Sorry for the late notice ladies but sadly our advertised speaker for our March meeting Peter King is stuck being fabulous somewhere and so at the very last minute the divine Scrapiana has stepped into his Oscar winning shoes to demonstrate the alchemy of making lovely new things from old.

Whether it’s making strawberry needle-cushions from jam-pot covers, or fabric-covered beads from an old Liberty lawn blouse, there’s always a novel twist on using up textile scraps at a Scrapiana Workshop. Bath based Scrapiana has spent several years campaigning on waste, trying to persuade the British to throw fewer things away & her latest quest is to get the nation mending, darning and patching again. She’s a regular contributor to international magazines and blogs such as Mollie Makes and provides inspiration to us all through her classes and her project The Big Mend.

We’re delighted that she’s joining us to demonstrate a few of her secrets and to inspire us all.  To find out more about her or to book a class then please go her website at scrapiana.com

Remember that friends, family and just the plain curious are welcome to come along and join us for this meeting on Wednesday the 6th of March at 7.30pm at St Mary’s Bathwick.  Please email us at thebathwi@gmail.com if you’d like any more details.

Do you fancy a laugh? Literally?

To get the WI New Year off to a very happy start we’re having a stress-busting laughter workshop that we hope will inspire us through out 2013. There are some strong connections between laughter, positive psychology, happiness and resilience. The workshop will look at some of these issues but hopefully will also leave you on a WI high, ready to spread some WI happiness  in our fair city of Bath. “Such Fun Darling!”

If you want more information then have a look on their website – there are some great clips on their ‘Chuckle gallery’ to get you in the mood. http://www.joehoare.co.uk/laughter_wellbeing.html

We’ll be meeting at 7.30pm on February 6th at the church hall at Bathwick St Mary’s and as always the event is open to non-members, family, friends and the WI-Curious.  We’re looking forward to seeing you all there.

We’re welcoming around 20 to 30 carefully selected stallholders who produce and sell the finest goods from stocking fillers to sloe gin, luxurious gifts to little treats.  This is the perfect opportunity to purchase unique and special gifts in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

WI Members, friends, curious folk and dedicated shoppers are all  welcome to this open door event!

We’ll be serving up a selection of Christmas food and drink for you to sample while you shop and as always this will be a great opportunity to meet and chat with  like minded women from our beautiful city. What better way could there be to kick off the festive season in style?

• Doors open at 7.30pm on December 5th
• Venue: St Mary’s Church, Darlington Street, Bath, BA2

If you would like to be considered as a stallholder please apply to thebathwi@gmail.com or leave a comment by this article and we’ll be touch.

For any further information about our Christmas Fair, joining the WI or about the Bath Chapter please email thebathwi@gmail.com.

To download the CANAPE recipes please click here

To download the COCKTAIL recipes please click here

See you all in December for more seasonal treats at our Christmas Fair!

Bring a friend and book a taxi, it’s cocktail time!

After our “back to nature” foraging for food in October we’re ramping things up in the glamour stakes for our November meeting with an evening of Cocktails and Canapes.

Local mixologist Juliet Lowrie will be demonstrating the art of shaking up the perfect Christmas cocktail as well as how to make delicious canapes to accompany  her party potions and there’ll be plenty of opportunities to sample along the way (I fear the hangover already!).    So, if you’re looking for inspiration for this year’s Christmas celebrations or just fancy a more interesting tipple on Christmas Day then look no further!

Friends, relations and curious minds are free to come along to this and all of our meetings for a small £4 charge.

We’ll be meeting as usual on the first Wednesday of the month (November 7th) at St Marys Bathwick Church Hall from 7.30pm and our refreshments this month will echo the theme of the meeting, so party shoes at the ready ladies.

We’re delighted that Sean Bowers the Assistant Director of Music at Bath Abbey is coming along to do his best Gareth Malone impression and get us all singing along. Enthusiasm is all that is required rather than talent – so no need to be shy & we promise there will be no enforced solos. We may not have recorded a number 1 single at the end of the evening but we’ll have had a laugh and learnt a lot!

