Hi everyone,

This newsletter is a bit long, I apologise in advance but there’s loads going on this month.

Firstly, it’s our 5th birthday party this month and our Social Secretary, Karen Cunningham has been hard at work planning a fabulous Bake-Off party.

So please come along on Monday 21st March for canapés, cakes and culinary quizzes. We’re inviting guests from local WI’s and it should be a fun evening of relaxed socialising. Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start and guests are welcome for £4.

We’ll be selling the cakes at the end to raise money for our charity of the year, so please bring some extra cash.

BAKE OFF DETAILS

If you’d like to bake (it’s not compulsory!), you can enter the following five categories. You can enter as many times and categories as you wish.

• Savoury
• Free From – i.e. gluten-free and/or vegan
• Biscuits/flapjack/traybake
• Decorate a cupcake (cake can be shop bought)
• Victoria Sandwich

The Victoria Sandwich is the technical round and to enter this category you must have made this exact recipe to these WI requirements.

Also, please note the following:

• Bring a plate for display and a knife/cake slice if needed
• All competition bakes should be registered by 7.20pm to allow for a 7.30pm start
• Please label your bakes outlining dietary intolerances and allergies: contains nuts, gluten free etc
• After judging and award giving, all bakes will be included in the charity bake sale

And finally, don’t forget to bring a container for taking cake home!

DENMAN BURSARY

To further celebrate our fifth bursary, we’re offering a one-off educational bursary for a HBWI member to attend Denman College, the WI’s dedicated adult education college in Oxfordshire. We’ve never sent a member to Denman before so we’re excited to be able to offer this fantastic opportunity.

To enter the Denman Bursary please do the following:

• Choose your course from the Denman brochure.
• Send an email stating your name, your course choice and the cost to hebdenbridgewi@gmail.com
• The bursary is worth up to £500. Depending on what you choose, you should get the full cost of your course and (hopefully) most of your travel costs.
• The deadline is Monday 21st March and we’ll be doing the draw at the meeting. Brochures will be available to look at during the meeting but we would prefer people to apply before the meeting because it reduces the workload on the night.
• You must be a current paid-up member of HBWI to apply and last year’s regular bursary winners cannot apply.

On that note, if you’ve not already re-joined, fees MUST be paid by this month’s meeting at the latest or you’ll be removed from our Facebook page and the WI database. Subs are £37.50 for the year and cheques should be made payable to Hebden Bridge WI.

The chance to win the Denman bursary is an excellent reason to join if you’ve been thinking about it but haven’t got round to it yet!

RAG MARKET

The Rag Market is approaching fast. It’s on Saturday 16th April in Hebden Bridge Town Hall from 11am- 4pm.

As usual, we’ll need volunteers for the day and books, CD’s, DVD’s and homemade produce for our WI stall. Vanessa will have a volunteer sign-up sheet at this month’s meeting.

BOOK GROUP

This month’s book group is in the Crown Pub on Crown Street on Tuesday 29th March at 7.30pm. Bring along books you’ve read to review and swap. Please note the temporary change of day to avoid the bank holiday.

Phew, that’s your lot – congratulations if you made it to the end and I hope to see you on Monday.

Kirsty Hall
HBWI President