Shoreditch Sisters WI

Knit, natter and crochet

2011-11-15T07:20:00.000-08:00

I will go ahead and quote our treasurer, Jen Luk, here when talking about our most recent and highly successful knit and natter sesh, “My world = turned upside down”.

What had caused this inversion I hear you ask? Well, I crocheted a granny square. Yes, woollen crafts have finally got their hooks (no pun intended!) into me. After months of just nattering, I am now a bona fide crafter too. Admittedly I find it impairs my ability to speak as my tongue is hanging out the side of my mouth, but surely that’ll improve!

If you would like to come along to knit and natter please do, you don’t have to be a member, it’s just an opportunity to get together, craft (any craft welcome) or just natter. It’s always two weeks after our main meeting, check out the calendar here Drop in from 6.30pm to Leon in Old Spitalfields Market. They give us a table, we order their food, symbiotic, like.

It’s a great opportunity to learn something new, perfect something you did as a kid but can’t quite remember anymore, get some help with a tricky pattern or advice on where something went wrong. It’s an unintimidating mix of professional knitters and crocheters and total beginners who must be given more elbow room so as not to poke people’s eyes out. We also have a ravelry group where you can share tips, get help and generally indulge your knitty activities.

Hope fully see you at the next one, remember, Christmas is coming and everyone loves a hand-crafted gift. Unless you’re my brother, in which case it’ll be the usual CD…

We came, we saw, we pom-pommed

2011-11-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

This Monday just gone a few of us went along to Shoreditch House for Company Magazine’s High Street Fashion Awards. After deciding what to wear, what to make and getting past security (who had us down as performers…cue quizzical looks) we found we’d been given a lovely little area in one of the rooms. The Shoreditch Sisters who got there early had done a brilliant job decorating it with our bunting, banners and bundles of yarn, all ready for us to show those fashionistas a few things about pom-pom making.

It was a great opportunity for us to display the campaigns work we’ve been doing on our Embroideries campaign to end FGM (female genital mutilation), show the sort of activities we get up to on a monthly basis and get some lovely ladies involved with our craft-y activities.

It was, to be honest, dead glamorous, there were lovely cocktails and small bowls of amazing food doing the rounds, everyone in their best outfits and a small smattering of celebs – we spotted Pixie Lott there to collect an award for her dresses at Lipsy, Jameela Jamil looking statuesque and with a perfect fringe of glossy hair (grrr) and this month’s cover girl Caroline Flack.

More important than all of that though was that when we briefly abandoned our stations to have some (no doubt highly embarrassing) official type photos taken, we came back to find we’d been totally usurped by curious and crafting fashionistas, carefully overseen by our own Ms Maddison. We are literally conquering the world, one pom-pom at a time.

The photos here were taken by President Becky but if you want to see some of the official ones, follow this link and check out pictures 35 and 50… Not my best side BTW. And the beautiful headbands a few of us are sporting were kindly lent to us by Elnaz Niknani.

October Meeting: Crochet, cheese and fast fashion...

2011-11-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

Yet another fabulous meeting has been and gone with so many amazing things to report!

There was enough cheese from the lovely Cheese Society to give everyone a taster. Thanks to anyone who brought biscuits and chutney, President Becky’s chutney and Hannah’s homemade biscuits provided me with a good meal certainly…if you didn’t get to try one that may be because I scoffled quite a few. They were great though.

Credit Sophia Spring

For anyone who, having been introduced to crochet, wants to go on to create amazing crochet based things the lovely Martha has supplied me with some links. I, for one, am cracking my knuckles, putting the kettle on and gearing up for a session aimed at creating my very own granny blanket to keep me warm of a winter’s evening.

Credit Sophia Spring

This one is of a years worth of granny square designs, it's a project of a girl who makes one a day! http://craftyminx.typepad.com/a_granny_a_day/

A lovely blog in which this post is all about hexagon granny squares in blanket form.
http://oneloopshort.blogspot.com/2009/07/super-simple-hexagon.html

And last but not least, this site has clear instructions and a videos for crochet, some are both left and right handed, which is handy…(boom, boom)
http://www.craftyminx.com/crochet-school/

Lyla from TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) came and gave us a talk on the work that they do, including the inspirational way that they reuse and recycle clothes that are past their best. We (the western world) now go through more clothing than ever before and much of it is just thrown into landfill when we’ve worn it a few times, fast and disposable fashion. The impact of this on the planet and people is immense. Whilst we see new ranges coming into shops every few weeks, for the workers making those clothes it means cutting wages, shortened turn around times and worsening conditions.

Credit Sophia Spring

If you want to find out more check out their website for information on where to donate your old clothes and where their shops are so you can keep your wardrobes stocked. They run workshops on recycling clothes in their Camden and Shepherds Bush shops too of an evening so maybe see some of you there!

