Buns & Roses WI

Cake Me Out - June Workshop - Cupcake Decorating

Tuesday, 9 June 2015 § 0

This months workshop "Cake Me Out" took an ultra sociable turn when branch president Lucy Rider stepped in with her best girl guide leading skills at short notice to cover when the workshop host had to cancel on the day (Aaaaaaaaaargh) …but in the face of adversity we did indeed eat cake...and on the day of the WI AGM and celebrating 100 years, we could hardly cancel that wouldn't be in any sort of WI spirit!

A team effort of butter ice mixing and a good helping of woofle dust (edible glitter) soon had the Muppet cupcake decorating class on the go and all of our lovely ladies were surprised at how simple it really is once you know how and have the right equipment (and remember, mistakes are edible!!!!! EDIBLE!!!! What's not to like?)

Everyone had a jolly good time making our "Muppet baby" cakes and we even managed a bonus free styling session at the end which gave the participants a chance experiment and compare with their new found skills and creativity.

No girlie party will be safe from our creations in the future and we heartily expect to see these adorable cupcake designs turning up at future general meets for team tasting!

Roses go to Bollywood - May Meeting

Tuesday, 26 May 2015 § 0

Dancing the Mandala

Mays’ Buns and Roses meeting took us a little deeper behind the glitzy showbiz face of Bollywood chorus lines into the deeply spiritual world of Bharatnatyam dance with our expert with bells on (and then some!) Shrikant.
Shrikant trained in India and now travels the world teaching and educating people on the cultural routes, symbolism and spirituality of this art form which could be loosely compared to the Indian form of ballet with a heavy mystic influence!

Bharatnatyam dance was originally founded within the Hindu temples of Southern India performed by women but found a popular revival and explosion post independence in India in 1947 with many men taking up the practice.
For his first presentation Shrikant performed a purely technical piece introducing all of the lovely Rosee’s assembled to the movements of

Bharatnatyam set to traditional Indian music, including movements that represent elements and forms in nature whilst drawing on and transliterating the spiritual energy of the world.

In his second recital, Shrikant introduced us to the emotive interpretative dance form of Bharatnatyam, giving his own presentation of a modern story of one woman’s connection with nature and the purpose in life this has presented her.

For his finale we were given a glimpse of the art as it would have originally been performed as a spiritual piece combining the emotive and technical as a means of telling a story and expressing associated emotions to an audience within a temple setting, in his homage to Krishna, the Beautiful One.

All of us left feeling a little happier in the world with Shrikants’ beautiful movement and talk having brought a touch more joy to our inner selves.

Book Club - How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran

Monday, 18 May 2015 § 0

We've had a book club offshoot of Buns and Roses WI for a few years now and we've done all sorts of books over the last few years but the focus over the last 18 months has been either books by women or about inspirational female characters. We are a very free and easy book club in that we only have a couple of rules - namely you don't have to have finished the book (and not mind finding out what happens) and it has to be available from the library so that people don't have to buy it - though of course it is up to each attendee whether they purchase the book or not and some of the fun each meeting is looking at our various copies and seeing what kind of market the bookseller is trying to appeal to over the years - a book like Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell which we read (or in the majority of cases started and didn't finish) has had many different cover incarnations over the years, as had Charlotte Bronte's gothic masterpiece Jane Eyre.

We meet roughly every 6 weeks or so (exact date determined amongst those at the meeting) at 2.30pm on a Sunday afternoon in the Tiled Hall Cafe just inside the Art Gallery on the Headrow and the next one is Sunday June 28th when we'll be discussing Caitlin Moran's funny and frank latest How To Build A Girl. And it's also at the meeting that we decide what book we're going to read next - we all bring suggestions and sometime we reach a decision by consensus and sometimes by writing the titles on bits of paper and pulling them out of a bag.

So come along chat, eat cake, and meet other book loving ladies. Hope to see some of you there.

Sunday, 19 April 2015 § 0

We’re Sixy and we know it!

We all love a natter and munch at the fabulous Buns and Roses and our 6^th birthday/AGM "I'm too Sixy" combined did not disappoint.

Branch annual reports were lightened up with laughter, a good sprinkling of craft, cake and cracking presents in our bring a gift take a gift present swap.

L
ucy (Ms Branch President) and her team talked us through the year in review and what she and her lovely ladies have been planning and arranging for us. Helen, our exiting treasurer and future cocktail tester made finance fun running through the accounts to let us all know where our money was going, and the best thing was, it all came back to us in trips and events. Go girls!

Founding member and departing Vice President Gloria gave one last plug for the WI raffle to lighten our woes at facing a committee without her….although we think she should keep making guest appearances just to give us the annual “saga” of prizes available (badoom-chink) whilst Sam showed the ongoing team spirit in her last day as secretary by combining her birthday celebrations with her fellow roses, and a very happy birthday to you from us all!

Thanks and flowers are never enough to express our gratitude to the ladies stepping down from the committee this year for all their hard work and enthusiasm and they have undoubtedly set the bar very high for the new committee picking up the baton going forward.

In the calendar for 2015 we have the exciting up and coming Whitby Trip on May 30th (tickets here), Siobhan guiding us through the dark side of our cities heritage with her plague pits and Victorian death sites a photographic and historical tour on May 14^th, June is our rescheduled Cake Decorating Workshop, and don’t forget the GIN tasting event for the autumn (We’re all very enthusiastic about that one).

Thanks to all who contributed food, gifts and general goodness. We will see you again next month!

Next meeting is 21 May - Roses go to Bollywood - A general meeting with a demonstration by Bollywood dancers and the opportunity to try out a few moves!

March Meeting: A Good Heart (or other Organs) is Hard to Find

Wednesday, 1 April 2015 § 0

This month we were joined by the lovely Jo Cheetham, Specialist Nurse in Organ Donation from the Yorkshire Organ Donation Services Team who was speaking to us with tear jerking honesty about organ donation in view of the WI’s 2014 Resolution to promote this worthy cause.

Jo told us how that final shared action between yourself and your family in donating your organs after death can go on to change and save many lives, whether they be corneal transplants to stop a teenager going blind or the mother of three and toddler who shared your liver both being given a future to look forward to. One donor can save 8 lives and change many many more!

She shared with us heart-breaking true stories of something positive coming out of tragedy where families have donated lost loved ones organs and emphasized the importance of making sure your family knows you wish to donate your organs and of adding your name to the donors register.

Furthermore, standard myths about donation were dissolved -a diabetic can donate organs, and so can a smoker, the only religion that expressly forbids organ donation is Rastafarianism-who would have thought it!

Thanks to Jo from all of us here!

You can add your name to the organ donors register here:

NHS Organ Donor Register

March Workshop -Papercraft Writer

Wednesday, 18 March 2015 § 0

For March's workshop we were joined by Buns & Roses' member Bev, from a Dog Called Dill, who taught the group how to make cards and fab home decor frames.

Everyone was given a box frame and scrabble tiles to create amazing pictures as well as all they needed to make some gorgeous cards.

Bev was a fab teacher who passed on some great hints and tips and as always the group went home with some great finished pieces.

Don't Worry Be(ad) Happy - February Meeting - Beading and General Meeting

Sunday, 8 March 2015 § 0

Due to popular demand our Roses in our members survey last year requested that they would very much like more of an opportunity for a good natter... so we listened and this was the first of our general meetings.

After the business part of the meeting had been discussed, it was over to some good crafting.

Buns & Roses added a good number of beads, wire and fixings to the craft stash and we all got our pliers out to make some interesting wearable craft.

We also welcomed a number of new faces into the Buns & Roses fold and initiated them with teaching them how to make a Suffolk Puff!