Carol Service- Monday 14th December 2009

An invitation from Llangefni WI to attend "A Night of Carols with Nantle Brass Band" at St Cyngar's Church, Llangefni on 14th December at 7:30pm (£2 includes a programme, tea & mince pies). This should be a superb way of getting into the Christmas mood....


...and we certainly had a good time - The giggles started! The shoulders were shaking as we attempted to stifle the laughter.

Talwrn Christmas Fair - Fri 4th December 2009

The 2009 Talwrn Christmas Fair was held in the village hall. The Talwrn Lite ladies came up trumps in helping our community hall raise funds by donating items and giving their time by holding a Bottle Tombola stall. It turned out to be a real hit as the stall was empty within the hour. I'm not sure if this says something about our community liking a tipple, but our volunteers certainly enjoyed the mulled wine and mince pies!

Meeting - Wednesday 2nd December 2009

Christmas started early on Anglesey when Talwrn Lite WI held a minimal business meeting quickly followed by a tasty Christmas meal at The Bay Cafe in Benllech. Twenty-five ladies attended the dinner. The food was fantastic and we had a good laugh playing "Snatch Bingo"! Many thanks to Margaret for taking the meal requirements & payments and to Helen for arranging the game.

The photos above show everybody having a good natter. Ann our Treasurer was the proud winner of a pair of red gloves in the "Snatch Bingo".

Talwrn WI's got Talent - 21st November 2009

The ladies of Talwrn Lite WI recently featured in the village talent contest. The songs they sang were: "The Lonely Goat" and "All That Jazz"! They didn't win anything but had a lot of fun competing in the contest.

New & introducing....

This is the newly launched logo of the WI. It's a bold statement and like they say "it does what it says on the can" with a very current look to it, reflecting the new wave of "Lite" WIs like our own Talwrn Lite. The logo features on the front of the New WI Life magazine. Hope you're getting your copy, if not let me know.

Talwrn Lite Twitterings

For those ladies that have a "Twitter" account, you can now follow Talwrn Lite WI here.

Talwrn Eisteddfod - Saturday 7th November 2009

The village of Talwrn holds an Eisteddfod each year. At the last minute, Talwrn Lite WI decided to enter a singing party. They sang a song (in Welsh) from the Blood Brothers musical called "Tell Me It's Not True - Dwed nad yw ein wir".

The top photo shows our nervous ladies just before they started to sing. The photo at the bottom shows the victorious group (including Martin Jones who conducted the party). They sounded fantastic, the judges comments were very complimentary and Talwrn gained first place, winning a trophy and a £75 cash prize which will go into the Talwrn Lite funds.

Thank you also to the ladies that helped in the kitchen with refreshments.

Meeting - Wednesday 4th November 2009

Getting down to business...

November is traditionally "The Business" meeting of the WI year and at Talwrn Lite we were no different. As it was our first Annual Meetting we had an AFWI Advisor (Yvonne Tatum) in attendance to ensure we covered everything required. On completion of "The Business" we had refreshments of Pimms, Wine and Nibbles while completing a quiz.

(For those members that were not present at the meeting, please contact Delyth or Sam regarding the Christmas dinner arrangements).

AFWI Fashion Show - 9th October 2009

The Anglesey Federation of Women's Institutes held a fashion show in Talwrn Village Hall to raise funds for the Federation. Delyth Jones transformed the hall with a professional lit catwalk, delicate drapes and floral arrangements. Refreshments were served by gentlemen wearing evening (black tie) suits.

Stunning attire from the Menai Bridge boutique "Elsa" were displayed by five models. Some of the key features to be aware of for Autumn Winter 2009 appear to be tweeds, velvet trousers, large brooches and different shaped hem-lines.

Quiz Night - 8th October 2009

Gwyngyll Women's Institute invited the Talwrn Lite WI ladies to provide a team at their evening quiz, held in the Llanfairpwll WI hall. Thanks to Marge, we were called the "Talwrn Totties"! Talwrn Lite came joint third with three other teams. The refreshments were lovely - especially the cakes. Thanks for a great evening Gwyngyll.

Meeting - Wednesday 7th October 2009

Can you believe that a year has passed since the initial meeting to see if the village of Talwrn wanted a Women's Institute. At the October meeting, the members celebrated with Bucks Fizz and birthday cake.

At this meeting, fellow Talwrn Lite member Pam Holt provided a lively demonstration on making a no-cook cake which could be used at Christmas. In true Blue Peter tradition Pam unveiled a cake she made earlier and issued the challenge of "Guess the alcohol in the cake"!

Meeting - Wednesday 2nd September 2009

The first meeting back after the summer holidays and we were a chatty bunch - and that was before the wine!

Having whipped through the business (and there was quite a lot of it), we settled down to listen to our Guest Speaker.

The theme of this meeting was "Green Fingers" learning how to get the most out of our gardens, knowing what and when to plant and the best way to compost.

Yvonne Tatum provided a slide show about her garden. The initial barren garden she took on bares little resemblence to the garden of plenty it has now become. Discussing the problems with the local soil, how to protect vegetable crops from the strong winds, how and why we should to rotate crops and how insects and wildlife can be a friend to the vegetable gardner.

Yvonne kindly provided us with some of her huge marrows which we raffled and we also tried her home made raspberry jam which had a fantastic flavour and was great on the fruit scones.

Anglesey Federation Treasure Hunt - Friday 14th August 2009

The Anglesey Federation WI held a fund raising "Treasure Hunt". Talwrn Lite WI were well represented at this event - coming in both first and second place and also doing well with the raffle too. Well done to all particpants.