If you were moved by the talk into action there are a number of template letters on this blog which you can use to send to retailers to express your views.

We were very excited to be visited by the amazing photographer Sophia Spring, who you may have seen snapping away and who took all the photos here. To see more photos of Sophia's photos from the night please check out our facebook page.

Next month will be our AGM. All very serious, members will be electing our committee, President and VPs, Secretary and Treasurer…plus potentially some other roles we’d like people to take on. We will be starting early to get the official WI biz out of the way so that we can move onto making Christmas decorations – bring on the glitter!!

October's meeting - Crochet and Fast Fashion with Traid

2011-10-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

LOVE FASHION, HATE IT'S IMPACT?

RSVP to the Facebook Event

Free to members, £3 to non-members
Special membership offer : Join in October and get 15 months for the price of 12, only £31.50, which is £2.10 per meeting, plus members get the bi-monthly WI Life magazine, a discount booklet of vouchers in January and priority emailing about meetings and workshops, invites to events and discount membership to the new cinema in Hackney.

Last month was a bit of a squeeze into the small but perfect alternate venue, Time for Tea, with not enough elbow room to learn how to crochet, so we are going to try it again. Having seen the crochet granny blanket scarf Henry Holland is flogging this season for a whopping £400+, we'll be learning how to make the latest thing.

We'll have a bag of wool and assorted a few spare hooks, but please bring your own hook if you can (and if you have any you could lend to our sisters, mark them with a dab of nail varnish). Also if you can already crochet please come and share your skills or drag along a friend who can to join our crack team of crocheters.
Then we'll be meeting lovely Lyla from Traid to learn more about what they do. Traid stands for Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development. Traid are currently working in partnership with the WI and War on Want on our national Fast Fashion campaign.

High street clothing is increasingly being called 'fast fashion'.
Like fast food, it is mass produced and designed for instant gratification, but carries with it hidden environmental and social impacts.

This surge in demand for disposable clothing has a host of negative impacts for people and the planet. The WI believe it is important that the people making the clothes we buy are paid a living wage in decent working conditions. We also care about the environmental impact of fashion. 900,000 million items of clothing end up in landfill every year. Low priced, low quality dispobable clothing is often synthetic and doesn't decompose.

Even if you can't make it to the meeting, there are some draft letters on either the environmental impact or the conditions and low pay of garment workers on our campaigns page for you to personalise and send to your favourite brands.

September's meeting at Time for Tea 110 Shoreditch High Street

2011-09-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

The Shoreditch Sisters invite you to our next meeting.

RSVP to the Facebook event link

Tuesday 27th September 7-9pm

Free for members, £3 for non-members

We will be continuing with our usual collision of craft and feminism this month.

Our guest speaker is the living legend Efua Dorkenoo, founder of FORWARD UK, author of "Cutting the Rose" and currently the Advocacy Director of the FGM Program at Equality Now. Eufa was part of the 1970's women's movement and was the first person to put FGM on the UK agenda 30 years ago, she is a true hero and inspiration. She will share with us the amazing work she is doing and has done campaigning against FGM. The Shoreditch Sisters have been working to bring the issue of FGM into the public consciousness, through our Embroideries Quilt and appearances in newspapers and on the radio. Eufa is the godmother of all FGM campaigning and we are really excited to welcome her.

After the inspirational talk, we'll be learning how to crochet with a group of friends and members of the Shoreditch Sisters, the East End WI and the Borough Belles. If you have a crochet hook and wool please bring them, but as usual we will have some spare hooks to lend out and a wool stash. If you have a spare hook you are willing to lend out for the evening, mark it with a dab of nail varnish, so we can get it back to you at the end of the night.

Love Your Libraries

2011-08-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

As well as our local Shoreditch group's chosen campaigns, the national Women's Institute is always actively campaigning. The latest issue the whole WI are tackling is library closures with our Love Your Library campaign. Please sign the online petition, send your local councillor a letter about closures, but also importantly please join and use your local library.

Our local libraries are those in Hackney and Tower Hamlets:
Shoreditch Library
Hackney Central Library
Homerton Library
Idea Store Whitechapel
Idea Store Bow
Bethnal Green Library
CLR St James Library Dalston

All have more than just books. Rent DVDs, CDs, go in for a coffee and read the paper, do a sewing course or learn a new skill to add to your CV.

Another reason to join a library is the wonderful elibrary run by a consortium of London libraries, which loans out ebook and audiobooks online here. Some of the Shoreditch Sisters got talking about this one day at a meeting and I can report that I now use it regularly to listen to audiobooks while I'm sewing or on the bus (Penelope Keith reading Agatha Raisin mystery books are my new guilty pleasure and cure for stress).

