Wrotham Roses, WI

27/06/2025

Wrotham Roses welcomed Winterdale cheeses to our June monthly meeting. Such a very interesting talk about how the cheesed are made much harder work than we though very early starts. We were  also very impressed to find out that they sell their cheeses in the Hutch Deli at Ightham and also in Waitrose Supermarket and at many festivals and events. Phil Vickery from ITV is also a fan of their cheeses, but of course the best bit was the tasting session which was absolutely delicious and thankfully there was plenty for us to buy and take home. Obviously there was plenty of time for tea and biscuits chats and catch ups on all our activities and the groups that we are starting up.

At our July meeting we are delighted to be welcoming back Sue Knight and her bees, when she visited last year she was unable to bring along her bees but this year she’s hoping to bring some in to show us inside the hive and all the honey that they are busy making. Also of course some of her delicious honey to buy and I’m hoping that this time I might get some of her furniture polish I missed out last year!

22/05/25

Wrotham Roses celebrated VE Day and our 1st AGM with 1940s music, a VE Day quiz, plant stall, craft stall and of course tea and cakes a great time was had by all.  Next Month we will be welcoming Winterdale Cheeses to our meeting hopefully some delicious tastings as well.  We will meet on the 10th June at 1pm till 3pm in the village hall,  visitors and new members always welcome hope to see you there!

13/05/2025

May is our AGM, and we will also be celebrating VE Day, we will have 1940s music and songs we will of course have cake and tea, we are all hoping to dress in red, white or blue for the afternoon There’s a raffle, brick abrack  stall, pottery, glass wear, books and DVDs, and a plant and gardening sale, a fun afternoon is planned. We are also starting a wi multi craft afternoon and hopefully starting more clubs in the future.

Please come along and join us new members and visitors are always welcome.

8/04/2025

This week we are looking forward to welcoming the Greyhound Rescue Dunrunning to our meeting who has now become a therapy dog visiting care homes etc.  We will be finding out about the work that Dunrunning do rescuing ex racing dogs and how we may be able to help them to continue to do so.

Background:

Our aim is to offer a warm, safe inviting space for women aged 18 and over, regardless of background or circumstance. A place to form friendship, learn new skills, to be involved with national and local campaigns. Most importantly to have fun. To bring people together who might otherwise be alone. This we have strived to do and will continue to do so. I hope you will agree a worthwhile community project.

On the 9 April 2024 we held our first meeting in Wrotham Village Hall, 48 members joined, Wrotham Roses WI had begun. We meet every 2nd Tuesday in the month (except for January) 1pm to 3 pm.

We have arranged a variety of activities and speakers including, gardening, beekeeping, keep fit, Air Ambulance, Taxes and toy boys, that was financial advice from the CO-OP finance department and everything in between. We ask our members what they would like and plan accordingly.

We also hold plant sales, bric-a-brac and craft stalls. To try and promote the skills of our members and engage speakers from the local area. Along with supporting local events.

This has been a huge learning curve for us all, both committee and members. We are so pleased that we survived. We have gone from strength to strength and hope we will have a very successful 2nd year. The WI in the UK is 110 years old this year. We are in our infancy and want so much to be able to have a WI in Wrotham for many years to come.

Lynne Wakeling, President