We’re meeting on Wednesday the 5th at 7.30pm at St Mary’s Bathwick for some drinks and chat with Sean taking his place at the piano from 8pm. As always guests as well as members are very welcome.

Please email us at thebathwi@gmail.com if you any questions about the meeting or joining our group. If you’d like to find out more about Bath Abbey, how to join their worship or their work in the committee please go to http://www.bathabbey.org

Rocks East Woodland

We’ll be spending a night under canvas at the lovely Rocks East Woodland near Colerne on Thursday 2nd August. Importantly, they allow campfires (essential to the whole experience) and are entirely family friendly.

This is not a WI exclusive – children and husbands are entirely welcome. For the faint-hearted among us, there is also the option to turn up for an evening of firelight and wine before heading back to a warm and bug-free bed.

So dust off your camping gear, round up the family and let us know you’re coming via Facebook. The more the merrier!

As you may know the lovely people at the Flavours of the West Festival have given us a stand to sell cakes, sweets and all things yummy this year, so we thought we’d make it a little more interesting and ask you all to get baking both in aid of the Bath WI but also with this prestigious honour in mind!

Up for grabs is the satisfaction of knowing you’re the best WI baker in our fair city, along with a bottle of champagne and even a little silver cup to show off to your friends which will be presented to the winner at our July meeting.

To enter you just need to get baking and either bring your cakes along to our stall at the Festival (Milsom’s Place June 30th / July 1st)or we’ll send one of our “Cake Couriers” to your house to pick up your delicious treats.

Any cake of any size or shape is eligible for the competition so if you’re the queen of cupcakes, the master of tray-bakes or the sultana of celebration sponges we want you to prove you have what it takes to bring the rest of the Bath WI trembling to our knees!

More details of how to order a Cake Courier to pick up your delights for the Festival will be posted on the site later this month.  For now, just out break your recipe books and get planning.

For more details on the Flavours of the West festival please click here or go to their Facebook Page

A swing band will serenade you as you enjoy your picnic and there will be entertainment galore for children and adults alike including a dog show and a demonstration by 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles.

The celebrations kick off at noon with the Frome Swing Band who will serenade us through-out the day.  A range of food and drink will be avaliable from producers such as the Boston Tea Company, Abbey Ales and Marshfield Ice Cream.  Fred and his Sizzling Pig Roast will also be making a welcome appearance!

Here’s what we’ll be up to;

12.30 - ‘Lady Margaret’ officially opens our party & Fun Dog Show commences
12.45 - Best Jubilee Fancy Dress for Dogs in front of the band and judged by Lady Margaret
1.00 - Face Painters – Cat’s Whiskers
1.30 - 1st Battalion Royal Gurka Rifles display
2.00 - Zumba dancing – please join in!
2.30 - Best Jubilee Cake .. Cake judging by the Marchesa di Monticelli
3.15 - Raffle draw
4.00 p.m. - Finale: Baths Largest Hokey Cokey & National Anthem with lots of flag waving

In true British style there will be a Wondrous Raffle and Tombola, a Coconut Shy and the Bath WI will be there selling our normal treats for your tummy!

We hope you can all join us and make this a day to remember!  For details on how to get to the park please click here.

This month we’re moving away from tales of the finely tuned body of a professional athlete and coming to closer to home with an emergency first aid course.

David Hallett from the St John Ambulance will be joining us and demonstrating emergency first aid observations, checks and actions to take for injuries and in emergency situations. He also aims to leave us with a  good basic understanding of CPR.   Be warned, there will be some crowd participation as well!

The chances of recovering more easily, or even surviving an accident or injury can be greatly improved if someone immediately uses first aid knowledge to help assist until the ambulance arrives.  The aim of the evening is to give you the knowledge and most importantly the confidence to help in these situations.

Join us on June 6th from 7.30pm for drinks and chat at St Mary’s Church in Bathwick.  The meeting will start at 8pm.   Directions to the Church can be found here.

As always non-members, guests and friends are very welcome to join us and share in this valuable training.

For more information about the St John Ambulance, the work they do and how you can get involved or donate your time or money please go to http://www.sja.org.uk