WI

AT THE beginning of April, members paid a visit to Abbey-Cwm-Hir mansion, where the rooms were decorated in an Easter theme. They also enjoyed the gardens and shared a meal.The speaker at the first April meeting was Rachel Hedge, house steward at Llanerchaeron Mansion, who has special responsibility for pest control.

Her talk was entitled ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Bugs.’ The ‘good’ bugs, which include spiders, ladybirds and bumble-bees are harmless and live off other pests.The larvae of ‘bad’ bugs – woodworm, wood weevil, clothes moths, silver fish and carpet beetles – cause damage by eating natural fibres and damage books. Shelagh Yeomans from Llanio, who is secretary of Llanddewi Brefi WI, gave a talk and demonstration about hanging baskets. Shelagh, who has a lifelong interest in gardening, grows most of her own plants from seed, and opens her garden every year under the National Gardens Scheme. She showed pictures of some of her flower baskets from previous years. Then, with the help of WI members Eirlys Jones and Debbie Heath, who each planted a basket, took the group through the various stages of preparing and looking after a hanging basket, step by step. Judy Lile then thanked Shelagh, Eirlys and Debbie.

The competition for a vase of wild flowers was won by Jill Turner.The following week, Dr Andrea Hammel, reader in German and European languages at the Department of Modern Languages at Aberystwyth University, gave an interesting and informative talk on ‘The Kindertransport to Britain in 1938-39’.

This was a time when nearly 10,000 unaccompanied young people aged between two and 17, mostly of Jewish origin, came to the UK on trains from major cities in Austria, Germany and Czechoslovakia to escape Nazi persecution and were placed with foster families and in boarding schools. Dr Hammel spoke of the trauma suffered by many children as a result of separation from their families and the sudden change of language and culture.

She also spoke about certain issues that faced the country at the time, such as hospitality, tolerance and government policies towards immigration. She informed the group that there are commemorative plaques at The Palace of Westminster and Liverpool Street Station. We were pleased to welcome a number of visitors, including Rachel Dieneman, daughter of William Dieneman who had been one such child, who came with her husband. Next, Dr Dylan Williams from Llanilar Health Centre spoke about Type 2 diabetes which he said can occur in later life, when the body fails to use insulin efficiently. The number of people with this health problem has increased during the last few years, he said.

Currently five per cent of the total NHS expenditure is spent on diabetes, accounting for over £1bn, he added.

Major contributory factors are obesity and inactivity. Other factors include a family history of the disease and belonging to certain ethnic groups. Recently, a project was begun locally to raise awareness of the risk factors. Dr Williams invited members to do a simple risk assessment test to discover whether they are at risk and, if so, to seek advice. The competition for a small knitted item was won by Judy Lile. Congratulations to Eirlys Jones, who won second prize in Ceredigion WI Rally for her cushion.