All you need is a library membership from your local branch, a pin number (set when you join or call the library for it if you are already a member) and a program called "Overdrive" available from the website, which runs on your computer and syncs to most devices, including iPods, iPads, Macs, Sony Readers and Creative MP3 players. Then catch up on all those books you've been meaning to read by listening to MP3s and WMAs while you're out and about; or read books on your laptop or phone. One of our members even uses the elibrary and a waterproof MP3 player to making swimming more interesting.

Here is the NFWI say about the campaign:

Carry your library card with pride!At the heart of the campaign is the belief that libraries are essential resources that are too important to risk losing. That's why we're calling on every member that cares about public libraries to take the simple first step of joining your local library and getting to know your local librarians.

Sign the petition!Before the last election, the Prime minister, David Cameron MP said he planned to introduce a scheme whereby any petition that raised 100,000 signatures would trigger a debate in the House of Commons. The NFWI wants to call on the PM to honour this commitment and we'd like to see every member sign our petition with their family and friends to demonstrate just how much the WI really values our libraries.

Write to your councillors Individuals and WI groups can make an impact. Please use the information in the campaign briefing, to write to your local councillor highlighting the Love Your Library campaign, and expressing the importance of libraries to your local community.
You can find contact details for your local councillor via this website.

Do remember to localise your letter - if you know that libraries are under threat then please do incorporate this information, and any feedback from members about the impact service reductions would have on them.

It is also important that we establish a picture of the proposals for closures and changes to library services in all areas, so please do ask what plans the council has for changes to library services in your area. If the council has already published plans, then please ask for an update and feed this information back to the WI Public Affairs Department (see http://www.thewi.org.uk/standard.aspx?id=24427).

2011-08-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

July Meeting Round Up

Women's Environmental Network came along and gave a talk, if you are interested in finding out more, or getting involved, their website is here.

This was followed by tote bag making out of recycled t-shirts with Barley Massey from Fabrications. She has blogged about it here.

Future dates for your diary

17th August - Knit & Natter (fb event here) at Leon in Spitalfields. As well as the usual crafting, Birdy and Tara will be there with some fabric scraps donated by Zandra Rhodes for some last minute Embroideries patches. Come along and collect some scraps even if you can't stay for the evening. You can also drop off finished patches if you aren't able to make the meeting on 23rd August.

23rd August - August meet at Concrete on Shoreditch High St. Be there! (fb event here)

24th August - piecing together of the Embroideries Quilt at Tara's studio near London Fields station. Volunteers to lend a hand appreciated.

1st September - Embroideries Campaign launch night - space will be very limited so don't forget to bring along your patch to the August meeting to ensure you are involved. More information on the time and location coming soon.

7th September - Launch night for Queen of Crafts written by our founding member Jazz Domino Holly, with craft stall run by the Shoreditch Sisters. This will be in Bethnal Green.

Interviews with Kirsty and Anna and a bit of Germaine Greer and Prick Your Finger

2011-06-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Vicky with mikes from Kirsty on the left and Anna on the right

http://kirstyloumcq.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/the-wi-gets-hip/

For anyone wondering who those ladies with mikes are from the last few meetings, the first was Kirsty, whose piece can be listened to above. As well as speaking to our lovely Birdy and mentioning our craftivism (see this post and embroideriescampaign.org.uk) she has interviewed Germaine Greer about the WI, who seems to approve. Germaine would like to see us think in terms of being an effective lobby group, and she "likes the WI best when they are angry." It is good to know that unlike some disapproving feminists she, like us, looks beyond the stereotypes of the WI and sees the value of women coming together to campaign.

Though campaigning and feminism isn't all we do. At our Yoga and Relaxation meeting, while Kirsty recording, she missed some insightful discussion of "Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism" by Natasha Walter (blog with a collective review coming soon) and arrived over at our group learning hand massage just as the topic had changed to The Only Way is Essex. Thankfully the whole incredulous "what is vajazzling?" part of the conversation and our collective laughter didn't make it to the final piece.

As well as Kirsty, we've had two visits from Anna McNamee , reporter for Women's Hour. Her piece is most likely to air at the end of June. She was at our last meeting in May, chatting to the members after the inspiring talk by super eco crafts women Annie Sherburne, and joined us again this week at our knitting session at Prick Your Finger in Bethnal Green, where we had some serious discussions of cake, baking, feminism and of course knitting. Our treasurer Jen made a fabulous Lemon Drizzle cake and new member Samantha brought amazing Peanut Brittle. The cakes we knitted will be gracing our marquee at the Big Feastival (July 1st-3rd), so get your tickets now. If you want to knit your own cakes, the patterns are in "Knitorama" by Rachael Matthews, available from Prick Your Finger's wonderful wool emporium.

