Archive | October, 2015

Saturday 24th October 2015

Centenary Celebration of Traditional Childhood Games

There was lots of fun and laughter at the Llangollen Leisure Centre on Saturday 24^th October with the Clwyd Denbigh Federation WI Leisure and Performing Arts committee hosting an afternoon of games to celebrate the Centenary of the WI.

The X-Boxes, IPads and electronics took a back seat whilst we went back in time to the basics of board / card games, Cup and Ball, Hopscotch, Shove Ha’penny, Bagatelle, Marbles, French Skipping, Hula Hooping and many more.  It was quite a nostalgic event for us adults as we reminisced about the good old days when there was far more interaction with friends prior to the introduction of the video games.  French Elastics, Hula Hooping and Double Dutch  Skipping  seemed to top the ratings for Valley Girls WI (although they had to fight off the children), whilst Glyndyfrdwy WI became challenging with the Beetle Drive and Rhosnesni WI topped the winning board for both Skittles and Shove Ha’penny.

Whilst the children were also getting competitive with Bagatelle, Quoits, Trap the rat and ball games, it was difficult to decide who was actually having the most fun (children or adults) !! Unfortunately we had to abandon the Croquet due to bad weather but it didn’t put a dampener on the indoor games which truly took us back in time.

Although no-one could actually master the top / whip or ‘Jacks’, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon which proved that we can still have great fun for hours when we turn off our smart phones and modern technology and appreciate the good old fashioned traditional games. A big thank you to Llangollen Rotary Club for the loan of some of the games and to Llangollen and Valley Girls WI for their support.

By Jane Berry

Tuesday 6th October 2015

AGM followed by…Roller Disco!

Octobers meeting brought us into the 1985-1995 era on our journey through 100 years of the WI. What says 80’s more than a Roller Disco? I’m not sure how many WI groups in that time had a Roller Disco after their AGM but ours certainly went down well and provided some light relief after the serious committee business and re-elections. All previous committee members were re-elected with the welcome addition of Jane Berry.

With great thanks to our friends at FlowSkate http://www.flowskate.co.uk/ who provided us with not just the skates but the technique to get us all up and skating within minutes. The music was inspirational and I for one have to apologise for singing so loudly (and badly) but the sound of Tiffany and Wham! was too much, I really was transported back to my youth.

There was a lot of laughter and everyone genuinely seemed be really enjoying the trip back to our childhoods, some bleached denim and luminous leg warmers even made an appearance. No major injuries occurred fortunately but there were a few aching muscles the next day (I’m sure it wasn’t just me).

I think it’s going to be hard to top that meeting but we will give it try next month with a change to our advertised calendar launch, a slightly more sedentary, but no less enjoyable, paper craft on November 3rd.

By Emma Basford

Next meeting Tuesday 3rd November….Papercraft!