Friday, 21 March 2025

Meeting – March 2025

The March meeting had the theme of 'Celebrating Wales'. There were winners for craft, limericks, photography and bakery, and a demonstration of choral speaking. All entries had been submitted under a pseudonym and were judged externally.

The meeting began with everyone singing 'Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau'.

Cake & photography judges, Chris & Bryn

Gill won the limerick competition, judged by Janet who wasn't able to attend the meeting. Jenny came 2nd and Gay 3rd. Sheila A. and Carole received commendations for their entries.

There were only two craft entries for 'an item of clothing for a Welsh costume doll'. Nor'dzin was awarded first for her skirt. The judge was Muriel Hewitt.

The photography category attracted quite a few entries. Sheila E. won the 'daffodils' section, and Glenys the 'two of a kind' section.

Two of a kind – peppers


Winner top centre

There were also a good number of entries for baking Welsh cakes and chocolate cakes. Gay's Welsh cakes came first, and Glenys won with her chocolate cake.


Six members of the Book Group gave a choral speaking performance: Glenys, Diana, Linda, Jenny, Gay and Nor'dzin. 

It was a most enjoyable meeting with a joyful atmosphere.

Friday, 7 March 2025

Newsletter – March 2025

 March meeting:

    10th March in Ararat Church Hall, Whitchurch Common, 2 pm.
     
'Celebrating Wales' – competitions for members:
        – cooking: Welsh cakes and chocolate cake
        – craft: clothing for a Welsh costume doll
        – photography: 'daffodils' / 'two of a kind' 
        – poetry: a limerick
        – choral speaking

Outings and events:
    Royal Mint, Thursday 20th March – departure from Whitchurch Common at 1:30 pm

    20th Anniversary meal, April 10th
    1 pm at the Clayton Hotel, Cardiff (which is near the bus station in central Cardiff)

 
    IT TRAINING with AbilityNet – Thursday 6th February
    Room 1 at Ararat, 2pm. £5 charge to cover the cost of room hire.


Information
    Link to the Glamorgan Newsletters.
    MyWI site (registration and log in required)

Groups:

    Choir: Wednesdays at 11.30 am
    Memorial Hall, Rhiwbina


    Book Group: Wednesday 12th March / 11.00 am
    La Cucina da Mara, Whitchurch


    Craft Group: Monday 17th March / 10.30 am
    41 Cherry Orchard Road, Lisvane


    Tangle Art Group: Wednesday 19th March / 2.00 pm
    5 Court Close, Whitchurch


    Family History: Monday 31st March / 2.00 pm / 113 Pantbach Road

    Sunday Lunch Group: 23rd March / 1.00 pm / Llanishen Golf Club
 
    Poetry and Prose Group: Monday 31st March / 11.00am
    The Ark coffee bar, Ararat / Topic: Wales

    
    St Mary's Gardens: Tuesday 18th March / bulb planting / anytime between 9 am & 1 pm
 
Following meeting:

    14th April in Ararat Church Hall, Whitchurch Common, 2 pm.
    Speaker: Nor'dzin Pamo Pilgrimages to Nepal and Bhutan
    Plus:
a Tai Chi demonstration
    Plus: Easter bonnet competition

Advance notice:

    Bring and Buy sale at the May meeting, so please gather together your saleable items.

Thursday, 13 February 2025

Volunteering in Rwanda – Mary Watkins

Mary Watkins began as a primary school teacher, and then worked for Welsh Water as an education officer visiting schools. Water Aid was founded by water companies in the 1980s, and Mary was selected in 2008 to go to Rwanda as their representative. This led to her and her husband volunteering for VSO in Rwanda – for one year initially, 2013 – 2014, and later for another year in 2018.

Mary described Rwanda as a beautiful, green and lush country; very hilly and with a lot of rain. Most of it is above the height of Ben Nevis and this contributes to maintaining a general temperature of 20° – 25
° all year round. It is a similar size to Wales but has a much denser population at around 13.5 million. The land is terraced for farming and one main crop is tea. She informed us that 'Yorkshire' tea comes from Rwanda. The capital city is Kigali, which is modern and clean.







Mary went to Rwanda to train teachers. At the time she arrived in 2013, nursery schools were just being introduced. She knew nothing about teaching nursery age children, let alone training nursery teachers and had to learn on the job. 






A big initial obstacle that she met in all the schools she worked in was a lack of age-appropriate furniture in the schoolrooms  and sometimes a lack of any furniture at all. The second major hurdle was to move teachers away from simply 'repeating words after the teacher' as the primary method of education.





Mary is clearly a creative and natural teacher as she found ways of using whatever was available to create teaching resources, such as bottle tops for learning numbers and counting; making a dice from a toilet roll tube; cutting open milk bags, toothpaste tubes and juice cartons for all sorts of purposes. Eventually she produced a book which showed what could be used as a teaching resource, how to make it, and how to use it. She continues this work from home in Wales to this day.



