WHAT'S GONE!
We held our first meeting on Monday 16th November 2009, at Twyford Parish Hall, Twyford, Winchester, Hampshire.
This meeting was a social evening and over 60 ladies braved miserable weather to find out more about the Disparate Housewives WI. The new Waitrose store in Winchester generously supplied a fantastic selection of wine and cheese. Everyone who attended was asked for ideas for future meetings, and the suggestions we received were varied to say the least and ranged from pole dancing to plumbing! Where practical, these ideas will be incorporated into the 2010 events programme.
Our second meeting was our "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" Quiz. Held on 21 December 2009, with snow on the ground. It was a fun evening with a festive quiz with interactive rounds and gave everyone the opportunity to relax and unwind with friends before the big day!
The New Year started with Strictly Salsa! And what fun we had! The Latin rhythms soon got everyone putting their best foot forward under the expert tuition of Max and Silvia from Salsa y Sol. Starting with the basic moves everyone soon moved onto more exciting turns and swivels as the temperatures rose and much laughter resounded around the hall.
On 24th February we learn't about the benefits of wearing a good fitting bra and breast maintenance and care. Lorraine Brown, a breast care nurse from RHCH talked about breast care and maintenance and the true picture of breast cancer statistics putting to rest many of the unfounded alarmist claims.
This was followed by Dani Miller, from Boudoir Blush, who gave us a detailed explanation of the importance of wearing a correctly fitted bra. She also ran through the top tips for choosing the right bra for your shape and size and the many pitfalls that we all fall into when dazzled by the array of styles and sizes to select from.
Those of us that went, had a fantastic evening of toe-tapping, sing along and laughter at the brilliant Rat Pack show at Thornden Hall. We were entertained in true Las Vegas style by 'Frank Sinatra', 'Dean Martin' and 'Sammy Davis Jnr' along with their band and show girls! All the favourites were played and Jackie joined Frank on stage for a wonderful performance of 'Something Stupid'.
On the 17th of March, just in time for Easter, we had an evening with Master Chocolatier, Mark Tilling. We started with a short film about the International Chocolate Masters Competition and watched amazing chocolate sculpture creations coming to life. Mark demonstrated how to temper chocolate to achieve a smooth glossy finish and then how to use it to make beautiful Easter eggs. He talked about the different types of cocoa pods and explained that where they grow affects their flavour. This was ably illustrated through samples of different types of chocolate which were eagerly consumed by a very happy audience.
In April, we got plastered! This was our first aid evening with Rob Shaloe from Prinicpal Consulting, who had us all in stitches! We had a fun, interactive evening practising putting each other in the recovery position and doing CPR on models. Rob was instructive, informative and highly entertaining and we all went away much wiser, more confident, and if called upon, more prepared to put our new skills to good use.
May was curry making! The chef and the manager from the Rimjhim Restaurant in Colden Common came along to teach us how to make traditional curries and vegetable pakoras! Exotic aromas soon filled the Parish Hall and there were plenty of tastings for everyone!
In June we sang our hearts out! Half 8 ladies quartet taught how to sing in 4 part harmony and entertained us with songs from their repertoire. Under their expert tuition we were soon sounding quite professional! We clearly have some very talented and tuneful singers amongst our group!
