Thursday April 4th 2024
At our April meeting The Inner Wheel Club of Woodbridge enjoyed a fun evening creating and painting a design on a pot, plate, or ornament of our choice.
Penny from Pennikkity Pots Ceramic Café in Ipswich brought along her mobile studio to our meeting at Ufford Park.
Before we started wielding our paint brushes and getting creative, Penny gave us a quick resume on the origins of Pennikkity Pots some 16 years ago. All Fired Up, the original pottery premises in Crown Mews was for sale and Penny, a graphic artist by profession, decided she would enjoy the challenge of running the creative café, together with her business partner Nikki. When Penny and Nikki were going through the process of preparing the premises one of their partners queried as to why they were being so pernickety? There was a light bulb moment and the name of the café was born. Pennikkity Pots!
The café, which is only closed on Wednesdays, hosts children’s parties, group meetings, hen parties, baby showers etc. Or you can just call in for coffee and cake amidst a busy shopping session.
After tentative beginnings we enjoyed being creative and now look forward to collecting our kiln fired pots next month. A very therapeutic activity.
Members have been busy being creative in other ways during March, knitting colourful squares to be made into blankets, hats for the ‘seafarers’ and little all in one jumpers for the fish n’ chip babies in Africa, so called as they are sent home from hospital wrapped in newspaper to keep them warm.
As well as knitted items, used stamps, ring pulls from drinks cans, used spectacles, stamps and old mobile phones are collected and distributed appropriately to organisations that have various ways of making use of them.
At the end of April we look forward to our District Outing which will take place in Woodbridge. Inner Wheel members from all over our district, which extends from North Norfolk down to Saffron Walden and out to Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, will be looking forward to an interesting day out.
Thursday 1st February 2024
At the February meeting we welcomed Charlie Zakss from Suffolk Wildlife Trust who talked with infectious enthusiasm about the very exciting happenings at Martlesham Wilds – a new nature reserve for Suffolk which is located along the banks of the river Deben. We learned how this land, which, until a couple of years ago was organically farmed, will be left to Nature to do what it wants, and the Trust will respond to whatever happens. There is already a wealth of plants and animals here including many species of bats, mice, voles, grass snakes, butterflies, moths, and birds such as linnets, yellow hammers, nightingales, and waders, owls, buzzards, and kestrels. In order to give nature the best chance, there is a great deal of work to be done to put in protective fencing, dyke restoration, ponds and shallow scrapes for wading birds which necessitates further fundraising efforts as well as man power and educating people as to the numerous other ways that they can be of help from leaving areas of wilderness in gardens to hedgehog holes in fences all of which will help to create wilderness corridors across the Suffolk countryside.
Daphne Rayment, International Officer, thanked all who had bought copies of the quizduring the Christmas period and announced that the winner was June Kenyon. The money raised will be added to the Book Bus charity fund which reports to be well on the way to being able to purchase a book bus.
Thursday 14th December
In October we had a talk by the District Chairman, who was one of our own - Deirdre Rothwell. Unfortuantley due to bad weather, our November meeting was cancelled. We had a very enjoyable Christmas meal at Ufford Park in December followed by a ‘frugal’ soup lunch on 10th January, Inner Wheel Day, when money was raised for the charity, The Smile Train, which provides training and financial support for the treatment of clefts around the world. Our November meeting was a business meeting with no speaker.
Thursday 7th September
Little Lifts supporting the lows of having breast cancer.
If someone you love should be unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with breast cancer what a comfort to know that there could be aLittle Lift on the way. Right now, if you should live in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex or parts of Cambridgeshire, that lift will come in the form of a carefully hand packed box of luxurious, quality and ethically sourced products which have all been selected for a particular role in helping to make the effects of treatment a little more bearable both physically and emotionally. Our September speaker, Oa Hackett, founder of Little Lifts, shared how her personal circumstances and experiences were the inspiration behind this amazing charity and how, in her words, something so devastating could be turned into something so incredible. Along with Oa, Shopie Houghton-Hood, the charity’s volunteer events and community manager, explained that different boxes are given depending on the treatment required and reminded us that each year approximately 350 men are also diagnosed with breast cancer. In thanking Oa for her inspirational talk, President Sharon expressed appreciation for the honest and humbling story of how Little Lifts came to be and was pleased that Woodbridge Inner Wheel had supported this as her chosen charity for the 2023/24 year.
International Officer, Daphne Rayment, advised that, as a club we would continue to collect many items such as ring pulls from drinks cans which are transported to Manila to be turned into jewellery, providing support for many along the way, old mobile phones, jigsaws, etc and was pleased the knit and natter group would meet on Mondays to produce knitted blankets, and hats and neck warmers for the seaman’s mission. Members are also pleased to provide help to the Book Bus in Zambia, a charity that provides access to children who otherwise would never enjoy a story book.
President Sharon congratulated and made a presentation to long standing member Mary Walker who has been a committed and active member of Inner Wheel for a remarkable fifty years.
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