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

Coming up in May

A Walthamstow wander, our AGM, women's football and coffee in the garden

Our monthly walk: Saturday 9th May 

Meet 11.00 at Walthamstow Central

We'll be following the arts and crafts walk from the Waltham Forest Wanders booklet – download here or print details from the website. Beginning at Walthamstow Central we'll aim for The William Morris Gallery in Lloyd Park, on the way taking in art, design and architecture stops including street art on Hoe Street and God’s Own Junkyard, the famous home of neon. There's plenty of choice of cafés for a refreshment break.

Our AGM and monthly meeting: Thursday 21st May

7pm for 7.30

At our usual venue: St Margaret’s House, 21 Old Ford Road, London E2 9PL, entrance via the gate to the left. (If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road.)

A round up of the year and vote for the committee and President, followed by our very own Natasha’s presentation on women’s football. Natasha follows Arsenal Women’s Football Club and even travels abroad to see some of their games. She has introduced some of us to women’s matches and to football itself.

Pictured above: the British Ladies' 'North' team, 1895, and Helen Graham Mathews, Scottish footballer and Suffragette, also in 1895.

Our monthly coffee and catch-up: Friday 29th May

Meet between 10.30 and 11.00

The Gallery Café, St Margaret's House, Bethnal Green

21 Old Ford Road, London E2 9PL

It’s a good while since we’ve met in this vegan café, part of the St Margaret’s House community, with visual art exhibitions and an award-winning garden. The café also hosts arts and wellbeing events in the evenings.

Our April talk

Travels round the edge of history

Our speaker, David Bowen, introduced his travel and history book-to-be, currently a blog, as "the fourth of three acts". David is a former business journalist, including eight years at the Independent, and founder of two companies reporting, analysing and consulting on online corporate communications. But he's always had a thing for history.

After a long haul of parental illness, David and his partner Donne were in search of somewhere to go that wasn’t Salisbury General Hospital. Destinations had to meet three criteria: historically fascinating, beautiful and relatively obscure. It's been a six year project, including his own year in hospital.

David brought a selection of stories for us: the sudden appearance of new land in the Azores; a scientist’s quest on Principe to prove Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, how Heligoland managed to be British and German at the same time; on the isle of Skye, the Fairy Flag, a magic banner to ward off enemies; and back to the Azores for a curious tale of Viking mice and the Goshawks, Açores, the archipelago was named after (even though they were probably another species).

Quote of the night goes to this, a headline from the New York Times, on the Einstein experiment: 'Light all skew in the heavens – Men Of Science More or Less Agog Over Results of Eclipse Observations’.

A big thank-you to David for an evening of historical wanderings. Follow his blog here on Substack, where you can also do his regular quiz based on a 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

There was even a bonus Bowen: David’s daughter Megan, an opera and musical theatre singer. Find out more about Megan’s work here. 

A special mention, too, for Heather’s marvellously restorative Victoria sponge.

Our monthly coffee and catch-up

Friday 24th April, meet between 10.30 and 11.00 – Thingy Café, Trowbridge Gardens, 1 Trowbridge Road, E9 5LD

Easily accessible from Hackney Wick station (Mildmay line) and bus routes 276 and 488.

This is my last blogpost for East End WI after posting my witterings on here for some time, as I'm bidding a fond farewell to WI membership. You can look forward to fresh views, new voices and if you're lucky, pithier copy in the blogposts to come. 

Our April walk

 

Cool blues, hot drinks and a temple: our April walk in Wanstead Park

Christine writes:

"Our April walk started as a blustery chilly day but happily ended with a smidgen of blue sky and sunshine. A short and pleasant walk from the tube station led us to Wanstead Park. I'd forgotten how nice Wanstead Park is, especially in bluebell season. We all agreed that we'd caught the bluebells in their prime. Carpets of mauvey blue and talk of the distinction between native British bluebells and the invasive Spanish variety. A circuit around Heronry Pond led us back to the refreshments kiosk for welcome hot drinks and (unanimously) bacon sarnies ! Luckily the Temple visitor centre was open and we enjoyed the displays about the park's history as the grounds of a long lost grand mansion. Our return to the tube station saw a couple of us tempted into Wanstead House community and arts centre, who were having an open day. We enjoyed stalls on textile art, painting, photography, ballroom dancing and more. We even learnt about post war community hall architecture. Nothing if not a varied morning out!"

Read more about both varieties of bluebell on The Wildlife Trusts website.

Fancy joining us for a walk? Look out for the next coming up blogpost.

Pictures by Christine

Coming up in April

 

Bluebells, Azorean mice and a thingy: coming up in April

Our monthly walk: Saturday 11th April – visit the bluebells in Wanstead Park

Meet 11.00, at the entrance to Wanstead tube station.

This month, we head for Chalet Wood, where the bluebells are spectacular if caught at their peak. A bonus is that the historic 'Temple' will be open. The Temple has the history of the Park's Roman Villa, tales of regency romance gone wrong, statues which once stood throughout the Park, a gift shop, public toilets and friendly, knowledgeable staff on hand to answer questions.

You may wish to bring a drink and a snack in case the Wanstead Tea Hut isn’t open.

If you're a member, look out for the EEWI walks WhatsApp on the day for any changes or to see who else is joining.

Our monthly meeting: Thursday 16th April, 7pm for 7.30 – Travels round the Edge of History, with David Bowen, former journalist and consultant, now full-time writer, traveller and history obsessive

At our usual venue: St Margaret’s House, 21 Old Ford Road, London E2 9PL, entrance via the gate to the left. (If you’re joining us for the first time, feel free to email us and someone will meet you at the entrance on Old Ford Road.)

David Bowen has spent seven years travelling around obscure islands in the North Atlantic, mixing travel and history writing to produce Substack posts and (he hopes) a book. He has, on his historical wanderings, come across some most unusual stories. Such as: Why mice tell us who got to the Azores first, how a magical flag helped a Hebridean clan win its battles, why the tiniest bit of the British empire was German, and the mountain that came out of the sea (Azores again). David was a journalist for many years, including eight on the Independent, and specialised in shedding light on complicated subjects. He then set up and ran a business consultancy. Now, in the third half of his career, he is combining writing with a longstanding obsession with history.

Our monthly coffee and catch-up: Friday 24th April, meet between 10.30 and 11.00 – Thingy Café, Trowbridge Gardens, 1 Trowbridge Road, E9 5LD

It's a good while since we’ve met in this charming café with its lovely garden surrounding it. A much-loved spot drawing locals and visitors, Thingy serves up coffee, brunch, cakes and a laid-back community atmosphere. 

Easily accessible from Hackney Wick station (Mildmay line) and bus routes 276 and 488.

Photos of Wanstead Park and Thingy café by Lydia; talk photos courtesy of David Bowen