Ore-Some Copper Belles WI Middleton Tyas

27/02/2026

Our new WI year started off with exercise and relaxation when Val Simpson, a fitness instructor at Scotch Corner Health Club, gave us a session of chair yoga. 🧘‍♂️ She talked us through the "full works" of yoga exercises and stretches whilst seated or using the chair for balance, then followed this with a relaxation session.

It was AGM time for our WI in February. Pauline Kirby (who has been President for four years) stepped down and handed the reins over to Karen Roome. Karen has been a member of "The Belles " since 2024, and joined the committee last year. We all send her our support and good wishes on taking this role. Another committee member, Rosemary Priestley also stepped down after serving four years on the committee. Pauline and Rosemary were both presented with a gift as a thank you for their service.
Following on from the AGM, an interesting illustrated talk was given by Alan Marsh from Scorton. He told us about the wonderful conservation work that is going on at Scorton Lakes since the quarrying ended and how it has been turned into a nature reserve that everyone can enjoy. Alan then went on to tell us about the threat of a proposal to build holiday homes and apartments which could possibly destroy this wildlife habitat. Alan is a member of 'Save Scorton Lakes' group who are opposed to any such development around this nature reserve. The group are after spreading the word and looking to the community for support. More information can be found on their website www.scortonlakes.org or you can follow their group on Facebook.

19/01/2026

31/12/2025

Party time 🥳 in true Oresome style was how we finished off our WI year with food, fiz and fun!🎉
There was a fabulous buffet that had been prepared by Jenn Smith, which was absolutely delicious, a glass or two of something sparkling and party games which resulted in an evening of lots of chatter, laughter and fun.🎊

Now we're all looking forward to 2026.

31/12/2025

'Life is Sweet' was the theme for our November meeting as Rianne Edwards treated us to a cookery demonstration in making her secret (now not so secret) recipe for her homemade fudge. Whilst making the fudge Rianne talked about the history of sweets and had brought along an assortment of traditional sweets such as Jelly Babies, Pontefract cakes, Liquorice Root sticks for us to try. The evening finished with sampling her homemade fudge she'd made and other flavours she'd brought along too. Yum!

02/11/2025

A spooktacular evening of creativity in the art of pumpkin decoration and carving was enjoyed by our WI at our last meeting. Some members chose the traditional method of carving ghoulish faces, whereas others chose to paint or dress up their pumpkins. 🎃 All good fun with time to chat and socialise too.

21/10/2025

Our September meeting attracted an extraordinary turnout of members and guests. We had six visitors from Richmond WI, four from Melsonby WI and eight non-WI visitors from our village. This was because our guest speaker that evening was the Baroness Hale of Richmond, who gave a most interesting talk about her life-journey from growing up in Scorton, going to school in Richmond, reading law at Girton college, Cambridge, about her remarkable judicial career right through to retirement. Her achievements have been many and most of them she's been the first female to have done so - a very inspirational lady!

04/10/2025

Calender update.

10/09/2025

For our July and August meetings the Oresome Copper Belles have enjoyed some outdoor activities. On both evenings with perfect summer weather conditions too.

In July, we met in Richmond at the station car park to walk the circle route known as the "Drummer Boy Walk". We paused at Easby Abbey to meet Janet Webber, one of English Heritage volunteers, who gave us a private guided tour around the ruins and grounds of the Abbey. Tha Abbey certainly looked impressive that evening in the setting sun. After saying our thanks and goodbyes to Janet we continued our walk back to the station car park.

In August we tried something new, the game of Pickleball. Pickleball is a paddle sport combining tennis, badminton and table tennis. We met at the MUGA in the village where Julie Vickerman and Kieron Pearce from Richmond and Wellfield Pickleball Club, had already marked out the pitches and set up the nets in preparation for the game. After an introductory talk about the game and the general rules we were given the special Pickleball bats and balls for us all to have a go. It was great fun and we got plenty of exercise, mainly chasing after the ball to retrieve it rather than hitting it, though we all managed a proper game by the end of the evening.