this weekend

We'll be at Parklife selling cakes on Sunday.  Do come along, say hello, and applaud the dog who looks most like his owner - or is it the other way round? If you want to bake or help out, let me or Clare know.

Some of us will also be in the WI tent at the Big Feastival at Clapham Common over the weekend too, starting Friday afternoon.  Feastival is a foodie event and it wouldn't be proper without the WI there.  If you are a keen baker, there is a competition too - details above.

If we don't see you, do have a sunny weekend.

this weekend

If it stops raining - and I think it will - you might want to go along to one of the free events at the Greenwich and Docklands Festival that starts this weekend.  More information here.

Whatever you're up to, have fun.

april treats

Erm, I'm not quite sure this particular cake counts as a Healthy Easter Treat -in fact I'm pretty sure it doesn't - but will be able to have my suspicions confirmed on Tuesday 19th April when teacher and chef Theresa Webb, founder of Kitchen Buddy, will be visiting us to tell us - and let us taste - more.   We'll be at our usual venue, St Margaret's House, 7.30 for 8pm.  Visitors welcome ( £3 suggested donation).  Do feel free to bring along some refreshments to share.

We don't have a coffee morning this month because of the Easter break, but we do have a stall at the St George's Day event at the Museum of Childhood on 23rd April from 11.30 - 4pm.   We had a lovely time last year; this time round we won't be selling cakes, but we are planning to have some of our own merchandise as well as good things made by our members.  And there will be a fun bunting workshop
too led by our own Jo Cass. (Donations of bunting accessories or fabric most welcome).

Enjoy the spring sunshine till then.

a night at the sack races

Lovely evening serving goodies to support Cafe Direct's Night at the Sack Races.  Mind you, it wasn't all hard work...

Do come along and see us at Spitalfields Trader's Market tomorrow at the International Women's Fair, 10-5pm.  Would be lovely to see you.

garter stitch 100 this sunday

Back to Basics would like to invite you to go along and join in their event this Sunday 20th (2-5pm) in support of Garterstitch 100's 100 million stitches for 100 million women initiative linking to International Women's day. You'll find Back to Basics at 29 Old Ford Road, just along a few doors from St Margaret's House.

It is estimated that 100 million women are missing from the world due to gender discrimination. Each stitch will represent a woman "missing" for reasons including gender provoked infanticide or abortion, sex trafficking and complications in childbirth.

Please take along your creativity and a cake to share if you'd like to. They will provide, tea, needles and yarn (but if you'd like to bring your own you are very welcome!). If you haven't knitted before they can give you some coaching. Crocheters also invited!

It's a lovely space with lovely people - you'll have fun.

(The photo comes from a little knitting session that Elizabeth was asked to run for a women's group at the Osmani Centre last week.  We really enjoyed our morning.   It was great to work with such attentive students and share the knitting love.  It's what we're all about, after all.) 

harvest time

Here are a couple of events you might be interested in: 

Abbey Gardens Harvest Festival, Saturday 11 September midday - 4pm 
A free event celebrating the second season of What Will The Harvest Be? at Abbey Gardens.

Anyone is welcome to come along and enjoy the garden, delicious food made with produce grown by our gardening club and lots of tea and cake. Activities for grown-ups and children include garden-inspired competitions, garden tours and craft making. Vegetables, plants and flowers to take home are available for donations from our Honesty Stall.

Abbey Gardens is a community garden where anyone may learn to grow organic vegetables, fruit and flowers. There are regular garden club sessions and the garden is open to visitors from dawn till dusk. New gardeners are always welcome.  What Will The Harvest Be? is a project by artists Karen Guthrie and Nina Pope, of Somewhere, with Friends of Abbey Gardens, a group of local residents. The gardens surround part of the ruins of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey.
More information on Abbey Gardens blog;http://www.abbeygardens.org/> or What Will The Harvest Be? <http://www.whatwilltheharvestbe.com/blog/>

Map:   Nearest tubes: West Ham (Jubilee, District and Hammersmith & City) or Stratford (Central). Cyclists usually visit us via the Greenway, which has an exit onto Abbey Road. No residents’ parking restrictions on Saturdays but parking on Bakers Row itself is limited. 

Spitalfields Show and Green Fair Sunday 12th September 2010 12pm – 5pm

The Spitalfields Show and Green Fair 

is being held in Allen Gardens and Spitalfields City Farm, Buxton Street, E1 5AR.

