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What a good start we had to 2023 when Stanhoe and Barwick WI members met for their January meeting.

Two lovely ladies, Katie Hayden-Slater of Wild Oak Workshops and Debbie Perris of Gratitude 43 – New Life through Art, worked together to demonstrate “Combining Crafts With Nature”.

photos: Rosemary Brown

Katie Hayden-Slater (l) and Debbie Perris (r)

Debbie is skilled in decoupage, and having displayed many lovely items from decorated vases and wine glasses, to coasters and place mats, all with interesting designs based on nature, she demonstrated how to quickly decorate an item with snippets from a decorated paper serviette. It looked so easy and quick to do following the tips given. She maintains that even if you are not naturally artistic her motto is “You can do it”.

Debbie’s decoupage display

Katie’s skill is in arranging flowers and foliage, using greenery from the garden and hedgerow, with an emphasis on “Connecting us to Nature”. She quickly assembled and expertly wrapped a beautiful dwarf bouquet, suitable for use on a dining table,or as a beautiful gift for someone special.

Katie’s beautiful bouquet

She also delved into her box of “Treasures from the Natural World”, and excited us with taking macro photographs with a phone, of natural items such as a shell, a butterfly wing, bits of honeycomb, and garden waste.

Treasures from the natural world, with a phone macro lens

It was two most interesting and exciting talks for the 26 members and 5 visitors present.

We really came down to earth after that though as we were all asked to listen to presentations on four WI Resolutions and to vote for the one we considered to be most important, to be chosen for forwarding to the National AGM 2023. They encompassed water quality of natural water sources, online gambling, better wages for native tea pickers rather than profits for the middlemen, and the need to lessen the amount of water used in our homes.

So, in thoughtful mode we set off homewards in the gloaming.

Rosemary Brown