Bletchley Park 22 April 2017

Bletchley Park

On Saturday 22^nd of April a group of ladies joined a Jay & Kay coach tour to Bletchley Park, Home of the Codebreakers.

After a pleasant journey with a jolly coach driver we arrived at about 11.30am. We were greeted and shown into the visitor centre where we were given a map and saw an introductory exhibition about Bletchley.  I think many of us were surprized by the size of the site, there is the visitor centre, museum, the Mansion and 12 huts, many of which have been restored to how they were during the war.

Hut 8 was home to the office of Alun Turing the famous code breaker. His office with his desk and typewriter was like stepping back in time, you can even see his enamel mug that he kept chained to the radiator! By all accounts he was a genius and just a little bit eccentric.

In the Museum in block B we saw the Cipher machines used by Hitler and learnt how the code breakers devised the first computer to decipher the codes from the Enigma machines.

Some ladies took a guided tour of the site which was very interesting and gave us an insight into what life would have been like working there during the war

We returned to the coach at 4pm in awe of the work that took place at Bletchley. The thousands of men and women who worked there listening to Morse code messages day and night, the people who built the machines and the mathematicians who cracked the codes, all working in total secrecy none of them even knowing what the people in the next Hut to them were doing. Amazing.

And as out tickets are valid for a year I’m sure that some ladies will be returning to Bletchley Park to see all the bits we missed the first time around.

Florence Nightingale Museum 24 June 2017

Florence Nightingale Museum

On Saturday 24 June 2017 a group of 8 members met at Cannon Street Station and took the tube to Westminster to walk over Westminster Bridge for our self guided tour of the Florence Nightingale Museum at St Thomas' Hospital.  As we arrived early and were still waiting for one more member we went to have coffee & snacks in the M&S Café in the hospital.  After which we presented ourselves at the Museum and were given sheets to show the layout of the museum and then left to look around at our leisure.  Split into 3 areas we first looked at 'The Gilded Cage' detailing her early privileged life 1820-1854.  It was in 1837 that Florence received a calling from God which led to her studying nursing.  The second area 'The Calling' 1854-1856 saw her travel to the Crimea working to improve conditions in the hospital in Scutari.  Lastly the third area 'Return from War' 1856-1910 saw her writing 'Notes on Nursing' which was to become a best seller establishing her as an international authority.  Besides nursing she wrote on religion, philosophy, sanitation, hygiene, hospitals (and their pavilion style), statistics and India.  She founded the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St Thomas' hospital so it's fitting that the Museum is located there.  Not a large museum but plenty to see and read about with a small shop.  After leaving around 1ish a small group of us went off to find lunch and discuss what Florence achieved during her lifetime.

On Saturday 24 June 2017 a group of 8 members met at Cannon Street Station and took the tube to Westminster to walk over Westminster Bridge for our self guided tour of the Florence Nightingale Museum at St Thomas' Hospital.  As we arrived early and were still waiting for one more member we went to have coffee & snacks in the M&S Café in the hospital.  After which we presented ourselves at the Museum and were given sheets to show the layout of the museum and then left to look around at our leisure.  Split into 3 areas we first looked at 'The Gilded Cage' detailing her early privileged life 1820-1854.  It was in 1837 that Florence received a calling from God which led to her studying nursing.  The second area 'The Calling' 1854-1856 saw her travel to the Crimea working to improve conditions in the hospital in Scutari.  Lastly the third area 'Return from War' 1856-1910 saw her writing 'Notes on Nursing' which was to become a best seller establishing her as an international authority.  Besides nursing she wrote on religion, philosophy, sanitation, hygiene, hospitals (and their pavilion style), statistics and India.  She founded the Nightingale Training School for Nurses at St Thomas' hospital so it's fitting that the Museum is located there.  Not a large museum but plenty to see and read about with a small shop.  After leaving around 1ish a small group of us went off to find lunch and discuss what Florence achieved during her lifetime.

Royal College of Needlework 22 February 2017

Fourteen ladies travelled from Waterloo Station to Hampton Court Palace.  We were met by Natalie Threw and escorted through the Palace to the Needlework School based at the rear overlooking the gardens.

