Autumnal October
Although the weather is still reasonably warm, the colours of Autumn are showing on trees and shrubs, conkers have been collected by those children who still value them, and berries and nuts are in abundance.
The October competition at Harlow WI was for a Hallowe'en item, and there were eight entries to choose from.
The President got the meeting off to a brisk start, welcoming members and friends, and dealt with business smartly. It was soon time for the talk. The President, Christine Dellow, introduced Linda Stratmann whose theme was "Fraudsters and Charlatans". Linda is something of an expert on this topic and has written a book about a number of famous and infamous 19th century fraudsters. Almost all ultimately came to grief, either because of assiduous detective work, or because their schemes failed to render sufficient returns to satisfy the greed or need of the perpetrator. It is a fascinating subject, and kept the audience intrigued until teatime. Ms Stratmann was thanked for her talk by Lyn Martin.
Linda Stratmann selects the winning item. |
After tea, the raffle was drawn and the prize for the Hallowe'en item, judged by Ms Stratmann, went to the witch's hat created by Jennifer Quinn. Flowers were presented to members with birthdays in October.
Members were reminded of forthcoming events, particularly the Cobbin Group Meeting on Thursday 27 October at Church Langley, and the WI Bazaar on Saturday 12 November from 10 am until noon.
The President thanked everyone for attending and the meeting closed just before 4 o'clock.