Risley WI

26/05/2026

Our first outing of 2026 coincided with the first day of the present heat wave.
Members and friends enjoyed this visit to Doddington Hall. This Elizabethan Manor has been with the same family for over 400 years. Within the house were some very old and magnificent wall hanging tapestries.
Six acres of gardens - kitchen, walled and wild, to have a leisurely stroll round or sit awhile and admire the great range of plants and foliage.
Thank you Suzanne for arranging this day out and to Colin, our favourite driver from Harpur's Coaches.

17/05/2026

Our May meeting was not only the Annual Meeting but we also celebrated our 85th birthday. 🎂🍾🥳🥂
We welcomed Sonia as our new President, celebrated with cake and prosecco, and Sonia interviewed NFWI Vice Chair and past DFWI Chair, Chrissie Booth, about her WI journey so far.

26/04/2026

Sue made another huge delivery to the Royal Derby Baby Unit last week.
No less than 34 blankets, 70 cardigans, 177 hats, 18 teddies and 4 mini teddies, 83 bonding pairs, a selection of bootees and mittens and 12 drawstring bags filled with essential toiletries.
A great big thank you to all the knitters and crocheters involved. .

22/04/2026

We were pleased to welcome Jane Bettany, the author, to our Members' meeting this month.
Jane, who writes crime fiction set in Derbyshire, gave an interesting insight on her journey to finally writing her first novel.
She wrote short stories for over twenty years, many appearing in women's magazines, newspapers etc.
In 2019 she entered the Gransnet and HQ writing competition for women writers over the age of 40 and success here resulted in the publication of her first novel, In Cold Blood. Since this time she has followed up with more series of books.
She said that she gets her ideas from anywhere - snippets of overheard conversation, a news article ...
Her advice to any budding author was never give up if even if your early attempts get rejected.
Do we have a budding author in our Institute? Perhaps a few going by the entries to our monthly competition which was to write the first line for the opening chapter of a Book titled The Secret Book Shop. This was won by Jacky B and Chris S had the winning raffle ticket.

02/04/2026

The latest WI Diary in Derbyshire Life. Can you spot RisleyWI on the banner?

WI news from Diane McHarg in Derbyshire Life...

25/03/2026

Nine ladies from Risley WI joined 130 other Derbyshire WI members at Morley Hayes today. We enjoyed a superb lunch and then listened to a fascinating talk by Irita Marriott, auctioneer, and expert on programmes such as Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip, about her amazing journey from a childhood in Latvia, to where she now lives in Melbourne, Derbyshire. What an unusual life she has led.
Keep your eyes open in future Links for other events organised by the DFWI Fun Team

13/03/2026

Sue Hayward's (Garden Designs) talk, accompanied with some stunning slides, was just the encouragement members needed to look at their own garden with renewed enthusiasm as Spring approaches. Sue explained how she tries to incorporates various components already in place when designing or redesigning gardens for her clients to meet their individual needs.
Among the many prestigious award Sue has received are two Gold Medals at the Chelsea Flower Show. In 2008 she designed Shetland Croft House Garden and 2010 the Stephen Hawkins Garden both for MND.
During the 'Business ' Dorothy gave a detailed account of the DFWI Spring Annual meeting that was held on line.
The raffle was won by Stephanie and the competition 'First Signs of Spring ' by Angela.

07/03/2026

Where did February go?
Members enjoyed an interesting and informative talk about Aquabox at the February meeting. The charity, based in Cromford, supplies safe drinking water to crisis zones around the world. Colin demonstrated the assembly of the water filters and detailed all the humanitarian aid that they manage to squeeze into the actual boxes and still close the lid!
Dorothy won the competition - an 'old programme'.
The walking group were lucky to have a nice bright dry morning for their walk.
Meeting up at the Beekeeper in Chilwell they made their way across the golf course into Attenborough Nature reserve. Not a lot of colour around just now but lots of activity on the water, and enjoyed identifying the various ducks and birds. Rounded off with lunch back at the Beekeeper

28/02/2026

REMINDER: 🎗️
DFWI SPRING COUNCIL MEETING ONLINE, 3 MARCH, 10.30AM. All DFWI secretaries have had the link to this Zoom meeting via email and all DFWI members are very welcome to attend. One delegate should be appointed for each WI. Please share. 🙏

Image - dreamstime

21/02/2026

Info for anyone interested - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-womens-day-2026-conference-voices-leadership-and-change-tickets-1980709766230?aff=ebdsoporgprofile