1 5QH

A new cafe to try, as suggested by Heather, our "chief cafe tester" called 

Chittagong Banoful.

Somewhat worryingly Heather says "You do not have to indulge in the beautiful pastries” and heir facebook page states "Warning this video may cause instant dessert cravings