WE were welcomed by our president to our November meeting. The apologies were given and the minutes were read and signed.

Samples of Nivea cream had been sent to our secretary and these were distributed.

Reminders were given of the group carol service hosted by Broomhall WI at Whittington Church on December 13.

Invitations had been received from Cookhill and St Peter’s WIs to their December meetings both on the same day. It was decided to go for our Christmas meal on our usual January meeting day and the March Hare was voted as the venue.

The president then welcomed Phillipa Charlesworth who spoke to us of Fairtrade and Kenya. Her husband provided the slide show.

She now runs a company called Jambo Jambo (meaning Hello Hello in Swahili) the result of a visit to Kenya some years ago for her brother’s wedding. Expecting it to be on some glorious beach she was surprised when her brother said it was to take place in Kajire, a remote village where his bride had gone to help establish a school. It was seeing the poverty and living conditions that inspired her to help and she started by selling a few of the villagers’ handmade bags and sandals at craft fairs but has now given up her job and is running this company full time.

We meet monthly on the third Tuesday at Whittington Village Hall at 7.30pm. Our next meeting is our Christmas party when we have invited visitors and a close harmony vocal quartet, Razz-Ma- Tazz, to entertain us