An interesting talk was given by a student tutor outlining the history of the School stretching back over two hundred years. We were shown examples of work on screen and she described different types of needlework.  Training is offered through certificate, diploma and degree courses and courses are available for beginners and the more accomplished.  We were shown around the exhibition of Stories in Stitches and the workshop where three ladies were working on a commission for a private chapel. The visit showed stunning work and impressive skills that are being continued and passed on. 

National Theatre Tour 21 January 2017

Saturday 21 January 2017 saw a sparkling, frosty day and a tour of the National Theatre on the South Bank near Waterloo by some 20 of our members.

The creation of a National theatre was first proposed in 1848 by a group including Charles Dickens but not finally realised until the 1960s for various reasons.

We were all decked out in high visibility jackets and then our guide, Natalie began the tour.  The National comprises of 3 theatres - the Olivier with 1600 lilac toned seats (his favourite colour), the Lyttleton which is mid sized and the 400 seater Cottesloe, now renamed the Dorfman for a very generous benefactor.

The National aims to put on 25 new plays a year in addition to the more well known favourites, plus live broadcasts to various cinemas and theatres.  We were astonished to hear there are around 1000 employees including artists, high tech sound studios recently completed and of course, workshops where carpenters make scenery and stage sets. It usually takes between 4-7 hours to strip a stage, rolling massive sets and backdrops using industrial looking pulleys and hooks but the fastest was 1 hour.

All in all a fascinating glimpse of theatre life and well run tour.

Programme 2017

January

Meeting 10th - Board Games
Table Top - Unwanted Gifts
Outing 21st - National Theatre Tour

February

Meeting 14th - Time for You on Valentine's Day
Table Top - Jewellery
Outing 22nd - Royal College of Needlework Tour

March

Quiz 1st - White Hart Pub (Fundraiser)
Meeting 14th -Curiosities of the City of London
Table Top - Raffle
Outing 18th - Florence Nightingale Museum

April

Meeting 11th - Air Ambulance Trust
Table Top - The Garden
Outing 22nd - Bletchley Park

May

Meeting 9th - Business Meetings & Flower Arranging Demonstration
Table Top - Toiletries
Outing 20th - Great Compton Garden

My Life and Work as an Opera Singer

On 3 November, Elizabeth Key our newest member and a full time member of the Royal Opera House Chorus since 2006 gave a talk as part of the Eltham Arts Festival at Eltham Library.  She gave a brief history of when opera started and introduced to this country before telling us more about her life. Born in Mansfield at the age of 12 auditioned for the Cantamus Girls' Choir studying with Pamela Cook MBE who was a great inspiration and influence, giving her opportunities to tour abroad and appear on TV/radio.  When 19 she was accepted at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland studying for 7 years before joining the Royal Opera House. Her work schedule of some 200 performances per year which comprise of singing, acting and dance along with rehearsals and not forgetting the commuting! seems hectic but Elizabeth still finds time to be involved in numerous other musical projects.  A most inspiring young lady who says 'do the very best all of the time' which she certainly does.

I Spy Eltham High Street

Earlier this year we were approached by Eltham Arts Festival to participate in their 2016 event and after some discussion we devised a walking quiz of Eltham High Street which involved planning a route, compiling questions and spending time checking out the finer details.  A non member was asked to try this out and make any comments.  It was then time to design the entry form and arrange printing.  At the start of the festival on 29 October we delivered our leaflets and collection boxes to Eltham, New Eltham and Cold Harbour libraries and members also handed them out in Passey Place.  The quiz runs until 5pm 18 November when entries will be collected, checked and the winner announced at the finale on 20 November at the White Hart Pub, Eltham.  Members below handing out leaflets -

Theatre Trip 3 October 2016

Kay Johnstone and Sylvia Moore organised our first theatre trip, they chose The Commitments which opened at Bromley Churchill Theatre on 3 October 2016.  11 members signed up some time ago for this outing and were delighted with the choice.  It's a musical based on the book of the same name by Roddy Doyle which tells the story of a promoter, Jimmy Rabbitte who wants to organise a soul group in Dublin from a mixture of amateur musicians and friends, their rise to popularity which eventually leads to destroying their group and the members moving away.  The show featured 20 soul classics which judging by the clapping and foot tapping most people seemed to remember.  At the end the actors/band performed some of the songs from the show with the audience standing up and joining in. Everyone agreed it was a great show and look forward to our next excursion.

