Great Bookham Belles WI this week had a double celebration at their October 2018 meeting; we turned 4 and in doing so welcomed guest speaker Deborah James of @BowelBabe Fame who talked about her journey with bowel cancer.
The Wartime Housewife
Belles start to the ‘new term’ opened with a wonderful talk at our September Monthly Meeting. We were fortunate to have guest speaker and author Biff Raven-Hill visit our members and introduce us to The Wartime Wife. Based on her own personal experiences Biff related how having had to be brought up by her Grandmother she had learnt the ways of how to keep house in the ways that a woman would have experience during the 2nd World War. Reminiscing in the ways of the past she showed us that, even though the world has moved on, the knowledge of previous generations has not necessarily been passed on, causing a lack in the present generation of how to survive without the technology that we rely on today!
Obviously an extremely able and experienced raconteur, Biff kept us thoroughly entertained throughout making us laugh out loud in many places. We even ended with a ‘guess the use’ quiz for various war time household utensils and appliances – which kept us all pondering!
All her discoveries and tips have been published in her book of the same name and can be purchased on Amazon:
The Wartime Housewife will bring old fashioned values and skills to our very modern world! In this book she shares recipes, tips on budgeting, repairing things, mending, scavenging; ideas for the school holidays and outings; gardening and diy; sewing and craft, and anything else that may prove useful to you in your daily lives. The Wartime Housewife knows only too well what it is like to manage on a tight budget and, by following her way, you too can learn to make the very best of what you have, as well as seeing the value in what is around you and making the most of it. Keep calm and carry on!
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The Great Belles Bake Off
Women’s Institutes are renowned for their wonderful baking and Great Bookham Belles WI proved they were definitely not the exception at our July Monthly Meeting, for which members had been asked to enter their Summer Themed Bakes in ‘The Great Belles Bake Off!
Summer Concert
Well done to Great Bookham Belles very own Decibelles Choir who performed a Summer Concert tonight along with Sounbytes and 3’s A Chord; wonderful to have such local talent! View them siniging!
Belles soar high in ‘Bookham takes Flight’ Village Day 2018
It was another glorious day for Village Day in Bookham, the theme this year was ‘Bookham takes flight’.
As always the Belles Village Day committee came up trumps by not going for the Birds, Bees and other flying insects etc and instead deciding to go down the aviator route. Our stall really did take flight on the day – winning for the 4th year running! This year, we were pleased to share the ‘Best Dressed Stall’ trophy with our peers, the newly formed Bookham Bees WI who were of course, Bees!!
It was an incredible day and our stall was constantly busy with young people wanting to win our Jolly Jars; this year they donned beautiful hand made airplanes made of pegs and lolly sticks. Our costumes, cleverly made by Emma Bavin, were absolutely amazing but the Great Bookham Belles WI airplane made by Gilly Phipps and Jacky Stedman really stole the show – everyone wanted to wear it!!!
We would like to thank everyone that took part and contributed to what was a truly great event!!
Windsor Castle Trip
In the aftermath of the memorable Royal Wedding on Saturday, the following day 25 members from Great Bookham Belles WI, along with members from the Butterflies and Ashtead WI, made their way to Windsor Castle to soak up the celebratory atmosphere.
The sun was shining brightly and there were thousands of tourists at the Castle making the day even more special.
The flowers were still in St George’s Chapel where the Royal couple had made their vows and it was wonderful to walk through the chapel following in their footsteps and seeing the places where The Royal Family and the likes of George Clooney and David Beckham had sat during the wedding!
The State Apartments were open and it just enhanced our visit to know that the 600 golden ticket guests had attended the reception in the rooms where we were wandering around in awe of the wealth of history within the castle.
Ice creams were plenty and we understand Pimms was also enjoyed in the beautiful gardens by the Belles – a great day had by all.
[huge_it_gallery id=”38″]The Gin Kitchen Trip
29 Members visited the new distillery of The Gin Kitchen in Dorking. Kate and Helen the co-owners made us feel very welcome. Tastings of both their gins, Gutsy Monkey, their winter gin and Dancing Dragontail their summer gin. We then had to make the choice of which gin to have in our gin and tonic! 
We were shown how to make a proper gin and tonic. This was followed by a talk on the distilling process and lastly we were able to purchase bottles of gin, glasses and fabulous gin fudge. A great evening was had by all.
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Quizzee Belles
Belles attended this months meeting with their thinking caps on to participate in the first inter-Belles quiz.