This month’s meeting featured the accomplished florist of 15 years and floral art teacher Rosy Elesmore of ‘Odds & Buds’ in Tavistock. Her theme was ’Autumn days’ and she produced 6 beautiful arrangements using flowers in an array of autumn shades.

For her first arrangement, Rosy used a large, shallow, ceramic dish with a posy pad inside into which she arranged myrtle and eucalyptus for her foliage. The flowers were orange dahlias and carnations, orange/yellow gerberas, sunflowers and, the star of the show, Miss Piggy roses, which were shades of pink and peach. White ornithogalum, kangaroo paws, dried amaranthus, and pampas grass completed the stunning arrangement.

Her second arrangement was a hand tie. For this, she used an amazing frame as a base into which she twisted pussy willow and contorted hazel. The frame was attached to poles of willow sticks to hold the hand tie. Her flowers were beautiful cream, fringed with pink, calla lilies from which she stripped some of their stem so that they could be bent into the frame more easily. Pink/cream chrysanthemums, pink nerines, kangaroo paws and eucalyptus completed the intricate design.

Rosy did not use foam for her third arrangement which had bunches of cut bamboo set into plastic covered chicken wire. The bamboo had test tubes fastened to them into which she put dried pampas, kangaroo paws, and miscanthus. Purple veronica, orange dahlias, pink nerines, peach chrysanthemums and dried montbretia seeds were then arranged into the rest of the chicken wire.

The fourth arrangement was in twin pots containing florist foam. Here, Rosy made two identical arrangements using myrtle and eucalyptus as foliage. Dried miscanthus grass, orange/peach carnations, yellow gerberas, orange dahlias and Miss Piggy roses were then added. Dried pampas, dried eucalyptus, dried cornflowers completed the arrangements.

Rosy’s final arrangement was a Hand tie entirely made of dried flowers and foliage which consisted of lavender, pussy willow, pampas, eucalyptus and various autumnal shades of cornflower arranged around a bamboo stick.

Six lucky winners of the raffle took home an arrangement each.

The vote of thanks was made by Jeanette Orr and tea and biscuits provided by Andria Surgeoner and Joan Lashbrook.

Our next meeting is at the Parkhouse Centre on Tuesday, December 9, when Tracy Johnson will delight us with ’Sparkles & Spice & All Things Nice’.

Meanwhile a real treat is coming to Bude with the Area Show held at The Parkhouse Centre and Bude Methodist Church when accomplished Arrangers from Devon and Cornwall compete for prizes. Alison Penno, a National Demonstrator, will be demonstrating a ‘Winter Wonderland’ on two occasions. The show is on Thursday, November 27, from 9.30am until 4.30pm and on Friday, November 28, from 9.30 until 3.30pm. All are welcome.

Marhamchurch WI welcomed Kate Doran as their guest speaker for October.

Kate is founder of the wonderful Flotsam Flo which repurposes a whole lot of paraphernalia that would normally be thrown into land fill. She takes wetsuits, banners, inflatables and life jackets and makes wonderful purses, backpacks and holdalls. No two pieces are the same but all are beautifully designed and sewn.

Kate attributes much of her success to the family ethic often versed by her granny: “There’s no such a thing as can’t” and another “ make do and mend and boy has she lived her life so far by these Mantras.

Kate loves horses- some of her first artist’s models and drawing so she thought to do fine art at Uni though was a little discouraged by her tutor whilst doing a foundation course in Cornwall and so decide on graphic design which introduced her to creative arts putting to use the skills of her other granny who taught her to use a sewing machine and let her practice sewing straight lines on old tea towels.

Returning to Cornwall, her mother had a hand in persuading Kate to teach which she enjoyed for 10 years.

Here Kate’s life took some dramatic turns whilst cycling in Illogan Kate experienced severe head pain but carried on home, as you do, eventually ending up in A&E with a bleed on the brain which much to her disgust meant leaving Cornwall for Derriford Hospital. This was brain haemorrhage with Kate being one of the lucky third who not only recovered but has been left with few problems. Undaunted she tried BMX biking and fractured her knee cap , got a part time job in a bike shop and started drawing again.

Kate was asked by a friend who had seen some of her sketches to draw her horse and her talent and word of mouth has kept her busy.

Her bag making began when she moved back home and then became overwhelmed with supplies for her bag making until Biffa gave her a space to work from and Flotsam Flo’s flourished.

Kate has also broken her foot , when trodden on by a horse, but nothing has stood in her way. One of her bag’s has appeared on a poster in the London Underground , she has had a stand at the royal Cornwall show and much to the WI’s benefit she did a speakers audition day and from local WIs to travelling soon to speak at Surrey Federations meeting.

This report is just a flimsy sketch of Kate’s brilliant talk, a brilliant example of ‘Inspiring Women’ and members look forward to hearing more from Kate as she concentrates on her artistic talents.

Kate arrived with a selection of prints and bags which members were more than happy to purchase.

Next month’s guest speaker is Robert Bond who will be talking about his life in broadcasting. Visitors always welcome.

It was with mixed feelings and a time for reflection when the Women’s Institute in Coad’s Green closed its doors in April. It marked the end of a long and successful association, which had spanned sixty three years.

There was a healthy membership of twenty strong who wished to continue to meet, hear interesting speakers, learn new skills and enjoy the company of others within and beyond our local community. It was with this in mind that ‘Women on Wednesdays’ was formed.

Since the inauguration of the group, acronym ‘WOW’, there has been a visit to the ‘Cowslip Workshops’ and a talk by Ali Humphreys and Ursula Crouch on recycling. They informed their audience about a large number of items that end up in our black bins, that can still be recycled for charity through the blue bins at the back of the Linkinhorne Village Hall.

‘Women on Wednesdays’ met on October 14th when Andy, Mike and Mandy from the ‘East Cornwall Search and Rescue Team’ gave an excellent talk and presentation, highlighting the valuable service and support provided through their voluntary work. The vast area that the team covers is the eastern part of the county from Bodmin to Bude. The West Cornwall team covers the remainder, although the teams render assistance to one another and other neighbouring groups on Dartmoor and Exmoor, when necessary.

The Cornwall teams are affiliated to other rescue organisations throughout the country from Wales to the Lake District and everywhere in between. All rescue groups are trained to the highest level to assist casualties in moorland and mountain rescue, cave, rope and flood rescues.

The East Cornwall Rescue group was established in 1965 and is based in Bodmin. The number of unpaid volunteers is fifty or more, supported by 4x4 vehicles. Three rescue dogs are on hand and are invaluable for finding missing persons, in particular. Call outs are between forty to sixty per year.

Although much of the rescue work is centred around Rough Tor, Gold Diggings and St.Austell, the nature of the vast wilderness and high ground around Bodmin Moor presents particular problems at all times of the year. Heavy snow and drifts can often cause difficulties in the winter time. Mine shafts, adits and even the walls of the Cheesewring quarry have posed a problem, not just for the occasional, unfortunate member of the public but also for curious animals from dogs and sheep to cows and even ducks.

There was a lot of admiration for the work and the varied skill sets within the group. They are all unpaid and ready to help every day of the year, twenty four hours of the day. The specialised equipment does not come cheap and it costs £25,000 a year, minimum, to keep the team running.

Daphne Tucker, who had coordinated the meeting, thanked our visitors for their informative talk and for their time, given willingly, like everything else that they do.

The newly formed group, ‘Women on Wednesdays’ meets on the second Wednesday of every month, at 7.30 p.m. in the hall behind the chapel in Coad’s Green. There is a charge of £4 per meeting . The meetings are informal and everyone is welcome.