Alne WI

11/05/2026

11/05/2026

Alne WI Evening Open to All

Wednesday night - 13th May - at Alne Village hall,. ALNE WI has a special guest. Catherine Terry, star of stage and screen, who will be telling her story of her life 'Treading the Boards'. This meeting is open to absolutely anyone, so bring family, friends and anyone who would enjoy the evening. Non members only cost £4 for entry which includes refreshments. We hope you can join us, it will be a fabulous evening by this vivacious and talented lady. Starts at 7.30. We look forward to welcoming you there.

20/04/2026

Alne WI monthly report for April, plus May's forthcoming events.

Alne WI welcomed the long arm of the law to our April meeting last Wednesday, when retired police officer David Hardcastle delivered a truly arresting talk on the history of policing—from the Victorian era through to the present day.
In retirement, David has built an impressive private collection of police history exhibits spanning more than 220 years, and he brought a wide selection along for us to see and handle. Through his Mobile Police Museum, David aims to remove barriers such as glass cases and create a hands-on experience. Members were able to examine around 95% of the items on display, including police helmets, truncheons, stun guns, handcuffs and other equipment used in maintaining law and order. His fascinating stories about how the police force has evolved made for an engaging and entertaining evening and even brought back fond memories of the “Dixon of Dock Green” days for many.

Looking ahead, May brings two fantastic evening events at Alne Village Hall—both open to everyone, so do bring along family and friends.

May 13th, our regular monthly WI meeting features Catherine Terry, star of stage and screen, who will share stories from her career in “A Life Treading the Boards.” Guest entry is £4, including refreshments.

May 15th, the Forest of Galtres Group of WI's presents Jim Wood, a local retired auctioneer, who will deliver an informative, interactive and entertaining talk on memorabilia. Jim has had a varied career as a builder, woodturner and thatcher amassing a fascinating collection of household and farming artefacts along the way and he will share some long forgotten household implements and farming tools with us and tell how he came to have them.

Entry for this event is £5 per person and includes tea, coffee and biscuits. Raffle tickets will be available at £1 each and there will also be an open bar.

We look forward to seeing you at what promises to be two thoroughly enjoyable evenings!

15/03/2026

Alne's monthly meeting on 11th March featured Gracie Arnold from G A Livestock Services in Doncaster. Gracie is only 19 and she was absolutely fantastic. The title of her talk was 'How I became a young Shepherdess' and many wondered what it would be like, but they say, never judge a book by it's cover. What this incredibly impressive, entertaining and confident young lady has done in her 19 years is more than some of us have done in a lifetime.

She studied at RADA, learned to play the harp, worked at a vets and bit by bit got pulled into the farming world, county shows, judging classes for cattle and sheep and set up her own company - G A Livestock Services and is one of the UK's few female sheep shearers, - not forgetting the llamas, specialising in shearing for small holdings in the UK. It was such an interesting talk I forgot to take photos, so Gracie gave me permission to take some photos from her page of her working and of her lovely pink tractor, which she takes to shows raising money for Breast Cancer.

Her knowledge of sheep breeds and the environments in which they thrive was remarkable and what she didn't know about wool, isn't worth knowing.

All this and she still finds time to travel to organisations within an hour of Doncaster to give her talks.

It was yet another fascinating speaker for Alne WI. If you would like to join us, then you are welcome to come as a guest to one of our meetings (£4 entry). We meet every 2nd Wednesday in the month at Alne Village Hall, starting at 7.30pm. After the talks, we adjourn for refreshments and a catch up with all of our wonderful members.

On April 8th, we have a talk by David Hardcastle about The Mobile Police Museum, which promises to be another really interesting talk. We'd love you to join us.

16/02/2026

Alne WI. What a Night We Had in February!
Alne WI had an absolute ball at our February meeting! We were delighted to welcome James White, a fabulous ballroom dance tutor, who came along to teach us the Charleston. For a whole hour we danced our socks off — and everyone did incredibly well. There was so much laughter, energy and enthusiasm. We always have fun at our meetings, but this one really was something special.

Almost every month we enjoy a different speaker, each one fascinating in their own way. March will be something completely different, as we welcome a lady who will be talking about “Becoming a Young Shepherdess.” It promises to be a truly interesting evening. We doubt she’ll be bringing any of her four-legged friends along — but you never know!

If you would like to come and hear this talk, you would be very welcome as a guest. It’s just £4 entrance, and you’re guaranteed a wonderful evening, the chance to meet lots of lovely people, and to discover why we all love being part of this wonderful organisation.

Next meeting:
Alne Village Hall, 11th March. 7.30pm start

We’d love to see you there!

