Art icle for CMS Newsletter Dece mb er 20 24 edition Cradley WI – Novem be r 2 024 The November meeting of Cradley WI took place a day earl y owin g to the Village Ha ll bein g used for our loc al by-electi on. A change of day can be inconve nie nt for so me membe rs but th er e was a good tu rn out fo r an interesting talk, ‘Carniva l Arou nd th e Wo rld’ pr esent ed by on e of our membe rs, Jil l Salmons. Jill’s passion for costumes sta rted whe n she was a c hil d a nd sh e has tr avelle d widely photographing carnivals and co llecting c ost umes. Jill trea ted us to a fa scin ati ng illu str ate d i nsi ght in to the hi stor y of c ar nival whi ch goes ba ck a long way, with evidence of carni val s bein g h el d in Roman time s. Th ey ar e h eld in a ll p ar ts o f the world, oft en linked w ith religi ous fe stivals, s ometime s bein g banne d o nly to s tart up agai n many years later. She explained how cost umes ca n t ake mon ths to make a nd ca n c os t thousands of pounds and her photographs showed examples that were bo th spec tacu lar an d frightening! We saw how the cultur e o f t he co unt ry is reflect ed in the c ost umes wit h differences between Switzerland and t he Ca ribbea n and betwee n Bulga ria and South America. The common feature of all ca rnivals, howeve r, is tha t e ve ryo ne ha s fun! Jill had brought some beautiful costumes and ma ny va ried masks for us to tr y o n. The Ha ll may not have been big enough for a full para de, but we all exper ience d s ome of the fu n. Maybe Cradley village needs a Car nival of its own? Members have been enjoying the varied event s duri ng October - the Book Club re vie we d No ordinary Day by Matt Johnson and John Murray - The truth about the dea th of WPC Yvonne Fletcher. The Lunch and Supp er clubs co ntin ue to be p opular a s do t he Co ffe e mo rnin gs and Nimble Fingers. Six members attende d t he He ref ordsh ire Fe de rat ion Annual Co uncil meeting whic h provide s a var ied, i nte res tin g a nd in forma tive programme with a chance to meet up with friends and new acquain tances fr om othe r WIs across t he co unty. We have a lot of forthco mi ng activit ies taking p lac e dur ing Nove mber and Decembe r, in particular, our s tal l a t th e village Chris tmas Fair on 7 th Dece mber. We w ill be sellin g our ever-popular cakes and bakes, preserves and chutneys, minc emea t a nd many Chri stmassy items, fun decorations and stock ing fil ler s. We w ill ha ve ou r r affl e t o w in a Ch rist ma s Hamper and a new ‘Guess the Weight of th e Cak e’ comp etit ion too. Pl ease come and v isi t us - look out for our ba nne r nea r the ga te as yo u c ome in. Cradley WI is planning a project for 2025 to celebra te the 110th ann ive rsa ry of the Nati ona l Federation of Womens’ Ins titutes (not the Cradley br anch, we’re a mere 86 yea rs old!). We look forward to working wit h Cra dle y Wild to crea te ‘Pl ant ers fo r Pol lina tor s’ aro und t he village - everyon e wil l be welc ome to join u s i n t his ve ntu re. Hav e a look at Cr adley Wild’s article elsewhere in th is magazin e a nd look out fo r mo re info rmat ion in the New Ye ar . As there i s no forma l mee ting in D ece mber o ur next mee tin g i s a t 7.30 o n Thu rsd ay 2 nd January 2025. Yo ur fir st me etin g is compl emen tary. See yo u th en . For more informat ion pl ease con tact: Cradley_WI@herefordshirewi.org.uk Pam Moss, Press Offic er Sue Humphreys, President Lesley Gregory, Correspondence Secretary