 

 

What a scorcher

On what must have been the hottest of the year so far, 13 WI members met at 10am in Eltham then drove to Sevenoaks to visit the Riverhill Himalayan Gardens.  A short journey arriving just as it opened, first stop was for refreshments before strolling around.  We had missed the spring collection of rhododendrons, azaleas and bluebells but just in time for the scented Rose Walk, we soaked up the sun in the re-landscaped Walled Garden with its box edged vegetables, grass sculptured terracing and fountains, the area was being set up for a wedding that afternoon which was a beautiful setting with views across the Weald of Kent.  Our visit coincided with the ForumArts National Sculpture Symposium and we were lucky to see artists at work on their sculptures throughout the Gardens.  Some of us despite the heat climbed to the view point looking at the Kent countryside before heading back down to the café where we had lunch before setting off home.

 

 

 

 

 

What a great achievement!

Recently one of our members, Chris Page completed a 50k walk from Sittingbourne to Eltham in aid of Demelza charity.  As a volunteer she saw the walk advertised and suggested to her son who was about to celebrate his 50th birthday that he might like to do the walk and she couldn't let him do it on his own! The walk took 12 1/2 hrs including a lunch break and Chris said how exhausting it had been and would not be attempting this again.  Our congratulations to her on this wonderful achievement.

A Great Day Out - 8 April 2016

In all 15 members attended Kent West-Kent Federation's Home Economics Day at Harris Academy, Falconwood on 8 April 2016.  There was time for refreshments after signing in and at 10.30am all members took their seats ready to be entertained.  What a great day had been organised by the Home Economics Committee.  The first speaker was Patricia Ellis from Sevenoaks Flower Club who demonstrated 4 different arrangements which were later raffled, unfortunately none of our WI won any but at least it solved the problem of getting one home! The second speaker was Alexis Datta, former head gardener at Sissinghurst Castle who showed slides of the gardens through all the seasons. After a short break for lunch it was back to hear from the final speaker of the day, Mary Gwynn, who wrote the WI Cookbook published last year to celebrate 100 years of the WI, who rushed through the decades with stories and recipes.  The day finished just before 3.30pm and we all commented how much it had been enjoyed, there was something for everyone.

BBC Tour 26 March 2016

On Saturday 26 March lunchtime 20 members met at Broadcasting House.  After going through tight security we assembled in the Media Café which serves radio theatre audiences and tours to meet our two guides who gave a detailed insight into the workings of this iconic building. We moved between the old and new buildings built around a public piazza and looked down on the newsroom which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, many recognising this room from its daily broadcasts. We visited the One Show studio, not as big as you would imagine! then onto a news & weather studio where 3 willing (or not so willing) members read the news & weather using prompts these were then played back to us.  Moving between buildings we were given so much information about recordings that had happened over the years.  Next was the radio shows recording studio where live productions take place and finally 5 members were persuaded to take part in a radio recording with sound effects provided by our guides, this was then played back.  Many thanks to all those ladies who were brave enough to take part.  A fantastic tour lasting well over one and a half hours.

 

 

February Meeting

We had yet another good meeting last night. We were pleased tto welcome a couple of visitors and hope they will come again soon!
Our speaker, Elspeth, a structural engineer, gave a very interesting talk on her involvement with the ongoing Crossrail project. This was well received and we say a big thank you to her for her time and obvious enthusiasm.
We next meet at the Whitehart to celebrate our 6th birthday which we do with a meal and quiz, should be fun!

