Cross in Hand WI

Village Hall, Cross in Hand, TN21 0UE

4th Wednesday of every month at 2pm

We sing Jerusalem before each meeting and the business usually takes half an hour before the speaker takes over for about an hour. We then enjoy home made cakes and a cup of tea before departing,
We are a friendly group and always pleased to welcome new members. Find out more by telephoning 01323 442592.

Cross in Hand Events

APRIL 2018
All our meetings are special, but this one was extra special as we filled the hall with all our invited guests! How lovely it was to see so many new faces to share with us the lively entertainment from our speaker, Peter Wilson who spoke to us about Music from the 60’s. Peter played clips from all our teenage favorites and tested us on our Pop knowledge. By the end of the afternoon we all took part in writing our own song – a number one hit in the making so watch out for our debut album!

Cakes and plants were available to buy on our sales table and our flower of the month competition was won by Jane Matthews. Birthday flowers were presented to Gill Poulton.

Our meeting in May will be when we discuss our WI Resolutions and enjoy a cream tea, and for our June meeting we shall be hoping for a sunny afternoon for our annual garden party.

We meet every fourth Wednesday in the month at the Cross-in-Hand village hall at 2.00pm- new members and visitors can be sure of a warm and friendly welcome, so why not give us a try. Transport can also be provided.

JANUARY 2018
Members enjoyed a fascinating talk and demonstration from Phyllis Stevens who showed us how to display our Spring Flowers and gave us all some useful tips on plant and flower care. We all vowed to ‘give it a go’ the next time we bought ourselves some flowers from the supermarket – who knows what we will be able to create- flower arranging will never be the same again!
Birthday flowers were presented to Margaret Garrett-Cyster.

Have you made a New Year’s Resolution to try something new? Are you newly retired? Have you recently moved to Heathfield? If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions why not come and join us at one of our afternoon meetings – visitors and new members can be assured of a warm and friendly welcome. Our meetings always involve a guest speaker, useful information on courses and events you can attend, lots of chatter and of course tea and cake!

Why not give us a try? Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 28 February, Cross-in-Hand Village Hall at 2.00pm, when our speaker will be Mr Ray Sparks with a talk entitled ‘The History of Punch and Judy’.

JULY 2017
This month Member’s enjoyed a talk by Gilly Halcrow entitled ‘Whatever Happened to Christopher Robin?’ This was accompanied by a lovely presentation of photographs which bought the whole thing to life. Members were treated to excerpts from some of the well-known poems that Pooh Bear was so famous for saying and relived the tales that gained worldwide fame for A A Milne, made all the more special by the fact that they were based locally in Hartfield and the Ashdown Forest.

Birthday flowers were presented to Jean Grafham and Joy Guntrippe and the flower of the month competition was won by Jane Matthews.

Due to the redecoration of the village hall, our meeting next month will be held in the Methodist Church Hall at Cross-in-Hand on Wednesday 23 August at 2.00pm.

New members and Visitors are always welcome!

MAY 2017
Members were treated to a ploughman’s lunch and strawberries, cream and meringue at this month’s meeting, all prepared by the committee. Following lunch everyone joined in on a lively discussion relating to this year’s two chosen resolutions – Plastic Soup and Alleviating Loneliness. Members weighed up the pros and cons of each of these subjects and considered ways in which the WI could do something effective to help solve the problems.

Several members celebrated their birthdays – Georgina Braithwaite, Jean Ferguson, Della Humber and Joyce Bryant.
The flower of the month competition was won by Jane Matthews.

Next month member’s will enjoy an outing to visit Merriments Gardens and enjoy a cream tea.

APRIL 2017
This month Members enjoyed a humorous talk from Lesley Baker entitled ‘Tales of a Tree Surgeon’ Lesley explained how she had become involved in tree surgery and her struggle in a male orientated profession to qualify. Having successfully done this she now jointly owns her own business and is well respected in the area. Members were entertained by Lesley’s anecdotes of jobs that hadn’t always gone according to plan and the more unusual sights that one can see from the top of a tree!

Gill Poulton and Pamela Rihal were presented with birthday flowers and Betty Ward won the flower of the month competition for this month.

MARCH 2017
This month Members enjoyed a talk from Dr Geoffrey Mead entitled Hastings Old and New. Dr Mead included in his talk a lovely selection of photographs, maps and drawings which illustrated the sometimes forgotten beauty of Hastings and St Leonards. His talk was full of interesting facts – did you know the ‘upper classes’ are so called because they were the wealthier people who lived nearer the tops of the hills where the water supply was more pure than for the ‘lower classes’ at the bottom of the hill!! And did you know every town has an east and west end due to the prevailing winds that we experience in this country – the unpleasant smells from the west get blown towards the east making the east a less desirable side of town to live! Of course in modern times with a modern sewerage system, this no longer applies, making the east end of many towns the up and coming areas for people to now live.