Over the time that Mary was volunteering in Rwanda she worked in more than 100 schools. To travel to the different schools she was transported on the back of a motorbike through muddy dirt roads, across rickety bridges, and even occasionally by boat to reach schools on islands. 






Her husband was asked to teach tag rugby. Having expected about 18 students to turn up, over 200 arrived! This eventually led to Mary and her husband being part of the charity 'Friends of Rwanda Rugby' which has been most successful. 









As well as training teachers, Mary has also helped trained tailors through the Isooko project, by raising funds to provide sewing and knitting machines. She had brought along a selection of the colourful and beautiful products made by the women of the Isooka project, which included fabric elephant toys and giraffes, dolls, aprons, bags of various sizes, hats and other items  all very reasonably priced. She explained that 50% of sales went directly to the workers and the remainder was used to fund further projects and to provide necessary equipment. The members enjoyed browsing the items and there were quite a few happy sales.



Gwirfoddoli yn Rwanda – Mary Watkins

Dechreuodd Mary Watkins fel athrawes ysgol gynradd, ac yna gweithiodd i Dŵr Cymru fel swyddog addysg yn ymweld ag ysgolion. Sefydlwyd Water Aid gan gwmnïau dŵr yn y 1980, a dewiswyd Mary yn 2008 i fynd i Rwanda fel eu cynrychiolydd. Arweiniodd hyn at hi a’i gŵr yn gwirfoddoli i VSO yn Rwanda  am flwyddyn i ddechrau 2013-2014, ac yn ddiweddarach am flwyddyn arall yn 2018.

Disgrifiodd Mary Rwanda fel gwlad hardd, gwyrdd a gwyrddlas; bryniog iawn a gyda llawer o law. Mae'r rhan fwyaf ohono uwchlaw uchder Ben Nevis ac mae hyn yn cyfrannu at gynnal tymheredd cyffredinol o 20° – 25° trwy gydol y flwyddyn. Mae o faint tebyg i Gymru ond mae ganddi boblogaeth llawer dwysach, sef tua 13.5 miliwn. Mae'r tir yn deras ar gyfer ffermio ac un prif gnwd yw te. Dywedodd wrthym fod te 'Swydd Efrog' yn dod o Rwanda. Y brifddinas yw Kigali, sy'n fodern ac yn lân.



Aeth Mary i Rwanda i hyfforddi athrawon. Pan gyrhaeddodd hi yn 2013, roedd ysgolion meithrin newydd gael eu cyflwyno. Doedd hi’n gwybod dim am addysgu plant oed meithrin, heb sôn am hyfforddi athrawon meithrin a bu’n rhaid iddi ddysgu yn y swydd.






Rhwystr cychwynnol mawr y cyfarfu ag ef yn yr holl ysgolion y bu’n gweithio ynddynt oedd diffyg celfi a oedd yn addas i’w hoedran yn yr ysgoldai – ac weithiau diffyg unrhyw ddodrefn o gwbl. Yr ail rwystr mawr oedd symud athrawon i ffwrdd oddi wrth ailadrodd geiriau ar ôl yr athro fel y prif ddull addysgu.





Mae Mary yn amlwg yn athrawes greadigol a naturiol wrth iddi ddod o hyd i ffyrdd o ddefnyddio beth bynnag oedd ar gael i greu adnoddau addysgu, megis topiau poteli ar gyfer dysgu rhifau a chyfrif; gwneud dis o diwb papur toiled; torri bagiau llaeth agored, tiwbiau past dannedd a chartonau sudd ar gyfer pob math o ddibenion. Yn y diwedd, cynhyrchodd lyfr a oedd yn dangos yr hyn y gellid ei ddefnyddio fel adnodd addysgu, sut i'w wneud a sut i'w ddefnyddio. Mae hi'n parhau â'r gwaith hwn o gartref yng Nghymru hyd heddiw.

Dros yr amser yr oedd Mary yn gwirfoddoli yn Rwanda bu'n gweithio mewn mwy na 100 o ysgolion. Er mwyn teithio i'r gwahanol ysgolion fe'i cludwyd ar gefn beic modur trwy ffyrdd baw mwdlyd, ar draws pontydd simsan, a hyd yn oed yn achlysurol ar gwch i gyrraedd ysgolion ar ynysoedd. 






Gofynnwyd i'w gŵr ddysgu rygbi tag. Wedi disgwyl tua 18 o fyfyrwyr i ddod, cyrhaeddodd dros 200! Arweiniodd hyn yn y pen draw at Mary a'i gŵr yn rhan o'r elusen 'Friends of Rwanda Rugby sydd wedi bod yn fwyaf llwyddiannus.









