in moderation...

Our coffee morning at the Museum of London n Docklands on Friday 23rd October was lively to say the least. Ruth, a member of Wanstead WI, joined us to talk about the work of the Woman's Trust, a charity providing counselling for victims of domestic violence. Ruth invited us join in the 4km/10km walk/run event to be held to raise funds for the Woman's Trust on 14th November in Victoria Park. You can find out more about the event on the Women's Trust website.

Of course, we all subscribe to the sensible adage of doing all things in moderation. A number of women are keen to join in - even if it means walking rather than running. However, if you are serious about running, you may have just enough time to get fit using the Couch to 5k programme. If anyone is interested in doing this, do let us know - it would be great to have an East End WI contingent!

More moderation followed with our cake testing - just a little bit of cake to make sure it comes up to our high standards. The general consensus was that this particular venue makes the most excellent Victoria Sponge.

And here's the evidence.

good hairspray

Our theatre outing on 22nd October to see Hairspray signalled the start of a new venture for us with our round of theatre outings. Great hair day!

Look out for more theatre outings coming up.

qWIzzical

There were lots of questions for Neil Walker of LOCOG at our 20th October meeting about the potential impact of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, with people interested in transport plans, minimising disruption for local people, and opportunities for local businesses and volunteers to get involved. There was hardly enough time to answer them all, so lively was the chat. Our thanks go to Neil for making the trip to our neck of the woods - we hope to see more of this kind of discussion with local people over the coming year.

It was a good warm up for our Olympics quiz with one or two apple themed questions to celebrate National Apple Day and apple-related prizes for the winning team ( yes, that is cider in those bags). For the record, the founder of the national Olympic movement, Baron De Coubertin has an oak named after him, not an apple tree. And the oak will feature in the design for the Great British Garden in the Olympic Park - cast your vote before noon on the 30th October at the RHS site here.

Thanks to all for sharing the fun... especially all the home baked goodness!

PS Don't forget to get cracking on the bee-related crafting for our November AGM competition.

leaps and bounds

The dance workshops are coming on leaps and bounds - literally and it is not too late to get involved. It is great fun and Jenny is very lovely. If you want to get involved come along to Chisenhale Dance Space on Friday night at 6.30pm. Bring a piece of music if you would like to and an item of clothing you like - it may be silly, comfy, sexy or anything really but whatever you bring you are guaranteed a great session

apple day

Don't forget - Apple Day is on 21st October, an opportunity to celebrate all that is good about British apples. Spitalfields City Farm is celebrating this Sunday from 11-4.

Who knows, there may even be some apple cake at Tuesday night's meeting.

See you there.

october meetings

Our evening meeting this month is on the 20th October, 7.30pm for an 8pm start at Chisenhale Art Gallery. This month we will be joined by a speaker from LOCOG, The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games to hear about the Olympic and Paralympic Games and what it means to us. There will be a chance to ask questions so do have a think about what you would like to ask in advance of the evening. Guests are welcome to join us, as usual ( £3 entry). And do feel free to bring a bottle.

Coffee morning is Friday 23rd October 10.30am at the Museum in Docklands. We understand that you can access the cafe without paying to go into the museum. However if you do pay to go into the museum you then get entrance for a year.

Look forward to seeing you there.

conquered

This is how Richard Reynolds, Guerrilla Gardener, summarised our meeting last night: Friendly diverse conversation with East End WI: breast painting, marathon pelvic floor exercises, Burmese refugee mushroom houses and walnut cake.

I'm not sure tthat here is much more to add. Other than Morsbags. Lots more stunning Morsbags.

I am a completely conquered by Guerilla Gardening and loving the scent of from my South London grown and made Lavender bag. Also contemplating the dance project - still time to sign up if you email us. And giving some thought to the mushroom houses at Hsa Thoo Lei Learning Centre in Thailand. If you missed the talk, here is some more info on the Centre:

Hsa Thoo Lei Learning Centre provides a free education for 700 children, and is home to about 200: these are children whose parents are dead or who are still inside Burma. Whether the children live in Hsa Thoo Lei or with family or friends outside, they are all in desperate poverty. The school tries to provide two free lunches a week when funds permit (not at all this calendar year) because for some children that is the only proper meal they ever eat. The children learn all the usual subjects but additionally learn languages - Burmese and Karen, the tongues of their homeland, Thai which is the language of their country of residence, and English, which many hope will one day be a passport to a better life elsewhere.

The Burmese migrant children in these schools are vulnerable to malnutrition, especially since the schools’ income is very much below levels required to fund regular school lunches. The Thai children’s Trust with help from partner organisations aims to ameliorate this situation by promoting the introduction of mushroom houses.

A mushroom house grows mushrooms in pre-prepared spore bags, placed on racks in a hot and humid hut. Regularly tended, the spore bags will produce mushrooms over a 3 month cycle. For most of the cycle there will be mushrooms available to supplement the diet of the children in the school. At the peak of the cycle there will be mushrooms for the school to sell.

Many thanks to all our speakers for such stimulating and thought provoking talks.

Comments welcome!