10/01/2026

After all the Christmas and New Year festivities, Alne WI are delighted to be meeting again on Wednesday evening, 14th January, for our first gathering of 2026.
We’ll be celebrating with bubbles and a fun quiz, so please remember to bring a glass with you. The meeting starts at 7.30pm and promises to be a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends after the festive break.
If you are joining us for the first time, this is the perfect evening to come along, meet everyone, and make lots of new friends. We are a warm, friendly, and welcoming group, and we’re sure you’ll have a lovely evening and want to become part of our successful and thriving community.
We look forward to seeing you there!

24/11/2025

Alne WI and Forest of Galtres Group of WI's November Report

On Wednesday 11th November, Alne WI held its annual AGM evening and, once the formalities were over, we all enjoyed the delight of “Joan’s Tombola Bags.” As is traditional in our WI, Joan spends a great deal of time preparing a wonderful tombola, with carrier bags full of surprises. The proceeds this year were donated to St Leonard’s Hospice and an impressive £330+ was raised.

Our December meeting is our Christmas dinner and get together, but if you would like to come to our January meeting, we'd love to see you in Alne Village Hall on 14th January at 7.30pm. Guest entrance £4.

The brilliant Paul Whittaker Evening

The fun continued last Friday night when the Forest of Galtres Group of WI's welcomed Paul Whittaker OBE to the Galtres Centre to share his extraordinary life journey. Born profoundly deaf, Paul captivated a very appreciative audience with his energy and stories of how he has achieved more in his life to date than many of us could ever dream of. He is an accomplished keyboard musician and told us, in a manner which would make any stand up comedian take stock, how his mother eventually found a music teacher willing to take him on, along with many other hilarious tales. His talent and determination led to a place at Oxford University, where he gained several diplomas. He has met the late Queen 5 times and was awarded the OBE for his services to the deaf community - commenting how difficult it was to bow before the Queen and be able to lip read at the same time......! He founded a charity to help young deaf people enjoy music and much more than can be accounted for here.
Paul has signed for some of the most iconic stage productions in the West End, worked with orchestras, dance and opera companies and he shared many highly entertaining stories, including one about a particular wedding he was signing for that featured a truly bizarre choice of music and culminated with the bride fainting, falling lat on her back and being carried out in a manner more suited to a funeral than a wedding!

He spoke to us with remarkable clarity and even broke into a perfect Scottish accent during one tale, which mystified us all with how he could do that. The audience absolutely loved him and laughed throughout the whole evening. If you ever get the chance to go and hear him, we would highly recommend him.

15/10/2025

Alne WI October 2025 Report

Over the years, we’ve welcomed many remarkable speakers to Alne WI, but our October open meeting at Alne Village Hall truly featured one of the very best – Meridith Towne, dress historian and costume maker.

Meridith was factual, fun and utterly delightful, bringing the 1960s to life through her talk Sewing the 60s. From mini dresses to dolls’ clothes, she captivated us with her fascinating collection and hilarious anecdotes that had the whole audience laughing from start to finish. Her stories struck a chord with many of us, sparking memories and plenty of smiles.

As if her expertise and presentation weren’t impressive enough, Meridith has even made appearances on two series of the BBC’s Great British Sewing Bee, where she shared insights on wartime sewing bees and the work of Yves Saint Laurent.

There’s no doubt that if she returns to speak to us again, we’ll be filling every seat in the house!

Looking ahead, our November meeting will be our AGM and in December we’ll gather for our Christmas celebration. Regular meetings will resume in January and we’ll be sharing details of our new programme very soon and look forward to welcoming visitors and members alike.

25/09/2025

November 21st is definitely a date for your diary for a truly uplifting night at the Galtres Centre, Easingwold. Bring family and friends to hear this inspirational and entertaining man. Book your ticket from https://fienta.com/paul-whittaker-talk

25/09/2025

Alne WI September Report and October Meeting Information

Our September WI speaker last week was David Grant talking about life as a film extra. David has had a lot of experience working as an extra since 2014 and he gave us an interesting and entertaining insight into the way extras are managed in a big production.

He has worked on many films and TV series, including Downton Abbey, Victoria, Gentleman Jack, All Creatures Great and Small and a Bollywood production.

It was interesting to hear about the massive teams working on the film sets and the great expense of setting everything up.
A word David kept referring to for its great importance was ‘continuity’, explaining about the appearance of actors and extras having to remain identical for the many retakes of all the scenes. Also the weather and the positions of the extras / actors in relation to the sun and sky because of the light having to remain consistent. It made us realise how much more there is to tv and film production.

October's Open Meeting: we have the amazing Meridith Towne. Meridith is a a costume historian and dressmaker and has delighted WI audiences before with her incredibly entertaining presentations. Next month she will be telling us about Sewing the 60's. Guests are always welcome and as this is an open meeting please bring anyone else you want, including the menfolk. At only £4 entrance, it will be money well spent. Refreshments and biscuits follow, offering a chance for a catch up with new and old friends. We are such a friendly group, we know you will have a great evening.

Wednesday 8th October starting at 7.30pm in Alne Village Hall.