Yn ogystal â hyfforddi athrawon, mae Mary hefyd wedi helpu i hyfforddi teilwriaid trwy brosiect Isooko, trwy godi arian i ddarparu peiriannau gwnïo a gwau. Roedd hi wedi dod â detholiad o’r nwyddau lliwgar a hardd a wnaed gan ferched prosiect Isooka, a oedd yn cynnwys teganau eliffant ffabrig a jiráff, doliau, ffedogau, bagiau o wahanol feintiau, hetiau ac eitemau eraill, i gyd am bris rhesymol iawn. Eglurodd fod 50% o'r gwerthiant yn mynd yn uniongyrchol i'r gweithwyr a bod y gweddill yn cael ei ddefnyddio i ariannu prosiectau pellach ac i ddarparu offer angenrheidiol. Mwynhaodd yr aelodau bori'r eitemau a chafwyd cryn dipyn o werthiant hapus.



Tuesday, 4 February 2025

Newsletter – February 2025

February meeting:
    10th February in Ararat Church Hall, Whitchurch Common, 2 pm.
    Main speaker
– Mary Watkins: 'Volunteering in Rwanda'

Outings and events:
    Royal Mint, 20th March

    Plantasia, Swansea and a boat trip, cost around £40,
    date to be confirmed (possibly June 12th) 
 
    20th Anniversary meal , date to be confirmed (possibly April 10th)
    Clayton Hotel, Cardiff

 
    IT TRAINING with AbilityNet – Thursday 6th February
    Room 1 at Ararat, 2pm. £5 charge to cover the cost of room hire.


Information
    Link to the Glamorgan Newsletters.


    MyWI
site (registration and log in required)


Groups:

    Choir: Wednesdays (excluding 19th February) / 11.30 am
    Memorial Hall, Rhiwbina


    Book Group: Wednesday 12th February / 11.00 am
    La Cucina da Mara, Whitchurch


    Craft Group: Monday 17th February / 10.30 am
    41 Cherry Orchard Road, Lisvane


    Tangle Art Group: Wednesday 14th February / 2.00 pm
    5 Court Close, Whitchurch


    Family History: Monday 24 February / 2.00 pm / 113 Pantbach Road

    Sunday Lunch Group: 16th February / 1.00 pm / Llanishen Golf Club
 
    Poetry and Prose Group: Monday 24th February 2025 / 11.00am
    The Ark coffee bar, Ararat / Topic: Wales

 
Following meeting:

10th March in Ararat Church Hall, Whitchurch Common, 2 pm.
'Celebrating Wales' – competitions for members:
    – cooking: Welsh cakes and chocolate cake
    – craft: clothing for a Welsh costume doll
    – photography: 'daffodils' / 'two of a kind' 
    – poetry: a limerick
    – choral speaking



 

Saturday, 18 January 2025

Celebrating Wales at the March Meeting – entry details

Welsh costume doll D32 | Welsh Costume / Gwisg Gymreig

 

Here are the options for entering the competitions at the March meeting:

1. To be handed in at the MARCH Meeting:

Cakes

  • 12 Welsh cakes (to be eaten later) 
  • Chocolate cake – not less than 6 ins diameter

2. To be handed in at the FEBRUARY Meeting:

Photographs – 5x7 ins

  • daffodils 
  • two of a kind

Craft – an item of clothing for a Welsh doll’s costume

Poem – a limerick beginning “A Lady In a Welsh WI..."
(Only one per member) 

(All entries in the above categories to be submitted under a 'nom de plume'.)

3. To be performed at the MARCH meeting: 

Choral speaking (not less than six voices) – an extract from "Under Milk Wood":

“Hush, the babies are sleeping, the farmers, the fishers, the tradesmen and pensioners, cobbler, schoolteacher, postman and publican, the undertaker and the fancy woman, drunkard, dressmaker, preacher, policeman, the webfoot cocklewomen and the tidy wives. Young girls lie bedded soft or glide in their dreams, with rings and trousseaux, bridesmaided by glowworms down the aisles of the organplaying wood. The boys are dreaming wicked or of the bucking ranches of the night and the jollyrodgered sea. And the anthracite statues of the horses sleep in the fields, and the cows in the byres, and the dogs in the wetnosed yards; and the cats nap in the slant corners or lope sly, streaking and needling, on the one cloud of the roofs.

You can hear the dew falling ......... ”

Tuesday, 14 January 2025

Wales Air Ambulance

At the January 2025 meeting, Whitchurch WI was delighted to present a cheque for £1,300 to Catrin of Wales Air Ambulance.



Meeting – March 2025

The March meeting had the theme of 'Celebrating Wales'. There were winners for craft, limericks, photography and bakery, and a demon...