Hanley Castle WI

18/05/2026

We have a new President! 👏Kate Blance will carry on the family tradition as her Mum was president around 30 years ago. Our annual meeting was a moment to pat ourselves on the back as all our events & achievements were remembered. We were so pleased Worcestershire Federation of WIs chairman Helen Starks came to guide us through the meeting. Then it was time to relax & have a chatter with a cuppa! 👏😍

13/05/2026

GARDENS CALL-OUT

Calling all green-fingered readers! We’re looking for WI gardens to feature in upcoming issues of the magazine.

Every garden is special, and we’d love to hear about yours, whatever form it might take – from community projects and wellbeing spaces, to wildlife havens and flower meadows, to small gardens, balconies and allotments.

Email us at [email protected] with GARDENS in the subject line, and let us know what makes your green space so precious to you.
Include your name, WI and some photos of your garden – we can’t wait to hear from you!

26/04/2026

She did it! Well done Kate Blance 👏🏃‍♀️👏🏃‍♀️👏🏃‍♀️👏🏃‍♀️👏👏👏

24/04/2026

Wishing Kate Blance all the best when she runs in Sunday’s London Marathon in aid of St. Richard's Hospice Foundation Go Kate go! We are all so proud of you! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️👏👏👏

14/04/2026

At our meeting last Thursday everyone was so pleased to see our President back after her illness that we gave her a round of applause 👏
Our speaker was the brilliant Paul Harding from Discover History. He told us all about the history of jokes & about the change in the calendar for the start of the year from April to January. This resulted in those that didn’t realise it being called April Fools! Who knew that! We saw photos of well used jokes as well as local April fool pranks such as the suggestion that the Elgar Statue was being moved to the top of the Malvern Hills! 🤣 As ever Paul was extremely entertaining - we thoroughly look forward to his yearly visit to us! 👏😃

15/03/2026

On Thursday evening vice president Kate Blance opened the meeting. We had a very interesting talk by Dr Jean Emberlin from Guide Dogs for the Blind. She brought along Vadar a puppy in training. It was fascinating to hear about the various stages the dogs have to go through & how long it takes.

09/03/2026

The Skittles season is over. Our team didn’t win but what fun they had taking part!👏😄

05/03/2026

So sad! The knit & matter group have made some fab toppers for the post box. We all support the post office & shop so this so called progress seems so unnecessary! 🥹

You may have noticed the rather sad looking postbox outside of the shop & Post Office. Royal Mail in their wisdom, have decided to 'upgrade' the Post box to automated, so you can scan tracked parcels up to shoe box size yourself, using an online app... whatever possesses them to do this outside a fully functioning Post Office, that is open 6 days a week, I really don't know. I'm less than impressed, as they potentially are taking trade away from the Post Office.
However, it is happening. Apparently the box will be out of service for a minimum of 2 weeks, could be longer... going forward there will be no more Post Box toppers, as there will be a solar panel on this one, so enjoy the current amazing topper while you can

13/02/2026

Wednesday 11th February was our 105th Birthday! SO at last nights meeting we celebrated with a delicious birthday cake made by Penny Tennant-Thomas and had a group photo taken. 😍
Our speaker was artist Geoff Rowswell who gave us a fascinating talk & demonstration of water colour painting. He then donated the painting to us which was very generous. We will use it to raise money for our chosen charity this year St. Richard's Hospice Foundation 👏😄

30/01/2026

Photo Board all ready for display on our table at tomorrow’s village day at Hanley Swan Market & Cafe . Come along & enjoy coffee & cake at the market. Take a look at the info about all the great organisations in our village! 👍👏😃