We are disappointed to have to let you know that Celeste Bell is unable to come to our meeting tomorrow, 17th October, as she is unwell. However our meeting will go ahead as usual, meeting at St Margaret’s Hall, behind the Gallery Cafe, 21 Old Ford Rd, E2 9PL - from 7pm, we will start the meeting around 7.30. Enter via the black gate to the left of the cafe and walk right around the garden. We would like to decide where our charity donation for this year should go. Please come with ideas for a charity you would like to propose. We would prefer to support a small local charity where our donation will make a difference. Within the WI’s guidelines charitable activities should be focused on ways of advancing education or improving conditions of people’s lives. Preferably it should also be for a specific purpose rather than added to a general pot. Entry for members is free and visitors are asked for £5.00. There is a donation tin for refreshments. Our coffee morning on 25th October will be at The Hackney Coffee Co, 503 Hackney Rd, E2 9ED, meeting from 1030.*** Lydia, (who designed our lovely leaflets) is exhibiting some of a set of illustrations she has done of ingredients, Plant Based, in the Gallery Café from early November. To get a preview go to her instagram account The Matchgirls Memorial charity is holding a Community Open Day on Saturday 2nd November at Tower Hamlets Library in Bancroft Road. They think the heritage of the Matchgirls should be enjoyed and celebrated.

On Thursday 17th October we’ve had a change in speaker; and are delighted to have Celeste Bell coming to talk to us about her mother, Poly Styrene, the lead singer for X-Ray Spex. She was a singer-songwriter, an artist, a free-thinker, a post-modern style pioneer and a lifelong spiritual seeker: a true punk icon. Some of you may have seen her at the 1978 Rock Against Racism Festival in Victoria Park. As usual we will meet at St Margaret’s Hall, behind the Gallery Cafe, 21 Old Ford Rd, E2 9PL - from 7pm, we will start the meeting around 7.30. Enter via the black gate to the left of the cafe and walk right around the garden. Entry for members is free and visitors are asked for £5.00. There is a donation tin for refreshments. Our coffee morning on 25th October will be at The Hackney Coffee Co, 503 Hackney Rd, E2 9ED, meeting from 1030.    ***   Before the end of the year we would also like to decide where our charity donation for this year should go. Please come with ideas for a charity you would like to propose. We would prefer to support a small local charity where our donation will make a difference. Within the WI’s guidelines charitable activities should be focused on ways of advancing education or improving conditions of people’s lives. Preferably it should also be for a specific purpose rather than added to a general pot.