A group of twelve members met this evening to get to know about “Upcycling”. We found it quite difficult to separate the subject from recycling. Finally we decided it was to produce an article completely different and desirable in its own right from something that otherwise would be discarded. This got rid of a lot of the make-do-and-mend processes remembered from our childhood and early married lives. The production of bird boxes from the local Men in Sheds definitely fitted the bill because this was proving a commercial success. We had collected several examples of items made for the tourist market abroad and some others produced by charitable organisations in UK. We also swapped information on big businesses which were producing biofuel from waste dairy products and coffee grounds. However we didn’t think much to using old bras for hanging baskets as shown on the Web!
6th April
The speaker at the local WI monthly meeting was Carol Tomes who gave us an interesting talk on the history of lingerie. The exhibits on display ranged from instruments of torture to really elegant and alluring silk creations. It has been decided to send the proceeds of the refreshments for the BFWI Quiz and of the sale of bric-a-brac in July to the Denman College Appeal. We wished our team in the quiz good luck and hoped for a repeat success from last year. There will be a decision next month on whether we can form other interest groups and names were taken for the outing in August.
4th April
The craft group met this afternoon to continue the members’ work on various projects. Several people are answering the request for twiddle muffs for distribution to dementia sufferers. These can be knitted or crocheted in thick wools to a set size. Then the muffs are embellished with buttons, tassels or even zips---anything that idle fingers can play with safely. I think our WI will probably turn out about ten very different muffs to go to local hospitals and medical centres.