Our first meeting of 2020 was an inspiring talk by Yvonne Matthews about bees, beekeeping and her business involving bee products. Yvonne lives locally and is an enthusiastic beekeeper. The editor missed this meeting, but from all accounts, Yvonne was a very engaging speaker and the evening was most enjoyable..

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 n December, the ladies enjoyed a lovely evening with mulled wine and mince pies, entertainment from the Halewood Community Choir ............. and .............the debut performance from our very own........

              *    *        WOW WI Ukulele Band!       *      *

This groups of ladies (there were some absentees due to illness, holidays etc) have only been learning for a short time. They have been dedicated in their approach to learning and amazed the membership with their skills! Well done the band and we look forward to your next performance!

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On Tuesday 5th, while rockets and Roman candles were whizzing outside, we were entertained by Zara and Gill from Avon beauty products. They told us about the development of the company, having many products on display with some free samples which many ladies enjoyed. We could all go home with a catalogue and some ideas for our own beauty regimes. 4 lucky ladies won raffle prizes of Avon goody bags! A good night was had by all.

At our October meeting, we were entertained by Peter the Magician. He spoke about the 'science' behind magicians' tricks and demonstrated some of his own with some 'helpers' from the audience! He has produced some books of illusions, which were popular with members, as he was selling them on the night.

What a fabulous evening we all had! Faye Kitching from Leagram Organic Dairy in Chipping, near Preston, Lancashire came to talk to us about her cheese-making dairy and to demonstrate how cheese is made. It was fascinating to watch and Faye was great to listen to - she didn't need a microphone and she was funny and very entertaining as well as being informative. Her mu Christine came too and worked continuously setting up a table of samples of cheese and items we could buy later. 
We learned some interesting facts - it takes 1 gallon of milk to make 1lb of cheese, cheese can be frozen successfully but should be brought to room temperature slowly ie in a fridge, sheep and goats cheese causes less cholesterol problems than cows, a cheese maker and cheese judge uses their sense of smell first before tasting.
Faye herself is a cheese judge at the Nantwich British Cheese Awards (the biggest in the country)
​They had brought many types of chees for us to buy - after tasting samples first! Many ladies went home with a mini paper carrier bag of cheese and home made biscuits!
You can find out more about this small family run business online. Just google Leagram Organic Dairy or look on Facebook.

We met at a different venue this week - at the Gateacre Institute. It was very pleasant there and some favourable comments were heard.

Strawberry Fields
First we heard from some ladies who work for the Salvation Army on the exciting Strawberry Fields renovation and Steps to Work projects. Lauren and Kelly spoke very clearly and kept us up to date with what is planned. Eventually here will be a visitors centre, a coffee shop and a training centre for young people with learning difficulties for whom employment is hard to find. The young people will receive training and learn skills to use when on placements which the Salvation Army will find for them with local businesses. Volunteers will be sought and any members who might be interested are invited to give their names to Jan. There will be various roles for volunteers to fill, including working side by side with trainees. Jan will keep in touch with Kelly and Lauren.

Minutes of last meeting
These will soon be circulated. Jan apologised for the delay.

Groups
Craft and Chatter - weekly Monday evenings at The Quarry
Line Dancing - Tuesday 10th July at The Quarry
Quiz - Tuesday 17th July at The Quarry
Tai Chi - finishes on July 18th and re-starts in September
Art Class has now finished
Walking Group - Wed 18th July. Walk to Princes Park

Notices
Summer social Afternoon Tea Friday 6th July 5pm. Must have booked before the day.
Ambleside stay - all monies should now have been paid. Contact Janet
Summer day out to York Saturday 4th August. Few places still available - contact Janet G
WI Sports Week - 17th - 22nd September. Angela will have details in September meeting.
Lancs County Show is 26th and 27th September in Garstang. Pre-show dinner is 25th September - pay Margaret £23 if you want to go.
Workshops - Creative writing rescheduled from January 10th September at the Arncliffe Centre. Few places available - contact Glenys.
Woolton Open Gardens Sunday 8th July - programme is £5 for all gardens. Available from Viv, Brown's newsagents or any garden in the scheme. WI helpers and cake makers needed for refreshments in Bishop's Garden. Contact Jan.
Calendars and diaries should have been ordered on Tuesday. Try contacting Margaret for late requests.

Lancashire Show
Judy and Brenda spoke to us to encourage many to submit some entries for the show. Judy had prepared an easy guide to the show schedule which she passed round, alongside slips of paper for members to write down what they might try to make - not binding! There will be a cooperative entry too. Members have to submit entries by August 7th to Judy but actual items do not have to be ready till September. An encouraging number of members will try to make things for the show - WOW want to be on the map at the Lancashire Show!

