Meetings

This section shows some of the fun we have at our monthly meetings.
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3 September 2024 - Sue Hamilton told us of our local suffragette, Marie Weller, who lived in Towcester, along with her family. Her maiden name was Ashby. Her brothers were local businessmen. Photo shows Towcester Evening WI members celebrating Marie Weller at Towcester Carnival.

6 February 2024
Michelle delighted us by demonstrating needle felting Green Hearts in support of Climate Change Day. We then "had a go" and not too many pricked fingers!

7 November 2023
Joan and Val demonstrated how to make a bead coaster. Joan brought along samples of some of her beading pictures. What talent!  We worked on coasters - some with more success than others!

Michelle was delighted with her coaster .....

2 May
We were delighted to welcome FOUR new members! Heather demonstrated beeswax wraps and we then made our own. They are a natural alternative to clingfilm which is being phased out and fits in with the WI resolution to reduce waste.

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4 April

An Easter Art craft session at WI last week? Well yes, but we also celebrated Joan's special birthday.  She was delighted with her cake.

We were also pleased to welcome three visitors and look forward to seeing them again. Another fun evening!

7 March 2023
Paul Wyre of The Wildlife Trust spent the whole evening with us. He spoke of the Trust in general and Hedgehogs in particular. We learned lots about these little cuddly creatures, which are sadly in decline, and how we can make our gardens "hedgehog friendly". We are also inspired to visit the local Trust Centres at Pitsford Reservoir and Summerleys Nature Reserve. A most enjoyable evening.  We learned that a group of hedgehogs is called a "Pickle" (or an Array of Hedgehogs) !!!

7 February 2023
We had a fun time Curling (no ice in sight). With thanks to Val who coached us and was the scorer.

We celebrated Di’s birthday with nibbles and a delicious Chocolate Cake, complete with candles.  Thank you Jane who baked the cake.

Di was also "The Grand Bowler of the Night" and was presented with Grace.

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2 January 2023

We spent a very enjoyable evening with Phil (and Steve) who explained their hobby of detectoring which is quite separate from archeology.

They recounted the experience of discovering the ‘live’grenade near Glebe Farm and displayed some of their ‘finds’ from fields near Quinton, most were medieval but some from Roman times. These included coins, keys, animal bells, brooches, shot put, spurs, all of which point to the fact that Quinton was probably at the cross-roads of several settlements.

Those present were able to chat with Phil and Steve, look closely at the ‘finds’ and learn about the history. They have said if we ever need any assistance or have any questions going forward, they are both happy to help.

Photos reflect a very happy evening. (Thanks to Kathey for photos).

December 2022
At our Christmas meeting, we painted on glass, resulting in Lanterns complete with lights. There was plenty of time to catch up on our news and enjoy the various nibbles.  Happy Christmas everyone!

November 2022

We welcomed Kamran Irani  from SERV (Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers). He gave a brief history of this amazing voluntary service which started in North London and has spread. he volunteers operate 7pm to 6am Monday to Friday, and at weekends and public holidays for 24 hours a day. This is when NHS services are not available and the alternative is either NHS Ambulances, the Police Service or to pay for taxis. SERV saved the NHS approx. £7m last year.

October 2022

What a super evening we had! Not your usual AGM at all. We reminisced about the fun we had in the past year, planned next year whilst examining the accounts in detail, thanks were expressed, committee sorted and the President was unanimously voted in. Congratulations Val.
Amongst the cheerful chatter we enjoyed a Harvest Supper, finished off with apple pie and cream.  A really enjoyable evening.

Thanks to Kathey for the photo.

September 2022 Meeting

Happy July Birthday to our President, Val

June 2022 meeting

We missed our President who had tested positive for Covid and hope she will soon be feeling better.  Juris Trede told some of the history of Latvia and also his personal story of how he became a Welshman.  
When he was a young child, his family fled from Latvia and via various routes eventually founs their way to South Wales where he embraced everything Welsh, including rugby and joining a Male Voice Choir!

April 2022 - The Music Man
Such a happy meeting! Graham delighted us with a story including well-known and not so well-known songs at intervals, where we we asked to name the title, artist, year and show.  We had much fun and ended up joining in with the music.  Thank you Graham - and even better we have invited him back for more of the same!!

