May news....

Hello Malagoers,

Last month’s meeting was a delight for the taste buds with the rebranded Blend and Bird Tea Co. and their astounding array of teas for every mood and occasion.

This month we are focusing on the body courtesy of Claire Callaghan B.Pty MSc. Claire has been a Chartered Physiotherapist for over 20 years working in both the NHS and private sector. She is now working in the private sector, having worked in Sport, Exercise and Health at University of Bristol in a clinical and managerial capacity for many years.  

She specialises in sport and physical activity, injury and Women’s Health and Wellbeing. She runs workshops for various groups both in the private and corporate sector. She is particularly interested in how the female body changes over the life cycle and how we can best take care of ourselves through the various stages of life, from the childhood and teen years, childbirth, menopause and the changes which come with natural aging. The workshop will focus on unique aspects of women’s posture and movement and how to keep the bones, joints, muscles and nerves healthy throughout life. There will be some discussion about how to fit activity into your day, how to gain strength and fitness and avoid and manage injuries.

Don’t forget if you are interesting in attending the House of Fraser June Social and Pampering Treat on 5^th June, please email wearemalagowi@uwe.ac.uk or sign up at May’s meeting.

We are planning our fundraising activities for the year and will be taking a stall at Pride on Saturday 14^th July.  Based in Millennium Square, we will be making kites, selling cakes and wearing far too much glitter! If you are interesting helping out by baking some cakes or helping on the stall, you will be able to sign up at May’s meeting.

We look forward to seeing you on 30^th May.

MWI x

April news...

March’s meeting was full of intrigue thanks to Paul Barham’s fascinated talk on the sex, life and death of the humble honey bee.

This month we will be talking about one of Britain’s favourite topic – tea.  Bluebird tea is an independent, tea mixology company on a mission to make people happy with tea. Started three years ago by Krisi and Mike who began by packing tea in their bedroom and attending markets, the company now has multiple retail outlets, including Park Street in Bristol, and a thriving international online store.

Keight and Emma from the Bristol shop will talk about Bluebird’s amazing blends of teas including some of their 70 or more exciting flavours created by mixing with ingredients including herbs, flowers, fruit, caramel and chocolate.

They will bring their top 10 teas to taste and also talk about the health benefits of teas and new trends. Teas are not just made into a hot drink they can be mixed into tea cocktails, fresh iced teas, chai brews, cold brews, lattes and smoothies.

Bring along some cash as there will be different teas and other products available to buy.  Everyone will also receive a complimentary voucher to spend in the shop.

The National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) will be holding its AGM on 6^th June.  As part of the AGM, WI members are asked to vote on this year’s resolution - Mental health matters.  Further details of the resolution are available on the NFWI website. We will be asking members to vote for or against this resolution at April’s meeting and our votes will be taken to the AGM by Malago WI’s link delegate.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 25^th!

March news....

It was lovely to see everyone who braved the cold weather at last month’s meeting.  Sue Duggan  Teach Me Sugar Craft showed us how to decorate cup cakes with an Easter theme.  They looked amazing and tasted pretty good as well!

So spring has finally sprung and we are delighted to have two speakers at this month’s meeting to talk about the beloved Bumblebee.  Our first speaker is Janice Walsh, a volunteer with Bumble Bee Conservation Trust.  The Bumblebee Conservation Trust was established because of serious concerns about the ‘plight of the bumblebee’. It now boasts over 10,000 members and is growing fast.

Janice’s illustrated talk 'The Buzz about Bumblebees' will give an insight into the challenges our UK bumblebees are facing and what simple steps we can all take to help their plight, including making our gardens and open spaces more bee friendly.

Our second speaker is Paul Barham who is a general surgeon specialising in upper gastro intestinal surgery. He is a leading figure in the development of minimally invasive techniques. In his spare time he is passionate about bee keeping, and will be telling us about how he keeps his bees happy and productive.

If you have any unwanted Christmas presents, please bring them along and we will raffle these off to raise money for future meetings and outings.

We are still collecting membership fee of £41, so it you haven’t paid, you can do so by cheque or cash
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We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 28^th March.

February news...

We started 2018 with a bang thanks to Bill Bailey from Adventures in Science . As the days are getting longer, it is time to get a bit creative.

Sue Duggan from Teach Me Sugar Craft will be returning to inspire us with her craft cake creations. The theme will be spring and Sue will demonstrate how to decorate our cupcakes before letting us loose on four of our very own to take home…or eat in the break.  Sue has over 30 years’ experience of cake decorating and 20 years’ of teaching, so there should be some real masterpieces!

