Scarning Womens Institute
History of Scarning WI
Registered Charity No. 1018273I
Scarning Women’s Institute was founded in 1952.
The formation meeting took place on 20th February 1952 at 7.30pm at Scarning Village Hall. 42 ladies were present.
A resolution was proposed by Mrs Duigan and seconded by Mrs Roper to form an
institute in Scarning and was unanimously adopted. The following bye- laws were passed-
1.That the monthly meeting should be held in the parish room, Scarning on the
last Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm. The annual meeting should be held in November.
2. There should be 12 members elected for committee.
3. The Vice Presidents to be elected by the committee.
4. The age for joining should be 16 years.
It was agreed to hold the first institute meeting on Wednesday 5th March at
7.30. ( curiously not the last Wednesday of the month!!) Nominations for committee were received by Mrs Broke.
On March 5th 56 members attended the meeting and a ballot was held to elect the
committee. Tea was served and a discussion of future events took place. The meeting closed with Auld Lang Syne.
The first ‘proper’ meeting of Scarning Women’s Institute took place on
26th March 1952. 53 members were present. Mrs Allwood the president was in the chair.
The 10/- effort to support county funds was discussed and entered into as was
the London AGM although a delegate was not sent. It was agreed to hold a monthly competition and a bowls club was formed.
A talk and demonstration on the art of glove making took place. This was
followed by tea and charades. The meeting closed singing the national anthem at 9.40pm.
Scarning Women’s Institute Today
Much of Scarning WI remains the same today. We still hold our meetings at 7.30
on
the last Wednesday of the month in the village hall apart from June and
December when the date is moved. We don’t have quite such a large
membership but still have about 36 members. We don’t always manage 12
committee members but we do have sufficient people to share all the
tasks out and other members that will help on special occasions.
Sadly we cannot boast any 16 year old amongst our ladies but any wishing to
join would be made most welcome. We do have a reputation for being a friendly outgoing group of people.
We have a visiting speaker most months who give talks and demonstrations on a
wide
range of topics. We no longer have a bowls club but we do have two Ten
Pin Bowling teams which compete with other institutes.
In addition to the bowling we have a scrabble group, a craft club, quiz team
and during the summer months a gardening club.
Tea is still an important part of our meetings but we now also offer coffee and
squash and of course the famous WI cakes.
We
have a bursary available for any member/members who wish to go to
Denman College in Oxford for a course. These can be on any subject from
crafts to history, cooking to walking so something to suit every taste.
If you would like to come along to a meeting you would be most welcome and you
can come for three visits free of charge to see if you like us.
The annual subscription for 2009 is £29.00 per year. There are no other
meeting costs unless you wish to purchase a raffle ticket.
Please call our secretary Rosemary on 013620 687538 before visiting just to
check that we haven’t booked a meeting away from the hall.
Want to know more about the WI? click this link:
http://www.womens-institute.co.uk/
Scarning Village Hall
2010 Programme27th January 2010 Holiday Slides – Margaret Smith
24th Feb Mrs Brenda May with the St Withburga Handbell ringers competition an ornamental bell
31st March Christine Rooke The Tea Lady with tea tasting competition a pretty tea pot
28th April Tina Wilkins on Crystals for health and wellbeing competition something geological
26th May Resolutions. Speaker to be arranged competition flower of the month
30th June The garden meeting competition a buttonhole
28th July Mrs Philippa Lond - Hats on Heads from making to wearing competition a hat pin
25th August Dr Ian Burrows on Food from the wild competition a nature poem
29th September Miss Susan Lee - Calcutta rescue- the story of a midwife in Kolkata competition a souvenier from India
27th October Mrs Esme Wilson-Staniforth with Tales of mystery and tales of long ago competition a witches hat or mask
24th November The Annual meeting competition an edible necklace
8th December The Christmas party competition the best wrapped gift
26th January 2011 Wendy Brown with a crafty surprise competition a bookmark
Social evening January 2009
Social evening January 2009
Social evening January 2009
The Cator Cup Competition is a competition between all the Norfolk WI’s. The subject last year was called 'WWW anything beginning with W'.
We chose to do a Winter White Wedding.
We had to choose 5 from 8 different items to enter into the competition
and display it on a board. Competition was fierce and we came 20th out of 39 entries.
The theme this year for the Cator Cup competition was Time and Tide. We were very pleased to achieve 4th place out of 44 entries. Our interpretation was of the passage of time and Grandmothers memories.
A birthday card and photo from her Grandson who is at war in Afghanistan prompted Granny to look through her treasure box and recall her war years and those of other family members. As she writes back to her Grandson urging him to take care she has a cup of tea and a plate of shortbread biscuits at her side.
The items judged were the memory box, the patchwork tea cosy, the crochet doily, the birthday card and the shortbread.
27 members and 1 visitor attended the birthday meeting of Scarning WI held in March last year. In celebration of 90 years of the WI our party had a Victorian theme with party games, Victorian style refreshments and an old time music hall sing song. The competition was to decorate an Easter Bonnet with stunning results.
Here are some pictures of the 2009 Christmas party and show the raffle prizes, the competition entries for the Best Wrapped Gifts, some of the ladies having a good time and the magician at work.
In June last year we took a guided walk around Norwich looking at the architecture of George Skipper and took the opportunity to view the beautiful interior of the former Norfolk and Norwich building. It is so easy when dashing from shop to shop not to stop and look up at the wonderful buildings in the city.
On 24th February the ladies of Scarning WI were entertained by
the St Withburga hand bell ringers.
The bells belong to Dereham church and were made to match the church bells.
Each church had a set of hand bells to enable the bell ringers to practice
making their tunes on the more manageable and quieter small bells before going on
to ring the large bells.
The ladies explained how the music was converted to numbers and
demonstrated the various ways in which the bells could be rung then it was
time for the WI ladies to 'have a go'.
We found that it took a great deal of concentration to keep up with
the music and play at the right time.
This beautiful banner was embroidered several years ago by WI member and former bell ringer Ruby Gill.
