Welcome to Wickhambrook
Wickhambrook is one of the parishes of West Suffolk Council and Suffolk County Council
February saw the return of Sarah Doig, to talk about the history of almshouses. Beginning with the monks in the Middle Ages, there has been an obligation on Christians to look after the less fortunate, whether they are old, ill or disabled…
Our first meeting of the New Year was held on Monday 22nd January. It seemed a long time since our December meeting. There were a lot of members present and Barry Gayton from Santon Downham had come to talk to us about “Cacti of Desertworld”…
We would love to be able to bring Cubs back to the Village, so we need some leaders who are ready to lead the adventure…
There was an excellent turn-out for our first meeting of the year. One of our members, Antony Foreman, gave a talk entitled ‘Snapshots of Syria’ which was based on a trip he had taken there in the 1990s…
The new W.I. Year started off with such creativity and concentration for our members thanks to Sikander Jadd and the jewelry workshop she led for us recently. The objective was a beaded bracelet, made by ourselves from scratch…
It was a lovely way to end the year and get into the Christmas spirit joining together to enjoy a festive evening organized by our hard-working committee. A welcoming drink and beautifully decorated tables, greeted our arrival…
As a child, I well remember looking at cartoons in the newspaper and an annual compilation by Giles. Like most of the audience at History Society in November, I had no idea that he lived in Ipswich and that many of the people and places were familiar to the locals.
It was a chilly, dark, evening as we met to discover the wonders of the astronomy BUT unfortunately it was too cloudy above to see anything of the planets or the stars and their constellations!!!
Dr Nick Amor was our October speaker and his subject was the Medieval Woollen Cloth Industry in Suffolk. We already knew the importance of Suffolk in the rearing of sheep and the making of cloth but one of the most interesting pieces of new (to us)information was that in 1483, Richard Broun, a woolman of Wickhambrook was sued in the courts for £40, the equivalent of many thousands today…
Our guest this month was Pam Bowen from the Crown Prosecuting Service, based in London, but travelling around the UK, Europe and sometimes beyond in her work investigating and bringing to justice those involved in trafficking of women and modern slavery…
Thomas Blague of Horringer was rightly described by John Sutton , our speaker for September, as Suffolk’s most famous cavalier. He was born at Little Horringer Hall in 1613 and his early life is a mystery. He was probably a mercenary in Europe, as his military skills were evident in his later life…
Our guest speaker at our September meeting, filling in at very short notice due to illness was Margaret McAlpine from Bury St Edmunds to give us an insight to her volunteering work with Soft Power Education based in Uganda at the Amagezi Education Centre near Jinja…
During the summer the History Society went on two excellent outings with fine weather, interesting locations and good company. The first was to Lincoln Cathedral and Castle where we had guided tours by two guides who brought the past to life and spent lots of time chatting, answering questions and generally making us feel very welcome. We also visited Gressenhall Workhouse and Museum of Norfolk Life…
Our members meeting for this year took place recently under leaden skies with the threat of rain by invitation of Trustee Joyce Draycott and her husband Philip at their home Ashfield Green Farm. Despite the August evening weather, a very warm welcome awaited all from Joyce and her band of member helpers greeting us on arrival with either an Elderflower or Pimms…
At the July meeting, Clare Mulley of Saffron Walden, a writer and historian, came to talk to us about her book, ‘The Spy Who Loved’. The subject of the book is Krystyna Skarbek, a Polish countess who changed her name to Christine Granville when she became a British spy during the first World War…
It was a lovely day for our Flower Show on the 8th July. Not too hot, but cloudy and sunny all day. The numbers of entries this year were a little down compared to last year, but we still had entries in nearly all the categories and the hall looked lovely and colourful…
At our open meeting in June we had several visitors attracted by the opportunity to see and find out about Belly Dancing from teacher and expert of 13 years Victoria Strudwick of Sudbury…
Those attending the annual 9th Literary lunch hosted by the ladies of the two Wickhambrook W.I. Reading Groups enjoyed a delicious buffet including some yummy home baked desserts in the company of author Rosy Thornton, author of Sandlands from East Suffolk…
The May meeting saw a welcome return of Tony Kirby. His talk “Churches and Chapels since the Reformation”, illustrated by slides of East Anglia, was full of interest. The period 1530-1560 saw a 1,000 years of religious building destroyed with the destruction of abbeys and monasteries…
We started the meeting with a sugar rush, which kept us awake and lively for the whole meeting! The business of the monthly meeting was swiftly concluded. Future events were publicised including the Literary Lunch with Rosy Thornton on 16th June (tickets from Dorothy), an ice-cream tasting and a breakfast walk…
At the AGM, the committee and office-bearers were re-elected to serve for another year. The secretary, Gillian Cooper, unveiled the new programme and gave details of summer outings to Lincoln Castle and Cathedral and Gressenhall Workhouse Museum and Farm. The speaker for the evening was Martin Roper and his subject was History and the Printed Cartoon…
Hilary Ritchie, the Archivist of Addenbrooke’s Hospital was the speaker this month and she gave us a fascinating insight into the history of this great institution…
Mr Nigel Start was our speaker for the March monthly meeting and his subject was “Keeping chickens on a small scale”. It was again wonderful to see a good number of people in the hall…
Robin Ford brought an actual ‘Magic Lantern’ to the March meeting so that he could show some of his very interesting collection of original slides…
What an excellent turnout we had at the March meeting, Paula Short’s promised presentation about Coco Chanel, her life and loves having attracted many first timers to the Institute…
In February we welcomed Kate Jewell to the meeting. She has not spoken to us before and we have discovered a gem (pun intended!) What a delightful, knowledgeable and fluent speaker! We coild have listened all night to her talk on ‘Cakes, Ales and Partying…
Our February speaker was Edward Crichton from Lacey Scott and Knight who gave us an excellent insight into his life as an auctioneer. His description of the excitement of finding treasure in ordinary houses and selling it on was very interesting…
It is quite some years since Mr Richard Ayres last came to speak to the Horticultural Society and he was a popular speaker then, just as he still is and when he came to the Society on the 27th February, about fifty people came to listen to his talk…
Robert Burridge gave a talk on Native Americans, which covered the Indian wars, early settlers, strife between the tribes and the white men who wanted to take over the land…
There was a good attendance at the first meeting of 2017, which included two visitors, hopefully members to be. Vice President Sue Burton-Griffiths welcomed everyone wishing all a happy new year and led members through Resolutions…