HoT WI

05/08/2026

02/08/2026

The Kenton shares its story with Henley WI.

The Kenton Theatre went behind the scenes with members of Henley WI last week, as Theatre Manager Lottie Pheasant and Chair of Trustees Dennis Oliver shared a special presentation exploring the theatre’s past, present and future.
Lottie and Dennis also spoke about the breadth of activity taking place at The Kenton today.

it was interesting to hear the history about the early days of the Kenton theatre through 220 years and its many incarnations over the years from the site of the original town workhouse in Henley until 1790 to a purpose built new theatre opening in 1805, the same week as Lord Nelson died at the battle of Trafalgar with all the takings from a performance gifted to the widows and orphans fund of those killed at the Battle of Trafalgar. The theatre closed in 1813 was then used as a Non -conformist chapel then became a National school until 1850.It was consecrated as a church again whilst St Mary’s had alterations then became a church hall and also a barrel store for Brakspears. Next opening as a theatre once again in 1870 for a short period.Through a number of other uses, including being closed for 21 years, Playhouses and name changes to its current position as fourth oldest working theatre in England. Lottie explained the essential roles of the volunteers from manning the box office to selling icecreams in the interval.

It’s so important to support our entertainment venues in our town and with such a wide variety of acts from top comics, musical tribute acts,magicians and our local theatrical groups amongst the professionals performing on our local stage.
The benefit of being a friend of the Kenton was also covered allowing for early booking for tickets and more.

“Dennis and I both really enjoyed talking about The Kenton’s past, present and future. The members of Henley WI were such an engaged, inquisitive, and knowledgeable audience, and it was a pleasure to share this chapter of the theatre’s story with them.”

Lottie and Dennis are keen to take the presentation to more clubs, societies and local groups.

It was great to see some new faces at our meeting and a couple of guests from Wallingford WI.
Our next meeting in August will be a social event a chance to catch up with our wi friends.
We also have 2 coffee mornings each month for a more casual get together.
Saturday 1st August we will be meeting in the morning in Mill meadows.. bring your own seat.

30/07/2026

Did you know?
Today is the International Day of Friendship!
We’d love to hear about the friends you have made through your membership of the WI. Please post a memory - old or new for us to read.❤️

29/07/2026

21/07/2026

September 16 is WI Day!
Join the challenge! It’s simple to be part of it.
This year is extra special as the WI marks 111 years of sisterhood, empowerment, community action, and creating positive change.
To celebrate in style, we're picking purple for this year's WI Day parties. Why? Purple was the colour of the Suffragettes, and in colour therapy it symbolises loyalty, creativity, and wisdom – values that are very WI!
So, this September paint your party / WI meeting purple! Encourage members to wear their favourite shades of purple and bring lilac and violet into your decorations, crafts, food, and drinks to max out the fun!
Want some inspiration? You’ll find a super-scrumptious WI Day recipe for lemon and lavender cupcakes in the Autumn issue of The WI Magazine, and check out The WI Shop – shop.thewi.org.uk – for oodles of purple fashion, accessories, and gifts. VIA will be running a host of fantastic WI Day courses, and over the coming weeks we’ll have a whole toolkit of resources and ideas for you, so watch this space.
We💜WI Day and would love to see pics of YOUR WI’s celebrations!
To represent 111, we're inviting the mighty women of the WI to get together in threes and snap a photo! Three WI friends standing side by side – 1 + 1 + 1 = 111 – celebrating the strength, friendship and influence of our wonderful movement.
Gather your trio, strike a pose, name your WI in the caption, and show us what the power of the WI looks like! Email your pics to [email protected] (along with a birthday message about what the WI means to you) and post them on your social media tagging NFWI and using the hashtag . We can also post your pics on NFWI socials. Because when WI women stand together, there’s nothing we can’t achieve!
Any questions please email [email protected]

18/07/2026

05/07/2026

01/07/2026

Cyber security was the theme of our June meeting with a visit from a member of TVP.
It was really informative and interesting.
We learnt all about cybercrime which includes phishing and scam calls.
56% of all crime reported is cyber crime with £220 billion lost annually in the UK.
Social media hacking and social engineering manipulate people into sharing information that they shouldn’t share,downloading software they shouldn’t download and sending money to people they shouldn’t.
These systems are so advanced with voice cloning also on the rise.
All of us had experiences of scam calls on the phone-phishing and
SMS messages-Smishing
But we also were warned about Vishing -scam voice callers and Quishing -fake QR codes (often found on car parking machines )
We all felt more confident to question unusual requests and be more suspicious about unsolicited contact and to report fraud and cyber crime to the National Cyber Security Centre.
The importance of using different passwords and more sophisticated ones was highly stressed and using more than one system of authentication.
We must all be wary of these scammers and fraudsters and most importantly not to be thought foolish for falling into these sophisticated traps.

Report misleading websites, emails, phone numbers, phone calls or text messages you think may be suspicious.
Do not give out private information (such as bank details or passwords), reply to text messages, download attachments or click on any links in emails if you’re not sure they’re genuine.

Emails
Forward suspicious emails to [email protected].
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will investigate it.
Text messages
Forward suspicious text messages to 7726 - it’s free.
This will report the message to your mobile phone provider.

You wouldn’t leave your front door open so why leave your devices unprotected?
Don’t become another statistic – take action to secure your online accounts; from banking and shopping, to email and social media. It’s more important than ever to make your cyber security a priority