It all started with a trip to the Great Yorkshire Show, and a visit to the WI tent in search of tea and cake (although I don’t even drink tea!).
A lasting memory from my childhood is that of Grandma Brown taking a very active role in her local village WI. Also, if ever I can not do something crafty or baking wise, I often think if she were around she could show me how. With this in mind, I decided some time ago that I liked the idea of joining a local WI, although, I hadn’t found a group in the area that completely fitted what I was looking for.
Cat, Suzanne and I got chatting to a couple of advisers from the North Yorks West federation who suggested that a new group was started for girls of around our age, and advised that we only needed the three of us to get going. It was quite like a snowball effect from then. I asked the girls I knew if it was something they might be interested in, and surprisingly most of them said it would be. The next thing I knew I had sourced a venue and a date had been set for us all to meet.
The formation
Spa Sweethearts WI was formed on Thursday 15th September 2011 with the aim of giving women the opportunity to learn new skills and meet like minded girls.
There was a fantastic turnout with 32 women in attendance, and that was all word of mouth and a small notice in the local paper. It wasn’t just a case of my friends humouring me as I had worried about.
Several suggestions were submitted for the name, and a vote was taken to choose the winner. The Spa Sweethearts were born.
Bex – founding president
