October has been a very busy month for Harlow WI, with our monthly meeting followed by the annual Bazaar and today we hosted the Group Meeting. 

The speaker booked for the monthly meeting had to cancel at short notice for family reasons.  Our Booking Secretary worked her socks off and found us another speaker  - Miss Maureen Poole - who gave a fascinating and very amusing talk entitled "Across Siberia with No Knickers", the knickers in question having disappeared along with the suitcase containing them somewhere between London and Moscow.  Fortunately, Miss Poole was accompanied by her sister so complete disaster was averted.
Our competition that day was for an item of 'bling'.  Considering how many members claimed not to understand what constituted bling, there was a surprisingly high number of entries.  The winner was declared to be Christine Dellow.

The Bazaar was held on the morning of Saturday 18th which, fortunately, coincided with the second day of flu vaccinations at the local health centre.  This always works in our favour and over ninety people came through the door.  They proved very generous in their spending, and the WI raised over £400.

Finally, today, we were the hosts for the 44th Cobbin Group meeting.  There was an excellent turnout for this from the five Institutes in the Group (North Weald, Roydon Village, Hastingwood, Church Langley and Harlow).  The speaker for the occasion was Richard Westcott with "Confessions of a Pantomime Dame".  He gave an excellent and very funny demonstration of the many things that go into turning a man into a "Dame", starting with his make-up and the various underpinnings, then the outer layers and the jewellery.  There were stories and songs which involved audience participation, there were beauty hints and keep-fit ideas.  He was warmly applauded at the end of his hour-long talk.  Afternoon tea followed, then the judging of the various competitions and the raffle.  Everyone seemed satisfied with the afternoon, and thanks were expressed all round.  The next Cobbin Group meeting will be hosted by Roydon Village in 2015. 

October Meeting

Just a reminder that the next meeting is Wednesday 8th October.  There has been a change of speaker - Mr David Hewitt is no longer able to come, but we have been fortunate in securing the services of Maureen Poole at short notice.  Her talk has the intriguing title of "Across Siberia with no Knickers".

The competition remains the same ('bling') and if you have been busy making a mask for the Group Meeting competition, next Wednesday is the day to bring it along so that two masks can be selected for our entry.

We look forward to seeing you.