January 2016

Annual Quiz with Peter Hillyard

The legendary Peter Hillyard was brave enough to come back to host our annual quiz! As always Peter helped to start our year off with a bang. And some disagreements!!!

February 2016

A Literary Evening with Local Authors

In February we welcomed three local authors who discussed their experiences in the publishing world and their books.

First up was Lloyd Shepherd who is an author of 3 historical thrillers; The English Monster, The Polished Island and Savage Magic.  Lloyd subsequently published The Detective and the Devil, the fourth in his series of Charles Horton thrillers. 

Next Yang-May Ooi spoke about her last book Bound Feet Blues which is a story told through the shoes she has worn in her life. Yang-May is also author of the best selling novel, The Flame Tree. Yang-May describes herself as a “Multimedia Author”.  

Lastly, Rebecca Mackenzie read an excerpt from her debut novel, In a Land of Paper Gods.

We were also delighted to welcome Harry from Dulwich Books who broought a selection of books from our featured authors and who told us about some of the top picks from Dulwich Books.

March 2016

“Look Good – Feel Good”

In March we welcomed a host of different stalls and local traders from in and around East Dulwich including Fancy Betty, Twisted VintageTherapy and East Dulwich’s very own Hammam Spa for a health and beauty evening.

Our very own Olivette Facey also hosted a Mary Kay stall and Anna Gryce brought her House of Colour to make an already fabulous evening…well fabulous dah-ling!!

April 2016

Biscuit Decorating with Cakings

Marsha Phipps from Cakings shared the art of biscuit decorating with us and we got to try our hand at making our own iced and decorated biscuits – its not as easy as it looks!

May 2016

AGM and Demonstration from YiaYias Greek Kitchen

In May we held our Annual General Meeting where we reviewed the last year of events, received a report on the finances and member’s voted in the new committee consisting of Anna Gryce, Rachel Butler, Kirsten Ing, Mowe Saha, Mehreen Umar, Ciaran Dance, Sarah Gillfillan, Sarah Armstrong, Shana Maier-Taplin, Gabrielle Garton-Grimwood, Olivette Facey and Kim Haddon.  We also thanked those members stepping down.

Members also voted on the proposed resolutions; “Food Matters” and “Carers Welcome” which were both accepted.

An announcement was made that a the draw for our Denman Bursary to give 2 members funds to assist with attending a course at the WI’s college at Denman would be made in the following September. Kirsten Ing and Chloe Edges were the lucky winners and Chloe wrote all about their experience and shared the recipes they learnt on the Pastry Weekender Course at the WI Cookery School on her blog at cedges.co.uk.

With the serious business out of the way, we were then joined by Sarah Pylas (one of our members) and her sister in-law Eva Ryan, who gave us an insight on writing their new Greek cookery book, a demonstration on how-to make your own houmous, and even brought some of their signature dishes for us to try – delicious! Sarah and Eva now run their business called Vasso’s Kouzina and can be found at Farmer’s Markets in the local area.

June 2016

Vietnamese Street Food with Banh Banh

In June we welcomed An from Banh Banh, a Vietnamese restaurant in Peckham to tell us about how their family-run business came into being and how the recipes from the five siblings’ grandmother inspire their dishes. We also had the opportunity to watch how to make their gorgeously simple summer rolls and have a go at making our own. Banh Banh have since opened their second restaurant in Brixton and we’re not at all surprised!

July 2016

Sydenham Wood Walk

In July we took to the great outdoors for a walk around our local London Wildlife Trust reserve at Sydenham Hill Wood. Reserve Manager Daniel Greenwood was our guide and he talked to us all about his work in the wood and the species that make their home there.

Sydenham Hill Wood is a unique mix of ancient woodland and Victorian garden plants and is a great place to see woodpeckers, rare insects, bats, and fungi. Combined with the adjacent Dulwich Wood, Sydenham Hill Wood forms the largest remaining tract of the old Great North Wood which once stretched from Deptford to Selhurst.

August 2016

Croquet

In August we took our now annual pilgrimage to play learn how to play croquet.

September 2016

Gin Tasting with Forest Hill Gin Club

In September we returned to the EDT and welcomed Forest Hill Gin Club who gave us the benefit of their gin wisdom and treated us to a rather tasty selection of Gins. To complement the evening, the EDT created a number of gin cocktails.  As is usual, our boozy evening went down a storm with our members.

October 2016

The Pearly King of Peckham

In October we welcomed George Major, the Pearly King of Peckham who arrived in his Del-Boy style 3 wheeler to entertain us with all with his stories and adventures experienced through his life. George was full of stories and as cockney as cockney can be and members were charmed and entertained in equal measure! Members had the opportunity to ask questions about George’s life, his charitable works and his dream to set up the first Cockney Museum. There was also the chance to hold his pearly jacket – it was so heavy members were astonished he could stand in it!

November 2016

Felt Brooch Making for Upcycled Creativity

In November we hosted an incredibly popular craft evening with kits from Naomi Berry from Upcycled Creatively. Naomi was unfortunately unable to join us due to a family emergency but we loved working our way through the simple but fun sewing project,with the help of some of our crafty Make & Do-ers.

The kits contained everything needed to make a simple two tone felt brooch. Everyone did an amazing job!

December 2016

Magic, Mince Pies & Mojitos

In December we took the opportunity to let our hair down and spend some quality time socialising with other members. We drank cocktails, ate mince pies and even had our own magician to keep us entertained with a whole host of tricks….and balloon animals!!  The evening was a great chance to catch up with everyone and some members came dressed in their best Christmas Jumpers and party dresses. What a lovely way to round off a year of exciting and varied events.


Other Events

For further details of any of our events, please contact us here

 

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