August Evening Walk - 5th August 2009

In August the WI traditionaly do not hold a meeting, so we decided to have an evening guided walk in the Gaerwen area of Anglesey which was open for all Women's Institutes to attend in the Anglesey Federation. We were so fortunate with the weather. It was a warm evening, with just a little breeze to keep us cool. We had a little hic-cup at the start as our guide was not present. Fortunately Noel stood in and provided a comprahensive knowledge of the area. The walk which was approximately 3.5 miles and took us down country lanes with spectacular views.

Refreshments were provided in the village hall.

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Just a reminder that the next meeting is on Wednesday 2nd September 2009 in Talwrn Village Hall.

Open Garden - Sunday 5th July 2009

The Talwrn Lite WI ladies in association with the Talwrn Playing Field Committee were invited
by Honey Tolman to provide and serve refreshments at an "Open Garden" as part of the National Garden Scheme at Bryn Seiri, Talwrn.


The gardens are absolutely stunning with herbaceous borders, sloped woodland garden, pergola, pond, unusual shrubs with views to the mountains and Red Wharf Bay. The Open Garden had been well advertised in local newspapers and even in an article in The Times. We were really uncertain to how many people would visit the garden on Wimbledon Mens final day. Fortunately the sun shone, the cakes & tea were made and we took the fantastic sum of £430.



Thank you to all who donoted cakes and their time - you know who you are!

Meeting - Wednesday 1st July 2009

To celebrate coming first with our co-operative piece on the theme of "A Gothic Wedding" at the Anglesey Federation WI Annual Show we raised a glass of champagne to the ladies who helped to make our first show exhibit such an achievement and applauded all who contributed in many and varied ways.

As it was summer we had pimms, strawberries and dips for refreshments.

~~~

Our guest speaker for July was Benjamin Lee of Benjamin Lee Cakes.

Benjamin lives in our village. He started working in a local bakers in Llangefni, wanted to further his career so moved away to learn other skills. He has now returned to Anglesey and has been making speciality celebration cakes for some years. More recently he has purchased the Strawberrry Farm cake business and is moving it forward into other directions.

From listening and watching Benjamin demonstrating, it became apparent that he is a perfectionist and made his art look so easy. The Talwrn Lite ladies sat in awe watching him create a cake topper in the shape of a teddy and delicate rosebuds made from sugar paste.

We hope to invite Benjamin back in the coming year to demonstrate his skill with chocolate.

Anglesey Federation Annual Show - Friday 19th June 2009

All the preparations for the Anglesey Federation Annual Show were well worth the effort when we found out that we had first place for the co-operative class piece on "The Wedding" theme. We didn't want to take the usual route, so decided to go for a "Goth Wedding".

Here are the judges points and comments on our piece:

Staging & Display - 18/20 - Good visual impact.

Interpretation - 19/20 - Good for the chosen theme.

Floral Art - 18/20 - very neat c0-ordinated exhibit.

Cooked Item - 15/20 - Icing should be put on with jam not butter icing.

Craft Work - 18/20 - Great use of colour for a gothic piece.

A big thank you to Pam for creating the cake, to Anne for the sewing and floral arrangement, to Di & Marg for beading the tiara and all the other ladies who played a part in our first group exhibition.

Here is a list of our talented Talwrn ladies who were awarded 1st, 2nd & 3rd places:

1st place - Decoupage Card - Delyth

1st place - Knitted baby hat - Anne

1st place - Oil Painting - Pam

1st place - Photography - Diane

1st place - Collage - Delyth

2nd place - Poem - Diane

2nd place - Limerick - Chris

2nd place - Caption - Rachael

2nd place - Story (The day I went..) - Chris

2nd place - Yogurt Cake - Anne

2nd place - Griddle Scones - Sheila

3rd place - Oil Painting - Marg

3rd place - Paper Flowers - Delyth

3rd place - Water Colour - Marg

Meeting - Wednesday 3rd June 2009

It's hard to believe that we have reached the middle of the year already. I hope you're enjoying the sunshine and not suffering from the heat too much.

The meeting this month had several apologies - including one from our President, Delyth Jones. Delyth was not able to be with us as she was attending the WI AGM, at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Following the business side of the meeting we welcomed Rhian from Tlws Jewellery. Rhian gave an over-view of the company, detailing it's recent growth and the countries where the items are sourced from.

Rhian had a huge selection of items for our ladies to check out - some were silver, silver plated and some even recycled from items like quality street tins which were especially interesting.

If you missed out on the meeting, or you would like to see or purchase additional items, you can visit the Tlws web site http://www.tlws.co.uk/

Thursday 7th May 2009 - The Thorn Birds Musical

Some of the ladies from Talwrn Lite WI had an outing to Venue Cymru, Llandudno to see the musical production of Colleen McCullough's "The Thorn Birds".

The only way to describe the show is that it was "unexpectedly different" having us howling with laughter. It was an excellent way to get to know other members of Talwrn Lite away from the usual village hall environment.

Meeting - Wednesday 6th May 2009

Following the main business part of the meeting, we discussed our Annual Show exhibit. Some interesting ideas were thrown into the pot and our entry is really taking shape.

This month our Guest Speaker was Alison Chapman of Rhosmeirch who teaches patchwork techniques in Anglesey & Gwynedd.

Alison brought along bags of her stunning quilts. Showing us her early creations, works in progress and more recent projects, including bags and wall-hangings. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Talwrn ladies will be joining her class in September!

Alison also provided us with a hands-on craft project. She demonstrated how to make cute bunnies and chicks from a face cloth and we also made a little draw-string bag from squares of fabric too.

Each member of Talwrn Lite received a free BusyLizzie plant to take home.