Muriel Campbell and Pauline Kent were presented with birthday flowers and Muriel also won the flower of the month competition for this month.

FEBRUARY 2017
Members enjoyed an informative talk from Mr Kevin Palmer from Collective Legal Solutions, entitled Tax, Care and Toy Boys!
This thought provoking talk generated lots of lively interaction and questioning and left us all realizing the importance of making sure our arrangements are correctly in place to ensure those that we want to benefit actually do!

It is always exciting to welcome new members to our WI and we are very lucky to have the pleasure of welcoming five new members in the past two months. That said, there is always room for plenty more – so why not give it a go? We meet on the fourth Wednesday in the month at Cross-in-Hand Village Hall at 2.00pm. Look out for our posters around the town advertising details of each meeting. If you can’t wait until then, why not join us for a coffee morning on Friday 3 March, 10.30am at The Bay Tree Café – the chance for an informal chat, coffee and friendship.

Several members celebrated their birthdays this month. They were Dawn Brock, Maragret Ivey, Heather Stevens and Helen Whiteman. The Flower of the Month Competition was won by Sheila Leswell.

JANUARY 2017
Members enjoyed a lively talk from Ms A Chance entitled ‘Saddle Sore in Montana’ at this week’s meeting. Ms Chance shared with us her first experience of riding a horse, herding cattle and living the life of a real cowboy – and all at the age of 64! It just goes to show we are all never too old to try something new! On that note, why not try joining our WI? As well as our monthly meetings at which we have a wide range of interesting speakers, we debate topical subjects, enjoy trips out to places of interest and enjoy meals and coffee mornings together. There is always a friendly welcome awaiting you together with the chance to make new friends, learn something new and have some fun – why not give it a try?

Birthday flowers were presented to Sheila Leswell and Maragaret Garrett-Cyster.

DECEMBER 2016
As this was the last meeting of the year, members enjoyed a much more relaxed meeting doing what ladies of the WI do best – providing beautiful snacks and drinks for all to enjoy!
The business was kept to a minimum and following a talk from Mr P Lewis on the ‘Memoirs of a Media Composer’ the Christmas music struck up and a party atmosphere ensued.

Plans are in progress for our New Year Lunch outing – something to look forward to after all the hurly burly of Christmas is over.

NOVEMBER 2016
Members at our November meeting were treated to a warming lunch prepared and served by Members of the Committee. This was then followed by our AGM at which we said thank you to our outgoing Treasurer and Secretary, Jean Graffham and Margaret Dove, and welcomed into their new roles Marilyn Grout and Dawn Brock. Anita Jobling was re-elected as our President for her second year of office. With our newly formed committee, business moved swiftly on to the organizing of our Christmas Celebrations. Our speaker for the Christmas meeting will be Mr P Lewis with a talk entitled ‘Memoirs of a Composer’. Mr Lewis has written music for a number of TV programmes and promises to entertain us with a selection of music old and new! Then for the important bit – food and drink!

We would love to welcome any prospective new members or visitors to our celebrations so why not come along and share a glass of bubbly and a mince pie with us! We shall look forward to seeing you! The Christmas meeting will be held on Wednesday 7 December at 2.00pm in the Cross-in-Hand Village Hall.
As this was the last meeting of the year, members enjoyed a much more relaxed meeting doing what ladies of the WI do best – providing beautiful snacks and drinks for all to enjoy!
The business was kept to a minimum and following a talk from Mr P Lewis on the ‘Memoirs of a Media Composer’ the Christmas music struck up and a party atmosphere ensued.

Plans are in progress for our New Year Lunch outing – something to look forward to after all the hurly burly of Christmas is over.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 25 January 2017, 2.00pm at Cross-in-Hand village hall, when our speaker will be Ms A Chance with a talk entitled ‘Saddle Sore in Montana’.

Why not make a New Year’s resolution to join the WI – you can be assured of a warm and friendly welcome, a chance to make new friends and have fun!

OCTOBER 2016
At this month’s meeting we welcomed two local Magistrates to talk to us about their roles in court, the types of cases that are covered and the sentencing powers that Magistrates have. Did you know for instance that anyone from the age of 18 can apply to become a Magistrate, they need no particular qualifications, can be from any walk of life, it is an unpaid role and both male and females are equally welcomed? These were just a few of the fascinating facts that we learnt from this very informative talk.