An Evening of Bowling

We had a great night ten pin bowling, what fun! 23 of us turned out for our annual trip to Bexleyheath Mega Bowl and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We had 4 lanes and we each played 2 games. I used muscles I had forgotten actually existed, still all in a good cause or at least that is what I told myself next morning! I am looking forward to next year's event although we might try to organise something before then, who knows.

January Meeting 2016

Well, where did 2015 go? I hope it was a good one for everyone and welcome 2016!
It has become a tradition that the first meeting of the year is a board games evening. It has proved to be a great success and the variety of games on offer grows each year. It is great fun and it is amazing how much noise 30+ grown women in one room can make!
January is also the month when we have first sight of the long list of proposed resolutions to be put to the Annual General Meeting. This year there were 7 which we were asked to consider to take forward to the next stage. Top of our list was tackling food waste .
We next meet for an evening of bowling later in the month.

Christmas Meal

Our Christmas Meal as usual was very popular with 33 members meeting at La Cucina, Sidcup on 8 December.  It took a while for everyone to be seated before they took our food orders but this gave Judy time to collect all the Secret Santa presents which were distributed later on during our meal.  We had taken up most of the restaurant and hope that the other diners weren't too bothered by all our chat and laughter.  The evening was a great way for members to speak to each other, something we don't always have time to do during our meetings.  Judy gave thanks to Joy & Chris for organising our quiz in October and to Margaret for all her help over the last year.

Deansfield Xmas Fair

Over the past few months members have been collecting baskets which they then filled or donated items, these were then all collected, decorated and sorted ready for our tombola last Saturday November 28th.  A team of volunteers arrived at their allotted slot to set up tables, organise tickets and lay out all the baskets ready to sell.  A total of 116 items very rapidly disappeared once the fair opened at 1pm and by 2pm we were ready to pack up! The amount raised was £193 so well done to everyone who made this possible.  Below see pictures of members who helped to decorate baskets at Joy's one afternoon and the finished baskets on display before the rush.

November Meeting

Our last meeting saw David Sleep give us a very enjoyable talk about our namesake, Eltham Palace. David spoke with great enthusiasm about the history of the Palace and its most recent encumbants, Stephen and Virginia Coultauld. We much enjoyed learning about the royal connection with the Tudor kings and queens  and what a very special place Eltham Palace is!
A very big thank you to all our Members who had taken time to fill and decorate baskets for our tombola stall which we will have at Deansfield Christmas Fayre on November 28th, they all looked wonderful. I am sure it will be as successful as it was last year.
We meet in December for our Christmas meal and will share a glass of wine or two!

Severndroog Castle 23 October 2015

On Friday 23 October 2015 Four members met at mid-day at the triangular tower known as Severndroog Castle hidden in Oxleas Woods on Shooters Hill. Not strictly a Castle but a folly erected in 1784 as a memorial to Sir William James of Eltham Park by his widow to commemorate her husband's conquest of the castle of Severndroog on the coast of Malabar in the East Indies.  We had coffee in the tea room on the ground floor of the Castle whilst waiting for the opening time of 12.30pm. A number of walkers and dog walkers stopping for refreshments but luckily for us not many visiting the Castle apart from the students filming who did not want us to block their views! After paying to enter we headed straight to the top and the viewing platform where binoculars were provided for us to take in the spectacular views of London and beyond, up to thirty miles across London, Kent, Surrey & Essex on a clear day.  Ours wasn't the perfect day to see as far as Windsor Castle but we did get some very good views of the Thames and London, trees having been cut to allow clear views.  We then descended to the two lower floors to read about the history of the building.  We agreed it was well worth a visit especially to find out more about the Castle's history and seeing the expanding skyline of London and greenery of the area we live in.

 

 

 

Next Meeting

Our next meeting is this coming Tuesday where we will all be sporting "unusual headgear", haven't sorted mine out yet! I am looking forward to our speaker, Wendy, who will talk to us about nutrition. She will be able to offer advice as to what foods help common ailments and, which to avoid. Our next outing is to the recently refurbished and newly opened Severndroog Castle which has a viewing platform so we can share in the stunning views across the London skyline.