 It combines the annual horticultural show of fruit, vegetables, flowers and home produce with a Green Fair promoting the care and enjoyment of our natural environment.

The Spitalfields Show is a glorious display of home grown produce by people from all over London. Entries are accepted in 13 sections and 101 classes, featuring everything from flower arranging to fruit, vegetables and herbs and from pot plants and preserves to cookery and handicrafts, not forgetting the special children's section. Whether you have a garden, allotment, backyard, balcony or window box you can enter this show.

The Green Fair will feature stalls promoting healthy living and giving out nutritional advice, you can pick up information on recycling, composting and growing your own food or attend a biodiversity and sustainability workshop. Visitors will also have the opportunity to join in with activities on Spitalfields City Farm.

smile please

Summer Festival 2010, Museum of Childhood

We had a fabulous time at the Museum of Childhood Summer Festival this Sunday. It was full of sunshine, colour and smiling faces, inspiring music, dancers who looked like they'd stepped put of a story book and bubbles in the air. And cakes, of course. In fact we were so taken aback at how busy it was that we had to send for reinforcements after only an hour and a half. One little girl was asked by her mum what cake she wanted and she answered "A yellow one", which was just as well because that was all we had.

If you have ever hesitated about working on one of our cake stalls, all I can say is that you only have to see the faces of happy customers to make your day, even if you have this to look forward to when you get home...

And a reminder for the shopping list.

As ever, thanks to everyone who baked and helped on the day, and to the Museum of Childhood for looking after us so well.

cats and dogs

We had a grand day at Parklife and the Mile End dog show on Sunday.  Thanks go to all you lovely bakers and helpers (and to John for putting up the gazebo) and dealing with the challenges of no power and lukewarm tea.

We did get caught in the monsoon-like downpour at four o'clock so we all got just a little bit, erm, soaked, along with the bunting and everything else.  Pleased to say everything has now dried off nicely.  Except my addled brain.

PS Coffee morning this Friday 21st - meet at the ticket kiosk at 10.30.  If you are a Tower Hamlets resident you will get in for £1 with evidence of address ( utility bill, rates bill etc).  If you are not a Tower Hamlets resident, let Niki know so that we can make alternative arrangements.

Shelter from the storm at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

This Sunday EEWI supported the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park which looked beautiful in the rain. The cemetery park team put on a fantastic day despite the weather and the EEWI team ran the tea and cake stall which went down a storm(?) as everyone needed a hot drink to warm them up. Cakes were provided by the friends of the THCP and 75% of the money raised went to the park.

We hope that this will be the first of many events we collaborate on and are talking to Ken from the park about organising an EEWI bat walk at some point between now and September where we will be taken around a park in Tower Hamlets to watch the bats in the twilight then perhaps on to a pub.....

hats off

Hats off to those who joined in serving tea at the St George's Day Tea Dance on Friday.  There is nothing like a large group of elders for testing your tea making competence.  We just about recovered in time to serve cakes on Saturday at the Museum of Childhood fun day in the company of Morris dancers, dragons, knights, Pearly Queens, May Queens and at least one Green Man.

Thanks for baking and helping out, ladies. The sun shone.  The cakes were lovely.  And as you can see, so were the hats.

out and about

If the recent publicity associated with the V&A's quilt exhibition has whetted your appetite for all things quilty, you might want to go along to see the London Quilters Highlights exhibition at Swiss Cottage Library  (a short walk from Swiss Cottage tube station).  There are dozens of quilts on display, including this amazing piece of work by our own Janet Beck, with a range of styles exhibited.  The exhibition is on until the 29th May and is free.

You can find details about this and other events on our new events page.  And if you want to keep your diary up to date on where we'll be serving tea and cakes this summer, take a look here or click the link at the top of the page or in the sidebar..

Wild Food Cycle

If you are interested in foraging, there is a wild food cycle on Saturday 13th March.  Check out our events page for details.

women celebrate!

Fab afternoon yesterday serving tea and cakes to the lovely women and girls at the Brady Centre as part of Tower hamlets International Women's Week celebrations.  Such a friendly atmosphere and so uplifting to see the young women receiving awards for their art work. 

Thanks to our loyal team of bakers and servers.  And a special round of applause for Clare's husband for making the colourful (EEWI labelled!) perspex cake stands for us so quickly.

There are more women's events on during this week.  Find out more on the Women in London website here.