A very enjoyable evening was then completed by us learning some napkin folding techniques. Glenys showed us how to make 2 different roses with cloth napkins (we had been asked to bring one along) and Jan finished by showing us how to make a hilarious chicken!

Sophie Scholl - 75 Years since her Execution.
Professor Frank McDonough kept our attention from the start - he was a very engaging speaker and his subject was fascinating. Professor McDonough has written many books mainly abut the Third Reich and Nazi Germany, and wrote "The Woman who Defied Hitler"

Sophie Scholl was born in southern Germany, the daughter of the mayor of her home town of Furchtenberg. She and her siblings, particularly her brother Hans, became involved in the Hitler Youth along with nearly all German young people at the time. After a struggle to get a university place, she joined her brother Hans there and their by now anti-Nazi feelings surfaced. Life became very dangerous for them as they formed a resistance group known as the White Rose. there were only 6 key members and they wrote and distributed anti-Nazi and anti-Hitler leaflets in various locations. This caused quite a stir amongst the Gestapo, who were out to track the culprits down. This eventually happened and Hitler made an example of them at their short trial resulting in the death by guillotine of Hans and Sophie in 1943. This is only a short synopsis of the whole story of Sophie, who was willing to risk and give up her life for a cause she sincerely believed in.

Professor McDonough took questions and comments afterwards. It was a very interesting and thought-provoking talk.

What a fantastic evening we had! Paula keaveney, senior lecturer in Politics and Public Relations at Edge Hill University, stepped in at very short notice and gave us such an interesting talk on the Suffrage Movement. February 6th was the centenary of SOME women getting the vote for the first time in England, so this is a very current topic. Paula gave us some interesting facts - women had to be aged 30 and own property to be allowed to vote in February 1918 (Jan added that there were 6 million such women which is staggering!) Strangely women could stand for Parliament from November 1918 from the age of 21 but of course wouldn't have been able to vote until they were 30!
Paula spoke about two notable Liverpool women pioneers: Eleanor Rathbone, who after being the first woman elected to Liverpool City Council became an independent MP and Nessie Stewart Brown, a Liberal politician who was the second woman to serve on the city council. Both women were in the forefront of the Suffrage movement.
We found out the opposition to the movement came mainly from the Liberal Prime Minister H H Asquith. We also found out the difference between Suffragettes, who  believed in direct action for maximum publicity, and Suffragists, who believed in peaceful protest and lobbying. We were shown some board games promoting both sides of the debate and which were very popular in getting messages across.
Paula gave us something to think about: Why did women get the vote? Was it 1.campaigning? 2.Force of argument? 3.A change in the perceived role of women as a result of WW1? We had quite a few opinions expressed from our members.
What is the situation now in politics? The House of Commons is made up of 32% women. Does more need to be done to encourage women into politics? Is there room to change the current climate in politics for women to be able to fit in family life more easily around the job? Interestingly the UN says that it only takes 30% involvement for a minority group (eg women) to make an impact in an organisation.
Another hot issue for debate - should we pardon suffragettes with a criminal conviction? Was their criminal activity justified?
Paula told us Edge Hill University started its life as the first non-denominational teacher training college back in 1885. The university is  involved in a Wonder Woman Campaign and is hosting a Suffragette Symposium on 28th February from 2pm to9pm, open to the public.

Great talk, great speaker, lots to think about!

Spot the board games, and members in Suffrage costume!

Calling all members and guests - Our monthly meeting has had to be changed from Tuesday 6th to Tuesday 13th. Apologies for this change - back to normal in March.

Our Christmas meeting went with a real swing. Many ladies had sparkly tops or jumpers on to get in the Christmas spirit, and we got off to a fine start with Jan introducing the Sewing group's raffle to raise money to buy fabric to make more children's Wrap Pyjamas for the Pyjama Fairy charity. The sewing group have been making Christmas decorations for a few weeks and these were either for sale or for raffle prizes. The ladies were delighted with everything on offer and all the gorgeous fairies and Christmas baskets were sold very quickly. The ladies who went home with something from the raffle tree were very pleased. The sewing group made over £150 which was brilliant - thank you everyone.
Before social time we were entertained by Halewood Community Choir who were fantastic! So professional looking in their black outfits with gold scarves or ties. Their leader was vibrant and inspiring so no wonder they sing well under her direction. They sang familiar carols in an upbeat and unusual way. Afterwards we all had to do our bit and join in with some familiar Christmas songs (words were provided). To finish the evening we had coffee/tea and mince pies with some mulled wine too. A great evening! Thanks to everyone who took part in it.
Next meeting is on the 2nd Tuesday - 9th January- as the 1st Tuesday is too close to New Year. All other Tuesday evening events will shift along one week.