Oh what fun we had!

Last night we had an amazing outing to Blazing Saddles in Hebden Bridge to try out their electric bikes

There was a mixture of excitement and nerves as many of us had not been on a bike for years!  The staff were very reassuring and efficient, adjusting saddles, handle bars and hats to fit all, as well as providing positive, encouraging words.

In groups of five we wobbles out the back of the shop to Calder Holmes Park.  There the fun began.  the bikes were amazing and so much more comfortable than the bikes many of us remember.  The electric power made handling the bikes very simple.  When we approached our first hill there were shouts and screams of delight as we whizzed up without any effort.  we were keen to do another circuit or two when we gained confidence .  Our speed increased as we experimented with the electrical setting .  Bells started to ring  and lights were put on as we became more confident and ready to try the various switches and attachments.

We returned to the slopes with more confidence and speed.  Feeling like Mr Todd from ‘Wind in the Willows’ we were just discovering the joy of bike riding and the exhilaration of speed out of doors when we had to return to the shop for the next group of five to have a turn.  As I passed a group of teenagers sitting on a bench I couldn’t help shouting ‘Women’s Institute on Wheels’, as we raced back to Blazing Saddles.

We had tea and biscuits and  Q and A in the shop after our trial runs, and were informed about charging distances and the maintenance of the bikes.  There were some really searching questions and we learnt a lot.

We are ‘geared’ up to have a future WI day out in the countryside on some hired bikes.  Blazing Saddles have also offered us a bike maintenance course too.

Thanks to the staff at Blazing Saddles for a lovely evening re-discovering the joy of bike riding

Jeni Wetton

Pextenement Cheese Company is based in Todmorden and produces organic cheese.  It was established in 2008.

All the cheese produced by the company is made from organic milk taken from their own cows.  The cows are fed organically – organic grass and feeds only with no unnecessary antibiotics or medication used.

The company has won many prizes and most recently won 1st prize at the Great Yorkshire Show for their Devil’s Rock Blue and their Pikes Delight won the 2nd Prize

The evening consisted of a talk relating to how Cheese is processed and was followed by some cheese tasting.  There was an opportunity to buy some delicious cheese to take home  The evening was a huge success and was enjoyed by the members present

Fliss, our president, gave her address

She talked about the highlights of the year, which for her were:

The Race for LIfe which several members took part in and raised money in memory of Janet Blackburn

Burglar Bingo, which many of us enjoyed.  She reminded us of the spotty package, which everyone became determined to try and win!

The  Summer party and the games that we played and the laughter that we shared, not to mention the cheating that occurred during some of the activities!

The talk by Steve Morgan who had been a Greenpeace photographer for his career.  He shared wonderful experiences and photographs with us.

Fliss has been a fantastic president for 2 years and was presented with a gift from the members

Sarah Louise Long gave a review of the year and an annual report. She included photographs to remind us of the year we had shared and what we had done

Libby Wood gave the Treasurers Report and the accounts were reviewed and approved.  Libby also told us that we had raised £1200 for Overgate Hospice.

We went to the Egg Factory where Amy and Sue Mellis guided us to create some lovely items.

We were all given an embroidery hoop and some fabric and were shown how to transfer letters or patterns onto the fabric by way of screen printing

The prints were then embellished with stitches to create some lovely designs

It took a lot of concentration and even members who had little experience of stitching, made some lovely items

It was a really good evening, made better by the chat and friendship that we had sitting around the tables undertaking the task in hand.

Harriet Eames came from Overgate Hospice to talk to us.  Overgate is our current charity of the year

Harriet explained a lot of things about Overgate including its history, how it started, how it is funded, the service it offers to people, and the plans for its future 

She explained why fundraising is so important to the hospice and organised a quiz to test how much we had been listening!

We had great fun playing Burglar Bingo and many of us took home nice prizes 

Steve O’Connor came to run this evening for us

Steve who is originally from Manchester, teaches English and Creative Writing and has done poetry performances.  He has a book which is to be published this year

He explained lots of aspects of poetry to us – what it is, the themes that are often used, whether poetry should rhyme or not, rhyming schemes, and metres often used.

We had many exercises to try out and we all ‘had a go’ at writing

We shared our attempts.  The theme was ‘love’.  Many poems were amusing, some serious and thought provoking, and many demonstrated what talented women we have in our group

I think however, that my favourite on the night was Annette’s poem about the love her small son has for his tractor!

We were given a talk by Christine Booth from Shibden Hall in Halifax

She gave an amazing insight into the life of Anne Lister who was born in 1791 and lived at Shibden Hall in Halifax.  She died in 1840, but achieved many things in her life.  She was a remarkable business woman, a traveller and mountaineer.

Though we were told about her family background, childhood and her schooldays, education, daily life and work, the focus of the talk was Anne Lister’s diaries.

Anne kept diaries from her schooldays throughout her life.  They were written in code, which was developed to keep the contents secret.  They detailed her daily life, education and work but also her relationships with women throughout her life.   This was all logged in both diaries and schoolgirl notebooks.  It is thought that the code was developed to keep the details of her raltionships secret from her lovers’ husbands.