THE latest community news from Llanfair

WI

Members were welcomed back after the summer break and minutes of the July meeting were read and signed.

Members reported that the July treasure hunt and chip shop supper was a most enjoyable event, though Llanfair’s teams did not score highly.

Jan and Theresa had attended the County Show, where the WI stalls were housed in a sheep barn rather than a marquee as usual.

Gwen Pettifer and her team had been thanked for delivering, setting up and returning Llanfair’s items, which was most kind of them.

Sue has prepared a privacy statement to conform to the General Data Protection Act. This needs to be signed by all members.

Jan had previously suggested a visit to Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor for a lunch during October, still to be confirmed.

For this year’s Christmas lunch, 11 or 12 December look favourable. Carole provided Y Sgwâr’s early bird menu, Pat will obtain one from Castle Cottage and Jan has agreed to approach The Plas for a lunchtime menu.

The newsletter was read, stressing deadlines for forthcoming events.

Pat pointed out that Llanfair WI has no other darts players to form a team.Pauline indicated that she and Jan would be away for the quiz night. Other members would be welcome to form teams for these events.

Correspondence included information from ACWW Pennies for Friendship, enabling institutes to state a preference for the recipient; a poster from Birmingham Hippodrome for Peter Pan pantomime and behind the scenes tour for £40 (transport not included); and notification that WI subscriptions will increase by £1 in 2019, split between federation and institute. The treasurer’s report was read by Pat.

As the next meeting is Llanfair’s first craft meeting, Pauline indicated that members could bring their own items to work on if they so wished. For others, lists of items needed for making Christmas crackers or doing Japanese present wrapping were handed out. There would also be books available for card-making, napkin-folding and ikebana.

Pauline then welcomed Phil Mostert, former headteacher and HMI, to speak about an educational visit he made to Kenya in 2011. The visit was at the request of the Finnish government, to check if donations they had made, specifically computers, were being used appropriately.

Although most schools had gratefully received them and set up computer rooms, Phil needed to persist in visiting one school, eventually finding that 20 of the 24 machines had been sold off.

Phil’s photographs illustrated the cheerful and enthusiastic disposition of the students, despite being taught in large classes in simple buildings with very poor sanitation, often walking miles to school on unmade roads. Phil presented many other interesting and amusing anecdotes of life in Kenya.

After taking questions, Phil was warmly thanked by Betty Grant for his informative and enthusiastic talk.

During tea, boards were circulated for signing the GDP form, and for September events.

Raffle winner: Mary Post

Competition: 1, Theresa Lampert; 2, Barbara Roberts; joint 3, Betty Grant, Christine Freeman.

Next meeting: 12 October, crafts.

If you’re a member of a club, society or group, send your news to [email protected]