Several of our members celebrated birthdays this month. They were: Jane Matthews, Carla Hallgren, Pat Treen, Betty Ward and Anne Lawson.
Jane Matthews won the flower of the month competition and Heather Stevens won the prize for the most interesting old document.

Our November meeting is our autumn lunch and AGM, and December’s meeting will be held on the earlier date of Wednesday 7 December at 2.00pm, Cross-in-Hand Village Hall where we will be entertained by Mr P Lewis and we shall enjoy some festive treats to eat and drink. Anyone wishing to join us for some festive cheer would be very welcome – come along and enjoy your first mince pie of the season!

 SEPTEMBER 2016
This month members were thrilled by the gruesome details of the ‘History of Eastbourne Police’ as told by Mr Kevin Gordon. All our previous illusions of Eastbourne being such a genteel place to visit were shattered as we heard about the need to form Eastbourne’s own police force in 1891 to restore peace and order from the disruptive visiting day trippers and the riots with the Salvation Army! Not to mention the mass murders committed by Dr John Bodkin Adams who was able to get away with his crimes as forensic science was not sufficiently advanced to be able to prove his guilt.
Members certainly required their cups of tea and cake in order to recover from all these gruesome tales!!

On a happier note several members celebrated their birthdays this month and those that were present were given flowers. Our birthday girls were: Peggy Dann, Freda French, Mary Hills, Charlotte Page, Marion Pearson and Joyce Watson.

The flower of the month competition was won by Pauline Kent and the ‘Time Piece’ completion was won by new member Marilyn Grout.

Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 26 October 2016, 2.00pm, Cross-in-Hand Village Hall. As always all visitors and new members are very welcome.

JULY 2016
Members enjoyed a very interesting and informative talk from Mrs J Ramsey with her wealth of experience and knowledge of buying and selling antiques. We had fun trying to be ‘experts’ and identify from a selection of items what was the most valuable, least valuable, oldest item and of course the fake! You would not be surprised to know that we got most of the answers wrong – which just goes to show how much we think we know but of course how much we don’t!

Two members celebrated birthdays this month – Jean Grafham and Joy Guntrippe and the flower of the month competition was won by Gill Poulton.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 24 August, Cross-in-Hand Village Hall at 2.00pm, when our speaker will be Mrs G Lloyd with a talk entitled ‘ Wildlife Photography at Fifty’. As always new members and guests are always very welcome.

Finally, a very big thank you to all those who supported us at the recent Cross-in-Hand Fun Day – our stall, selling homemade cakes, preserves, plants and produce made a good profit for funds as well as being a thoroughly enjoyable day!

 JUNE 2016
June is the month when our regular meeting is replaced by a garden party with afternoon tea and this year was no exception. Despite the uncertainty of the weather 26 members valiantly set forth to Butlers Farmhouse, near Herstmonceux and were treated to a tour of the gardens followed by a delicious selection of homemade cakes and scones. By the end of the afternoon the sun shone for us and we all returned to Heathfield having had a lovely afternoon.

The sun hat competition was won by Gill Poulton and birthday flowers were given to Jane Wade, June Davidson and Jessie Scott.

Our next meeting on 27 July is open for anyone to come along. Our speaker will be Mrs J Ramsey with a talk entitled ‘For What it’s Worth’ where there will be an opportunity to bring along and view antique items and to find out what treasures we may have hiding in our attics! The meeting takes place in the Cross-in-Hand Village hall at 2.00pm.

We always welcome visitors or new members, so why not come along and join in the fun!

MAY 2016
At our meeting on Wednesday 25 May 2016 members enjoyed a ploughman’s lunch and homemade crumbles and custard before getting down to the serious business of discussing this year’s Resolutions.

After a year long process of debates and eliminations by WI groups across the country, the list of proposed resolutions is whittled down and this year the two which have the majority vote are ‘Avoid Food Waste and Address Food Poverty’ and ‘Appropriate Care in Hospitals for People with Dementia’. These two resolutions are now carried forward to the National Conference for final debate and if successful can form the basis for the National Federation of Women’s Institutes campaign and activity.

With the more serious business over, members were then invited to air their own annoyances by taking part in our own version of Room 101 in which members could banish to room 101 all their pet hates– there’s nothing like a good old moan with friends, followed by a cup of tea, to send us on our way smiling!!

