COBBIN GROUP

Some sixty members of five WIs came together this afternoon for the 49th Cobbin Group Meeting.  This group brings together Church Langley, Harlow, Hastingwood, North Weald, and Roydon Village WIs for an annual meeting.  The Institutes take it in turn to host the event and the various stalls and tasks are shared by all of them.  This year Harlow was the host; next year, for the 50th event, Roydon Village will be welcoming everyone.

We were fortunate to have one of Essex's newest WI Advisors, Jo Adams, chairing the meeting and she conducted us briskly and capably through the business of the day, before introducing the speaker.   Anita Marie Sackett spoke about toys of the forties and fifties, plus books and comics of the period.  This brought many memories of favourite playthings long forgotten.  To further this theme, the competition was for a toy or other item from the period.  A surprisingly large number of entries arrived for this. 

 

 
Other stalls held the 'Mystery Gift' selection, run by Church Langley, and the Raffle organised by North Weald. The pretty floral arrangements came from Hastingwood WI.  

After the talk came tea with sandwiches, sausage rolls and cakes - such a lot of cakes!  Members had been very generous.  We had a table quiz, set by Roydon Village, which proved quite fiendish, and then the raffle was drawn. 
 

 

 


Finally, after thank-yous had been said, the National Anthem was sung and we set off home, having enjoyed a friendly pleasant afternoon. 

October

Despite the absence of the Secretary, the Treasurer, a Vice-President, and several members, the October meeting went very well.  The President gamely filled several posts, and other committee members rallied round to run the Raffle and the Competition, whilst ensuring that the Register was kept up to date.

The speaker was Kate Cole who talked about the witches of Elizabethan England.  Essex held a surprisingly high number of witches, many of whom came to no good.

In keeping with the general theme of witchery, the competition was for a Hallowe'en item. The winning entry, a very large pumpkin, came from Elaine Ochiltree (picture below).  

  The winning entry

Other entries