Mawnan WI

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Mawnan WI Mawnan WI meet on the second Thursday in the month in Mawnan Memorial Hall TR11 5EP at 7:15pm. Annual Subscription £54.

Visitors are always welcome and will be charged £3.50.

A couple of extra photos from yesterday.
15/10/2026

A couple of extra photos from yesterday.

The CFWI Annual Meeting was held today at the Hall for Cornwall - and what a lovely venue! Sally, Jackie and I represent...
14/10/2026

The CFWI Annual Meeting was held today at the Hall for Cornwall - and what a lovely venue! Sally, Jackie and I represented Mawnan WI and we had a super time.

There were business matters which had to be covered and the news about the financial situation facing CFWI (and all of us) is concerning. Membership is lower and costs are higher; the co-chairs, Margaret and Liz, urged us to move from being passive observers to active participants and to think of how we might need to evolve to attract women of all ages. Quite a challenge!

This point was taken up by the first speaker of the morning - Melissa Green, Chief Executive of NFWI. She was inspirational, measured and informative, but did not shrink from emphasising the need to stem the decline in WI membership - however, WI is still the largest women’s organisation in the country. She told us about the practical pledges already agreed such as ensuring that more of our subscriptions stay with our branch, the revamping of WI Magazine and the encouragement of flexibility in what is offered to members. She came over as just the kind of woman we need to be our CEO.

Before lunch we were entertained by Rock Choir Cornwall. They were brilliant. Quite a lot of WI members were involved.

The afternoon session began with the presentation of awards. Sally accepted the Bugle Cup for our programme and the Rose Bowl awarded to our successful Quiz Team. Our success in the Social Media Award was also announced. What a proud moment for our president.

The star attraction of the day was the incredible monologue by Lesley Smith. She is a historian who gives dramatic portrayals of historical characters in full costume. She spoke as Nell Gwynne - with humour and b***y bits. We laughed so much!

Margaret, Anne and Marion were part of the organising team and were kept busy running the raffle, but we did manage a quick photo with them. A lot goes into putting the day together and our thanks go to all of those involved.

We would like to encourage you to come along to the CFWI Annual Meeting next year and to enjoy, as we did today, an interesting and entertaining day.

Are you feeling lucky? Would you like to treat yourself?You could win this hamper donated by Mawnan WI. It’s full of goo...
13/10/2026

Are you feeling lucky? Would you like to treat yourself?
You could win this hamper donated by Mawnan WI. It’s full of goodies: a bottle of w**e to enjoy with a pasta supper; classic biscuits to accompany a cup of Cornish tea and more! Just come along to the Friends of Falmouth Hospital event on Saturday in the Memorial Hall 10-12pm and buy raffle tickets.

We're making a big extension to our Poppy Cascade this year. Members are invited to help add more than 500 poppies to th...
10/10/2026

We're making a big extension to our Poppy Cascade this year. Members are invited to help add more than 500 poppies to the display.

Monthly Meeting ReportJill has been an active member of our WI since she joined a couple of years ago - she comes to man...
08/10/2026

Monthly Meeting Report
Jill has been an active member of our WI since she joined a couple of years ago - she comes to many of our activities and events and pops up serving teas and coffees on all sorts of occasions! Some of us already knew about her involvement in designing and making costumes for our village panto, but there was so much which we didn’t know and which Jill revealed tonight. The title of her talk “Design Development, Divas and Dance!” was intriguing ; her career dressing people in front of the lens was fascinating and this is only part of her story.
Jill started in the machine rooms in1979 and by the eighties she had her own company, Poldark Design, which employed 25 full-time staff and 100 outworkers. Her designs were seen on musical videos, car advertisements and billboards and even in a Pepsi campaign! One highlight was when Kylie was wearing one of Jill’s outfits on the sleeve of one of her singles.
After selling her company, Jill worked as Fashion and Performance Sports Design Technical Instructor at Falmouth University.
Her talk came to a startling conclusion with the surprise entrance of the wicked step mother from Snow White in full costume (made by Jill, of course) - it’ll next be seen in the village panto which will take place in February.
We had a wonderful evening.

07/10/2026

Sorry that we have to rearrange the Christmas Tree Decoration workshop has been postponed.
New date Monday 16th November in Mawnan Memorial Hall at 1.30pm.
To reserve a place, please email Marian.

CFWI have made this collage of photos taken on WI Day. Can you spot us?
03/10/2026

CFWI have made this collage of photos taken on WI Day. Can you spot us?

01/10/2026

OCTOBER PROGRAMME
Monthly Meeting
Thursday 8th at 7.15pm Jill Weeks Design Development, Divas and Dance! A career dressing people in front of the lens.

Monday 5th WI Committee meeting 5pm

Monday 12th Christmas Tree Decorations workshop1.30pm

Wednesday 14th CFWI Annual Meeting 11-4pm

Monday 19th Find out about luxury yachts at
Pendennis Shipyard

Weds 21st Poppy Cascade workshop 1.30pm

Saturday 24th Cake, Chat & Company at Trebah
3-4.30pm

Tuesday 27th Coffee Drop-in at Sampy’s 10.30am

Weds 28th Book Club at Trebah 2pm

Saturday 31st Food Bank collection 10am

A new month, some new highlights!
30/09/2026

A new month, some new highlights!

Mawnan WI Book Club“Raising Hare” chronicles a period of two years beginning in February 2021 (during Covid) when the au...
30/09/2026

Mawnan WI Book Club
“Raising Hare” chronicles a period of two years beginning in February 2021 (during Covid) when the author stumbles upon a newborn hare that had been chased by a dog. Fearing for its life, she brings it home, only to discover how difficult it is to rear a wild hare.

Chloe Dalton tells of their time together, but also looks at the lives and nature of hares and the way they have been viewed historically in art, literature and folklore.

We all enjoyed reading about this extraordinary relationship which also serves as a reminder to us that often the best experiences happen when we least expect them.

We have often struggled to find non-fiction books which appeal to us all - this book has been the exception, perhaps because of the thoughtful and observant writing.

This was the first book club meeting since the death of one of our founder members, Maureen, who was a regular attendee at our meetings; she was always up for a discussion and was often able to present a different perspective or provide some fascinating background information. We have read many of the books which she recommended. Maureen left us a special bottle of wh***ey - Writer’s Tears - so we raised a glass in her memory. We miss her.

Our next meeting will be on 28th October when we will be discussing Miss Austen by Gill Hornby - a book which was recommended by Maureen.

Address

Mawnan Memorial Hall, Sampys Hill, Mawnan Smith
Falmouth
TR115EP

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