New Barkby W.I

President, Shirley Franklin, welcomed members and visitors to the New Barkby W.I June meeting.
‘Jerusalem’ was sung, then there was a short amount of time devoted to business matters. Shirley also thanked Louisa Chapman for organising the fish and chip supper, which members enjoyed at last months meeting.
Speaker, Michael Elliott, with a power-point presentation gave a talk on Stoneywell Cottage, now belonging to the National Trust and was owned by Ernest Gimson, a member of the Arts and Craft movement.
Michael gave his account of becoming a volunteer at Stoneywell, including driving the mini bus that takes visitors from the car park to the cottage.
The slides showed all the various rooms and bedrooms, with doors made from sweet chestnut, chairs made mostly from ash and a massive oak chest with carvings. The furniture was made without nails or glue, to reflect some of the methods use at that time.
One child’s cat was replicated on a smaller scale to fit into a bedroom. Toys of the period of the 1930’s were arranged in another child’s bedroom.
The pantry in the cottage was built into the local rock, so was always cold, even on a warm day.
As well as the property, there are some beautiful gardens, which display flowers and shrubs, depending on the season. One slide of 2023, showed the whole area covered in snow.
After the talk there was a question and answer time, before refreshments and some social time.
Jan Oliver thanked Michael.
The competition winner for ‘Something old that you treasure’ with a miniature photograph in a silver frame was Maria Edgeley.
The raffle winner was Dawn Haynes.
The next meeting is Wednesday 3rd July 2024 at 7:30pm in the Syston Community Centre.
Our guest speaker will be Bishop Peter Fox with ‘Magical Mystery Tour’.