ON such a cold evening, we were pleased to see so many members.

After welcoming everyone, Ann Evans, our President, reminded us of the forthcoming events in our calendar. During February we would be paying a return visit to Broadway Golf Club for our New Year Lunch, always an enjoyable occasion in a lovely setting. In March, several members would be visiting Fladbury WI for their Daffodil evening, and a group of us would be having a guided tour of the Archive and Archaeology Department at the Hive. Our next bi-monthly lunch would be held on 17 March at The Dolphin, Bishampton. Our Quiz team would be engaging their brains in the Group Quiz, hosted by Pebworth WI at the end of March.

Looking forward, an invitation had been received from Ashton under Hill WI, to a Fashion Show by Blue of Pershore.

Hampton WI are hoping to have a stall at the Hampton Flower Show, which is being organised for 30 September. A ‘Strictly Home-Made’ theme has been proposed, and members will be asked to contribute home-made items.

Our speaker for the evening on the favourite subject of ‘Chocolate’, was Yvonne Everest of The Chocolate Genie, based at Wickhamford. Yvonne had always worked in the food industry, and after being made redundant several times, decided to start her own food related business. Inspiration came from an article in Good Housekeeping about ‘fashion cookies’ – edible shoes and handbags, made from gingerbread or cookie dough. Thinking that chocolate would appeal more to women than biscuits, Yvonne started creating her own chocolate gifts, even making some of her own cutters and moulds. She now supplies outlets such as upmarket farm shops with speciality items, particularly at Easter and Christmas.

Yvonne went on to describe some of the processes involved, providing some delicious samples along the way. She aims to help others to work with chocolate, and to this end, runs workshops, for both adults and children at her Wickhamford base.

At the end of her talk, Yvonne had brought along a range of her decorative chocolate gifts.

The competition for an item beginning with ‘Y’ was won by Ann Evans, with her yellow-themed breakfast tray, including yogurt and egg yolk!

Next month our speaker will be Helen Hurdman, telling us about the charity Working World.

If you would like to join us at one of our meetings, do come along. We are always pleased to see visitors and you will be made very welcome. We meet in Hampton Guide and Scout Community Hall on the second Thursday of the month at 7.30pm. For further information, please contact our Secretary, Joyce Davey on 01386 443755.

ELIZABETH RODWAY