Cradley WI – December 2024 for January CMS newsletter December is the mo nth when Cradley WI does not hold a fo rmal me etin g – but th at doesn’t deter members fr om regul arly ke eping in tou ch! At the end of November ther e was a good tu rnout for a l ively afternoon of craft work sho ps, when we welcomed visitors from Bosbury WI a nd a tutor from He ref ordshi re Fe der atio n. Needle Felting, Dotting and Scandinavian Red Wo rk ma y n ot be familia r craft s but all t hre e were demonstrated and taught by e nth us ias ts. In grou ps we were given the op po rtu nity to make a var iet y of (r ath er goo d!) Chris tmas d ec oratio ns and gi fts. Te a, c off ee and minc e pies were provided before we mo ved on to try out a dif fere nt craft. In a sli ghtly l ess organise d session there wa s muc h hilar ity as we battle d w ith limited or igami sk ills to mak e small g ift boxes! Such was the en thusia sm an d enjoymen t th at member s a ske d whe n th e next session would be - watch t his space. Visits to Chris tmas Ma rke ts h ave been popu lar even ts in re ce nt yea rs a nd thi s year we offered a c han ce to vis it Card iff or Bir min gh am mark ets . Grou ps of members met a nd travelled together by tr ain to eac h city, explo rin g t he ma rke ts a nd sh op s befo re get ting together fo r lu nch to compar e n ote s a nd show purcha se s. Almost half of our members are at ten din g our Christ ma s Lunc h – many th anks to Sall y fo r making the arrangements for this a nd for all the lu nch cl ub eve nts this year . Our regul ar Supper Club also met for a celebratio n meal – tha nk you to Di for the w ide ra nge of restaurants you h ave foun d fo r t he Su ppe r Club through out th e year . As you may remember, the Village Chri stmas Fair was held on a rath er ‘bluste ry’ day in December and owing to th e weathe r th e WI set up two st alls . One stall sold a w ide ra nge of home-made cakes, ba kes, jams, ch utneys a nd gift s. The oth er stall, s et up in t he wa rmer and less windy environment of th e c hu rch, h ad our raffle an d a ‘g ues s th e wei gh t of the ca ke’ competition, run by Joy an d prov ing as po pu lar as ever. Th e r affle was to win one of thre e magnificent hampers put together by our Presi den t, Sue, a nd Se cre tary, Le sley, usin g produce provide d by our members . Jo y pro vid ed a won derful ice d cake fo r th e c om pe titio n. All the proceeds from this stall, alm ost £150, wi ll be d onated to St Mi chael’s Hos pice, our chosen charity for this yea r. A big t hank y ou goes out to eve ry one in the vi llage a nd surrounding a rea s f or their support ag ain this yea r. Thanks to Lesley, 9th Dec saw us again in the village hall to cr eat e C hri stmas themed door wreaths. Friends and vi llager s were welcomed and no matt er t he ski ll le vel we we re pleased with our ha ndcraf ted ef fort s whic h w ill be proudly d isp layed. The Committee would like to tak e this opportunity to th ank all our member s fo r th eir help and involvement in all our activit ies an d clubs in 2024. We look forwa rd to pro vid ing mo re fun and friendship in 2025 - look out for our Nation al Fed er atio n 110 ye ar anniversary celebrations! We wish you all a Fabulous Fe stive Sea so n. Our first meeting of 202 5 is on Thu rsday 2 nd January at 7.30 in t he Vil lage Hall – we’l l discuss and vote individually on the Natio nal Fe der ati on WI Re sol utio ns for 2025 an d h ave some light-heart ed game s w ith an opportunity to auction anything you may lik e to ‘r e-g ift’! We look forward to seeing you th en . If you wou ld l ike to c ome as our gu est to see what we are about you ar e m os t welcome a nd the fir st mee tin g is comp limen tary. For more inf ormation pleas e con tact: Cradley_WI@herefordshirewi.org.uk Pam Mos s, Press Officer