March 2022 - Celebrating St David's Day
- with food, of course, stories and Welsh costumes!

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February 2021 Meeting Via Zoom
First session we held our Quinton WI meeting with our own local news.  For the second session, we joined a WI Wanderers event at  Shoreditch Sisters WI - Feb Meeting - with their speaker Michelle of Boozy Bakers. We all baked together and we now know how to make a carrot cake. Photo shows Val's first attempt and Mick says it tastes delicious. Well done Val!

Suzy from The Good Loaf was our December Zoom speaker. Before the meeting, members received a mince pie and chocolate brownie from the Good Loaf, plus cheesy nibbles baked by Jane. Our generous President Val kindly gave all a bottle of Prosecco. We also ordered bread, rolls and other goodies from the Good Loaf.  Re:store Northampton also received donations totalling over £62 from members, instead of members exchanging Christmas gifts. PS The tiny elf just popped by!!!

July 2020
Socially distanced coffee morning at Glebe Farm

July 2020
Our first meeting with a speaker! We were delighted to welcome Kate Mawer, a Climate Ambassador, on Zoom. Kate hosted the Zoom and was able to show slides with her talk.The Climate Change initiative started 27 years ago and has been gathering momentum since. She displayed “Cloudier” wearing her coloured scarf which shows how the world temperature is rising. Kate and her team attend local events and will attend others if invited. The session went quickly, we had a Q&A discussion and as always, Quinton members joined in enthusiastically. Photo shows "Cloudier" wearing her climate change scarf.

From March 2020 we have been holding ZOOM meetings - coffee mornings, quizzes, who wants to be a millionaire, cheese and wine evening - all good fun but it will be good to meet again in real life!

November 2019 was our Mexican International Evening. Some members dressed up, we had Mexican food, a Mexican Quiz, Mexican craft, Mexican music and a member spoke of her Guiding trip to Mexico with photos. The tequila came later - after the WI official business of course!

In July we met on 4th July and celebrated America's Independent Day with a special guest!

In May our speaker was unable to attend so Joan stepped in and demonstrated encryptic art. Turned out to be an excellent evening. Thank you Joan.

April 2017 saw Sophie O'Brien taking us through a taster session of Pilates - some members more flexible than others!

We celebrated HM the Queen's 90th birthday at our June 2016 meeting, complete with bunting and traditional fayre.

Debs Jones demonstrated Willow Weaving at our May 2016 meeting and we all went home with our very own masterpiece. Kathey's bird feeder was soon taken advantage of. Can you see the blue tit?

At our February 2016 meeting, Joan demonstrated sugar craft and how to make a carnation. We all "had a go" and took our "carnation" home.

For our first meeting of 2016 we tried our hand at Short Mat Bowls and had great fun. Some members and their partners also enjoyed a trip to the Houses of Parliament this month, courtesy of our MP, Andrea Leadom. Thanks are also due to our President who organised transport and ensured we were in the right place at the right time

Click here for details of our 2015 meetings, then click on each month for photos and reports.

Our 2014 Christmas Party was again held in the Old Grammar School Courteenhall. Lady Wake kindly presented Joan Adams with the Points Cup for the most points in our competitions run during the year. The Old Grammar School provides a wonderful Dickensian venue for a traditional Christmas Party which included food, party games (pass the parcel), interative Twelve Days of Christmas (which had everyone in fits of laughter) good company and not forgetting the warming log burning stove. Thanks to Lady Wake for making us so welcome.  
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In December 2014 Jenny Newitt inspired us with her demonstration of a "rose in a bottle". Joan Leggatt was delighted to receive this masterpiece as first prize in the raffle. Jenny also demonstrated some tasteful Christmas decorations with foliage from her garden.

Our November 2014 meeting focussed on Divili where we sampled delights of Indian cookery with sumptuous, sweet, so very sweet, sweets! Photo shows Val showing her "henna" hands and red spot on forehead!
Ruth Thomas reminded many of us of "Familiar Places" at our October meeting, where she even met up with a friend from years ago. Such delight! Joan's decorated shoe came first in the "Decorated Shoe Competition".

Winner of "Decorated Shoe" competition.



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