FUSS POT to W.I.

From all my different, random hobbies that I've started & stopped, tried and tested. I've found that one in particular I have gained the most from - joining F.U.S.S.

Since going along to that first meeting, all on my own.... & even though it did take over my life, over the last couple of months, with the organising of the Christmas Fair...

....it has not only given me an outlet of making random posters, nattering on twitter and been encouraged to be just generally excited about stuff. It has also opened up a whole new world to me.

I've lived in Hither Green for over six years, but it has only been the last few months that I've actually began to feel not only part-of but also (dare I say..) a local! I've made so many friends and met so many people that the rewards I now get since joining FUSS definitely outweigh the odd late night designing another poster. 

Not to mention the momentous occasion last week, when I realised I didn't have any fresh thyme for a meal I was cooking.... I was able to pick up the phone and call my neighbor Ann if she had any. Within 5minutes I'd popped over to hers, where she gave me a large bunndle of thyme fresh from her garden!

I live in London. 

This sort of thing does NOT happen.

Well it does in Hither Green!!

Seriously, by the time I got back to my flat, you'd have thought I'd won the lottery. I was so excited that I had become part of such a friendly wonderful community. If you don't get why I'm excited - you haven't experienced what I'm on about. 

Trust me, being able to smile and say hello to people when you walk down the street is such a great feeling. It makes me feel, well, calm (calm isn't a word I use very often) and incredibly happy.

As you can tell it has had a great affect on me. To the point, that I have an urge to get out in the world, well my 'local' London, and meet more people. So I've decided that I'm going to Join the W.I.

Yes, The Woman's Institute! And NO I'm not 60, or 30...yet....

But after bumping into The Goldsmith's W.I. at a fanzine event at The Amersham Arms a month ago or so, I saw a group of young like-minded girls who get together to do Stuff.

I like to do stuff!

So I went onto their blog and had a read, went onto heir facebook page, then came across another London based W.I. and another and another....

When the first British WI meeting took place in 1915 at Llanfairpwll on Anglesey in North Wales, its aim was to revitalise rural communities and encourage women to help produce food during the First World War. Later, it campaigned for improvements in women's education, and lobbied governments on issues ranging from free access to family-planning facilities, to equal pay.

People have a preconceived idea of what the W.I. is like - Blue rinse hair, quiet, not much laughing and very serious....visually seen in black & white! But this is just not the case and now a new wave of W.I. groups are appearing in london!

The ones I've been looking at include The Shoreditch Sisters, Borough Belles and Goldsmith's W.I. The majority of the women attending these groups are in their mid + late 20's and they hold onto to the traditional learning, craft making mixed with a modern approach. The Shoreditch Sisters hold the most of their meetings at Concrete, a funky bar that's situated under Pizza Eat in the Big Tea Building.

 Now, I feel I need to mention that I am yet to go to a W.I. meeting - I'm planning on going to my first meeting in January! For just over £30 a year you go once a month to meet other people & chat, learn crafts and basically have a laugh. And if you're not too sure you can just go along to one meeting for £3 to try it out.

I shall come back and report after my first visit!!

If you're reading this and want to come along with me, just give me a shout on facebook or twitter @EatWobblyJelly

Here are a couple of articles on these new breed of W.I. groups:

• http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23762626-sushi-cocktails-and-male-escorts-the-womens-institute-inner-city-style.do
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3636360/Womens-Institute-is-this-the-trendiest-WI-in-Britain.html
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/stuartbailie/2008/08/frock_the_casbah.shtml 

Here are the links to find your nearest W.I. group:

• England
• Wales
• as well as Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight. 

Christmas FUSS Fair

So you might have noticed that my posts have been getting shorter and shorter and less frequent. Well it is all due to the fact that I had turned into a complete FUSS POT! Since joining FUSS just over 4 months ago, I managed to throw myself into helping out with the Christmas Fair that took place last Saturday.

And I have to say I think it was a complete success!! So much fun, so many new faces and just a generally great Christmas vibe throughout. The fair has been going for around 5 years now and usually is around 20 stalls just at the entrance to the station. This year, we had 40 stalls and closed off twice the amount of Staplehurst Road. Even though there were gail force winds and a few stalls had to batten down their goods :D the sun shone and people turned up in droves!

As well as helping out with the event itself, I managed to have a stall of my own... which I sold homemade Vintage fabric baubles and handmade Swedish stars. ( Not quite sure how I managed to make all the goods in time, help with the event organisation and have a full-time job!!???!!) Oh, mind you the odd amazing friend did give me assistance with the making - Thanks Rach! :D

I shared my stall with a friend, who came up from Welsh Wales & also has a blog - Hyfryd. She made fresh Welsh cakes (she made that morning in my kitchen - the smell was AMAZING!!) Barabrith and Individual Christmas cakes, iced beautifully.

It was SUCH great fun!! Especially cause I had some other friends who had stalls on either side of me:  Bex & V - Girl With Beads and also the Fabulous Gisela Torres! Gisela is a photographer by proffesion, but on this occasion she took on the role of 'Vintage Stall' holder!

To keep us all going and cheerful. I decided a bit of home brew Mulled Cider would do the trick!!
And I tell you what... they practically jumped on it when I came down from the flat with a giant vat of steaming hot spiced goodness. It went down a storm.

Here's the Mulled Cider recipe I used - it was delish!! And yep, it's a good old Jamie Oliver recipe.
Oh, the only difference was I was Old English Cider... and 3 liters of it!! ;D

If you've never had mulled cider.... try this one out!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Facebook Page Created

So I'm slowly trying to get the blog out there a bit more. I am sill contemplating twitter, but in the meantime I've set up a Facebook page. This'll show any updates and new posts as well as extra random short posts that wouldn't usually make the blog.

I have to get at least 25 people to like page to keep it going... so if you do like my blog, it would be great if you could 'like' the NEWJ Facebook page too! Click HERE

thanks in advance :)