Birthday flowers were given to Georgina Braithwaite, Joyce Bryant and Della Humber. Flower of the month competition was jointly won by Margaret Dove and Dawn Brock.

We always welcome new members, so why not give us a try?

APRIL 2016
A very special meeting was held on 27 April 2016 – members celebrated the Queen’s 90th birthday by dressing up in a red, white and blue theme, singing the National Anthem and enjoying afternoon tea with a fabulous celebration cake, designed to look like one of Her Majesty’s hats. Marion Pearson won the best dressed competition with her Union Jack themed outfit.

Our speaker was Mr David Goldsmith who talked to us about ‘Eye Care Services in the Amazon’. This truly inspirational talk gave us all an insight into the difficulties faced by the people living in such remote villages in the Amazon and how, in many cases, blindness could be avoided with simple ophthalmic procedures if only they were more readily available. David and his team of volunteers have helped to save or improve the sight of many people and he retold heartwarming stories of how people’s lives had been transformed by this miracle of modern science.

Two of our members celebrated birthdays this month – Gill Poulton and Pamela Rehal.

Next month’s meeting will be held on Wednesday 25 May 2016 where members will enjoy a ploughman’s lunch before discussing this year’s WI Resolutions.

MARCH 2016
At our last meeting on 23 March, members were treated to a very interesting and informative talk entitled ‘Wonderful World of Water’ by Jo Osborn. Jo works for South East Water and gave us an insight into how our water supplies are sourced, processed and piped to our homes ready for drinking. The talk contained many fascinating facts such as only 3% of the water supplied to a typical household is actually used for drinking whereas 30% is used to flush the toilet!! We were all given ‘goodie bags’ and helpful tips on how to use water wisely.

Birthday flowers were presented to Barbara Edwards, Muriel Campbell and Pauline Kent and the Flower of the Month competition was won by Betty Dabson.

Our next meeting takes place on Wednesday 27 April at 2.00pm in the Cross-in-Hand Village Hall, when we shall help to celebrate the Queen’s 90th Birthday with our red, white and blue theme and enjoy a celebration cake. The speaker will be Mr D Goldsmith who will talk to us about Eye Care Services in the Amazon.

FEBRUARY 2016
At this month’s meeting, members were highly entertained by the Dowager Lady Crabtree, who gave us a humorous talk on ‘Growing Old Disgracefully’. We all learnt some very good tips on how to make the most of growing old whilst having fun at the same time – the secret seems to be in smiling a lot, wearing bright red lipstick and above all else NO SENSIBLE SHOES!!

Birthday flowers were presented to Heather Stevens, Dawn Brock, Helen Whiteman, Kathy Haragen, and Margaret Ivey.

A large number of events have been arranged, all of which are very reasonably priced and provide valuable opportunities for learning, meeting new friends and of course having fun.

We always welcome new members and are keen to encourage anyone of any age to join us – the only qualification you require is enthusiasm and a good sense of humour (and the fact you are female too of course!) so why not comealong and see for yourselves.

JANUARY 2016
Members at our meeting on Wednesday 27th January were thoroughly entertained by an enjoyable talk from Mr B Freedland entitled ‘A View from the Wings’. Mr Freedland has enjoyed a long career in the theatre and has worked behind stage with many famous stars – he was able to re-tell amusing stories and share his experiences with us whilst reminiscing over the past 50 years.

We also celebrated the birthdays of two of our members – Shiela Leswell and Margaret Garrett-Cyster. The Bring and Buy Sale was a great success raising over £45 for funds.
A number of events, workshops and Federation outings are planned for the forthcoming months. Banish those thoughts of the WI only being about cakes and jam making!! A wide variety of activities are always available within our own WI and around the county, so it is never too late to learn something new, meet new people and above all else have lots of fun! Why not come and join us? All welcome!

NEW YEAR 2016
This month activities started early with 30 of our members enjoying a New Year Lunch at the Kings Head at Horsebridge – a lovely opportunity to chat and catch up with what everyone had been up to over Christmas, not to mention a welcome break of enjoying a meal that we didn’t have to cook ourselves!
Our January meeting will take place on Wednesday 27th January at 2.00pm at the Cross-in-Hand Village hall. Our speaker will be Mr B Freedland with a talk entitled ‘A View from the Wings’ – Mr Freedland will share his experiences of working behind the scenes in the theatre. In addition we shall also be holding a ‘Bring and Buy’ sale which will provide a good opportunity to sell all those unwanted Christmas gifts!
All welcome.

Members celebrated Centenary Year with afternoon tea at the Holy Cross Priory.