All cakes, icing and tools will be provided.  You may want to bring an apron, or you can purchase one of our fabulous Malago WI apron at a reduced price of £8.00.  If you are planning to take your cakes homes, it might be worth bringing some tupperware along.

If you have any unwanted Christmas presents, please bring them along and we will raffle these off to raise money for future meetings and outings.

We are still collecting membership fee of £41, so it you haven’t paid, you can do so by cheque or cash.
We are looking for new committee members.  If you are interested or would like a bit more information about what being on the Committee involves, please have a chat to one of us and we would be happy to tell you more.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 28^th February.

January news...

Hello Malagoers

We hope that everyone had an enjoyable and restful Christmas break.  It seems a long time ago that we met at the hall when we had great evening of Christmas decoration making with Xanthe from Ivory Flowers.  As we head towards Spring, it’s time to chase away those winter blues and start our first meeting with a bang!

This month we'll be entertained by Bill Bailey from Adventures in Science for a fascinating and fun journey into science. Bill brings education and fun to live hand-on experiments such as flaming hands and whizzing rocket!

Bill will use air, fire, water and more to create fascinating and spectacular experiments and effects which will entertain and amaze, and you may learn something about the world.

As it is the start of the year, it is time for membership renewals.  The membership fee for 2018 is £41.  As part of this membership you get 11 meetings per year including 1 summer outing, a monthly copy of WI Life, WI member benefits and a book of handy vouchers when you join.  It’s helpful if members can arrive a bit earlier so we can get through renewals.  Payments can be made in cash and cheques payable to Malago WI.

We look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday 31^st for the start of another year of exciting meetings.

November news...

 

Thanks to everyone that helped us celebrate our 9^th birthday by getting on their dancing shoes and channelling your inner Strictly star.  We also had a fabulous evening at House of Fraser, courtesy of their Personal Shopping team, learning about autumn/winter trends and some fantastic make-up tips.

So, it is our last meeting of 2017 and we have a very festive theme.  Xanthe Ivory, from Ivory Flowers, will be showing us how to make a fully adorned Christmas wreath.  The finished product will be raffled at the end of the meeting. We will also get the chance to make some simple Christmas decorations of our own.  If you have any little trinkets you would like to add to a wreath or Christmas decoration, please bring them along and Xanthe will show us some ideas of how they can be used.

Don’t forget we have a stall at East Street Christmas Market on Saturday 25^th November from 10am to 4pm, so please visit us and bring your friends and family.  Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help out on the stall and bake cakes.  If you would like to help out, please e-mail us to find out more.

We hope to see many of you on 29^th November, but for those who can’t make it, we wish you happiness and good health for the festive season.



October news....

Thanks to Ruth McAllister Kemp for sharing her experiences of travelling around the world with her family and inspiring us to think about saying good-bye to the everyday to experience something different.

As autumn nights are drawing in, and Strictly is back on the weekend watch list, we will be warming ourselves with a Latin themed evening to celebrate Malago WI’s 9^th Birthday! Sonia Repetto, who has been dancing on-and-off for 20 years, will be giving us a taste of Latin dancing.  She is currently British, UK and European Champion, with dance partner Patrick Moreno, competing in the Amateur Seniors.  Sonia will be teaching us steps from two different dance routines – so get your dancing shoes ready!

A small heel is ideal, but any comfy shoes that you can spin in will be fine.  Rubber soled shoes, like trainers, are not ideal as they can be a bit too gripping.  It is best to wear comfy clothing that you can move freely in.

To help us get ready for the party season, we have arranged a personal shopper evening at House of Fraser on Thursday 9^th November.  For £6 per person, we will have canapés and a glass of fizz on arrival, and a jammed packed evening, including evening makeup demos, ideas hair up do and outfit ideas.  You will be able to sign up at October’s meeting and a further communication will be sent out shortly with further details.

We look forward to seeing you for our birthday celebration on 25^th!

September news....

After a lovely summer of outings exploring the city, we are now returning to the hall for first meeting of the autumn.

The nights may be drawing and the weather less warm and sunny, but we hope that a talk from Ruth McAllister Kemp will brighten up your evening. 

Ruth is just an ordinary mum who went YOLO (You Only Live Once) and travelled the world for a year with her husband and two young sons.  Ruth has written a fascinating blog detailing travelling with her family and will give us an insight into How to travel the world with kids (without killing each other) and share her exciting experiences, wonderful places she has visited and what it is like to take a leap of faith.

We will also have a bra bank available in aid of breast cancer.  Please bring along any unwanted bras.

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 27^th.