Holcombe Brook and Summerseat WI

The book club got together just before Christmas to celebrate the season with each other. A great time was had by all and everyone left with a Secret Santa book to enjoy in 2017.

A small group of members got together for a pre-Christmas crafting session and created fabulous floral arrangements.  And some festive port may also have been consumed! Merry Christmas everyone!

December saw our regular monthly meeting replaced by our Christmas meal at the Hare and Hounds. A great night was had by all; apart from the lovely meal we also enjoyed a craft competition (to create a hanging decoration for a Christmas tree) and our traditional 'disguised present' swap. Still on the festive theme, Liz Dyer put her artistic talents to great use by creating wicker reindeer. You can see the full herd in their amazingness below! So for now, Merry Christmas! and we'll see you in 2017!

Neil Coldrick from the Holcombe Moor Heritage Group joined us at our November meeting.  His entertaining talk 'A Brief History of Bottoms' explained the highs and lows of excavating a local archaeological site located on MOD grounds.  Neil brought with him a range of artefacts found at the dig. These ranged from pottery to engineering cogs from the old mill workings at the site.

Our September meeting saw us try our hand at sugarcraft decorating for a novelty Christmas cake. Our instructor was patience itself as we gamely tried making Santa and Rudolph soaking in a hot tub! Trimming the fondant covering  Adding the chocolate hot tub planks  This needs lots of concentration... and a bit of nifty finger work! Santa's boots are ready  Santa and Rudolph enjoy a dunk

We entered our first summer fair with a mix of anticipation, excitement and anxiety. Would we have enough stock? (Yes!) Would it rain? (Yes!) Were we all mad? (The jury is still out...) Cath created a wonderful new sign for our stall. Safe to say that it was a fabulous day and went amazingly well. Our plants and seedlings flew off the stall as quickly as Deborah could price them up and our cakes and crafts did a very brisk business too. Alison (wo)mans the craft stall. (She had a neat line in sales patter!) Maggie bags and price tags all the baked goods. You really can't have a WI stall at a summer fair without scrummy cakes! Everyone was so welcoming and we were delighted with the large turnout (despite the sodden weather). Bring on next year!

The  National Federation of Women's Institutes has launched a campaign to get members talking about organ donation.  The WI's campaign encourages members to have a think about donation, make a decision and then talk about it to someone close to them. Time to Talk About Organ Donation is about easing the burden on grieving families. When families have a clear idea about what their deceased loved-one wanted, it makes  it so much easier for them to fulfill their wishes. If we can get more people talking about donation, and having their decisions known and respected by their loved ones, we can increase the chances of a transplant being possible for those 7,000 people still on the waiting list. One donor can transform the lives of 9 different people. Start the Big Conversation We want to show everyone how WI members have found the 'Time to Talk' about organ donation, so their families are informed of their wishes. We're going to bring the WI's strength

June's meeting saw member Maggie Crabbe give a very interesting and entertaining talk about her time as a Special Constable. Filled with lots of anecdotes and a healthy dose of humour, Maggie's talk told us all about her exploits and how rewarding she found the role to be. We were all especially proud to learn Maggie had received a long service medal after ten years of service and even more delighted to see the medal first hand.

Our last meeting saw us frantically making a host of craft items for our stall at the Summerseat Festival. Members turned their (very creative!) hands to hand-stamping cards, crocheting iPhone cases, painting china, making gift boxes and making pompoms. It was a hive of activity with not a pair of idle hands in sight!

Inspired by the gorgeous weather we've been enjoying of late, Liz and Karen led a walk to Redisher Woods to see the bluebells in all their glory. The group then joined the rest of our members in the Hare and Hounds for the monthly meeting where we enjoyed a t alk and presentation by Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team.  We topped off the meeting with a fun quiz and cupcakes to celebrate HM The  Queen's 90th birthday. Union flags and hats were optional!

This month the book club are reading The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling. Come back soon to find out what they made of it!

In a break from the norm, the March monthly meeting took to the road and left the cosy Hare and Hounds pub behind. Instead, we visited the Bury Cancer Care Centre where members found out about the marvellous work the centre does in helping people going through cancer treatment. (Of course we had to pitch in with the tea and coffee too!)

Holcombe Brook and Summerseat WI welcomed in the Chinese Year of the Monkey with a few fun games! We think it's safe to say that our chopstick skills are certainly much improved! It seems the WI continues to be educational ;)

The monthly craft club have been showing off their skills and having fun. Apart from knitting, crochet and papercrafting, they've also turned their hand to modelling with clay. What a creative bunch!

The Book Club braved January's wintry winds to meet up and discuss Sarah Waters' novel 'The Paying Guests'. Several members had read other books by the author while some were coming to her work for the first time. Opinion was divided as to how enjoyable the book was with several of the group admitting that they didn't finish the novel because they found it just too depressing, not enough happened and/or they couldn't identify with the characters. Others however felt it was one of the best books they had read (inside or outside of the book group!) and felt passionate and concerned for the characters. The discussion widened to consider how insulated and repressed women were in the early twentieth century and how difficult it was for them to break out of the mold that society had fashioned. The novel is set in 1922 - only seven years after the WI had started and some of us felt that Frances might have been happier if only she had joined her local branch! In

A lovely evening was had in December as we gathered at The Hare and Hounds for our Christmas meal. Most members were able to attend and it made for a fun and friendly evening. As ever, the elaborately wrapped (but cheap!) Christmas present game made for lots of silliness and laughter as we swapped with each other in hope of securing a hidden treasure. There were plenty of entries in the Gift Tag competition with creativity, artistry and much glitter in evidence!