Women's Safety Workshop, 29 November

London West End Women's Institute are pleased to announce we are hosting a women’s safety workshop on Saturday 29th of November from 0930 to 1400hrs.

Central London (Zone 1) location. Near Tottenham Court Road underground station. (About 8 minutes walk away) to the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury.

Tickets cost £35 plus booking fee and can be bought here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/womens-safety-workshop-open-to-women-only-run-by-london-west-end-wi-tickets-1838921235919

We're offering you 4.5 hours of fun, education and empowerment.

• Learn the tips and strategies to keep you safe when out & about on public transport or out generally.
• Learn some physical techniques to get physically out of trouble.
• John The Policeman with 40 years experience in the Met is taking the morning session
• Kim with 10+ years doing Self defence for Women is taking the afternoon session. 

Let’s learn, connect and have fun. 

We just ran a pilot male workshop on November 12th and the men reported learning lots at the event.

Do come along, make a friend, learn something new & useful.

LWEWI are not your typical WI.  

No “Pearls & Twinsets here”.

More making memories, mayhem and mischief. 

This particular event is only open to women, but later events may be open to all. 

This is one of several workshops we are planning in the coming months to fill our knowledge gaps.

Next Meeting - 15 January 2025

Our first meeting of 2025 is on Wednesday 15 January, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's Bloomsbury.

This month Anita and Caroline from Made Kind will be joining us.  This isn't just a sales pitch for their natural cleaning products, but also a how to guide: if you have an idea how do you get it made and sold?  They are here to tell us all about that, as well as to demo how to make some scented bath salts. You can find out more about them on their website, here: Our Story – MadeKind

The meeting is open to all women, whether members or visitors. We do have a small charge (£5) for non-members to help us cover costs, although your first visit is free. You can message or email us (londonwestendwi@gmail.com) if you'd like more info, or to let us know you're coming as a visitor so we can look out for you.

Dates for your Diary, May to December 2024

 Monthly Meetings 2024

May 15th: A talk about Annie Horniman, Theatrical Impressario, with Geraldine Beskin

June 19th:  Needle felting and talk about shepherding with Emma Harrison

July 17th: Votes for Women! Guided walk with Herstorical Tours. Pre-booking essential for this one, please email us to reserve your spot.

August : TBC

September : Sort My Stuff Out! with professional organiser Katherine Blackler

October : Commonwealth War Graves Commission: architecture and its conservation with Alistair Higgins

November : TBC

December: Christmas social:

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British Museum Exhibition Previews
We hope to attend more exhibition previews this year - in previous years we've been to most major exhibitions before they open to the public. This year we have already visited Legion: Life in the Roman Army, Michelangelo The Last Decades, and more

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Cake Sales

We aim to have at least one cake and craft sale a year. This year we will be having 2 stalls at the annual Soho Fete on Sunday 21st July. Bakers, Crafters and sellers always required. All money raised goes towards maintainin LWEWI's programme full of interesting speakers

May Monthly Meeting

Our next meeting is Wednesday May 15th, at 6.30pm in the Upper Vestry Hall of St. George's Bloomsbury

Our speaker this month is Geraldine Beskin, and she will be speaking to us about Annie Horniman, Theatrical Impresario and Her Chums.

Annie Horniman was a Victorian spinster with flaming red hair and a temper to match. She used her irritation with situations to change the world of the Theatre forever. She was rich, knew the poet W B Yeats for a lifetime, George Bernard Shaw - another redhead - author of very successful plays such as Pygmalion or My Fair Lady as the film was called, and Dame Ellen Terry the actress who was a National Treasure a bit like Judy Dench is now. These are a few of the big names in her address book, she had lots of other friends who were differently important.

Our Speaker

Geraldine Beskin runs The Atlantis Bookshop with her daughter Bali and they are very proud that their business is 102 years old. Geraldine should have been born a Victorian as she loves the creative people who were around then. Instead she had the fun of being able to be a Hippy and listen to great music and enjoy other benefits of being a mid-century baby!

Open to all our members, and to any interested women - you're all welcome as visitors. Email us on londonwestendwi@gmail.com if you'd like more info, or just turn up.

March meeting

Our March meeting, on Wednesday 20th, will be our AGM followed by a short session of practical sashiko embroidery, inspired by our February speaker, Rob Jones. We'll supply all the materials, and the instructions - and as you can see from the example below, it's nice and straightforward, and easy to complete a small piece in a short time.

Non-members are welcome to attend but will be unable to vote for committee members in the AGM.

Want to be on the committee? Let us know ahead of the meeting via email, and also get in touch if you've got any questions about what being on the committee means in terms of responsibilities or time commitments.

Sashiko - what we'll be trying in March

Our speaker in February, Rob Jones

We meet at 6.30pm in the Upper Vestry Hall of St George's, Bloomsbury (entrance on Little Russell Street). Visitors are always welcome, you can email us for more info or just turn up on the evening.

Shop online? Click this link or scan the QR code before you shop and LWEWI will recieve a small donation, at no cost to you, for every transaction you make.