Big thank yous to Kirsty and Anna for showing an interest in our group, to Annie Sherburne for being a wonderful speaker and to Louise and Rachael at PYF for the tea and yarn and inspiration.

Knit & Natter group met up at Prick Your Finger

2011-06-04T17:37:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 8th June at 7pm

Some of you may already have seen the event via Facebook (RSVP to the event on Facebook) or heard Caroline talking about it at the last meeting. To make our tent at Big Feastival really unique we'd like to decorate it with an array of woolie wonders, a full knitted high tea with cakes and sandwiches.

So we are having a group knitting project to whip up some woolie cakes and sandwiches from patterns by Rachael Matthews book Knitorama. Rachael is very kindly going to host an evening for us at Prick Your Finger in Bethnal Green.

There are parts of the patterns suitable for complete beginners, and parts that are crochet, so all levels of knit ability are catered to. If you want to make some of your own creations, anything suitable for an afternoon tea would be great too.

View Knitting venue in a larger map

Please bring real cakes if you can to thank Rachael and Louise for the hospitality and the not knitted cups of real tea and size 3.5mm or 4mm knitting needles (size 9 or 8 in old UK non-mm sizes) if you have them.

Also bread or swiss roll coloured wool or small balls of red for cherries would be useful. I have some supplies of pink, yellow, white and cream for battenburg cakes, cheese and ham slices and the icing on the bakewell tarts.

As well as woolie cake making, you can drool over the lovely yarns at the shop and giggle at the rude knitting patterns, have a natter and talk to Rachael and Louise who run the knit-emporium. Here is their website: http://www.prickyourfinger.com/ and see more about Rachael below, from the Craft Council website:

Rachael MatthewsWalking down Globe Street in London’s East End, you will come across a unique yarn shop and gallery called ‘Prick Your Finger’, the creation of designers Rachael Matthews and Louise Harries. Prick Your Finger grew from their desire to make textiles with UK based and ethical yarns. Half the stock is spun in house, and the rest is from farmer producers who are spinning yarn themselves too.Rachael Matthews, the knitter from the Lake District, has achieved quite a lot in her time! From early beginnings at Central St. Martins College of Art & Design, she is now the writer of various books on knitting such as ‘Knitorama’, full of outlandish illustrations and original patterns designed to be shared between friends and portable enough to be taken to your knitting venue of choice. You won’t find your average pattern for gloves amongst her repertoire! Rachael is definitely the champion for doing things in a new and different way.Rachael started out by running a knitting club for boys and girls called ‘Cast Off’ with Amy Plant, and she encouraged events that would promote knitting and other crafts as a more constructive way of spending our time. Cast Off met in nightclubs, pubs, and other non-typical places. As part of an exhibition called ‘Ceremony’, Rachael organized an entire knitted wedding at the Pump House Gallery in London’s Battersea Park in 2009. It was a huge success that opened the public’s eyes to see how much can be achieved with yarn and a pair of needles! Knitting groups were invited to attend and make things for the wedding. Everything was knit from the wedding dress to the cucumber sandwiches, and even the cake. Cast Off’s ventures promoted the revival of KIP (Knitting in Public) in London, demonstrating how knitting is the ideal craft to take with you wherever you go- Rachael has knit on the London Underground’s circle line, folk clubs in the East End, in Paris, and even at a specially organized evening called ‘Craft Rocks’ at the V&A Museum

Future events invites & how you can help (part two)

2011-05-26T04:59:00.000-07:00

Next up from the announcements at the meeting:

Our Embroideries Campaign is gearing up for a big launch on 1st September at Coco De Mer. Anyone who hasn't done, can still contribute by sewing, embroidering or knitting or other wise crafting a 7x7 inch patch for our Embroideries Project, they can be posted to :

Embroideries

5a Gransden Avenue

London

E8 3QA

United Kingdom

We are also very excited to be co-hosting a WI area at the Big Feastival.

"Join us on Clapham Common, London, July 1, 2 and 3 2011, for the Big Feastival, the first boutique festival of first-class food and top-notch live music where the standard ticket price includes up to 5 dishes of delicious food!* We've got a heart, though, and all our profits go to The Prince’s Trust and The Jamie Oliver Foundation to help disadvantaged young people. Like a giant village fete, with music stages and pop-up kitchens from the UK’s most talked-about bars and restaurants, it’s a good-time gourmet experience for the whole family." Sounds good to me!

Members - How about getting in free and helping us in the WI tent? Even if you are busy on the weekend of July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, you can contribute by making jams and chutneys for sale or if cooking isn't your thing, join our knitting group in crafting a high tea, complete with knitted and crochet cake and sandwiches. To volunteer drop us an email to Shoreditch Sisters WI. The next date for cake knitting together is June 8th and we'll be having a Feastival planning meet soon too.

Non - members - You can get tickets now and enter a cake in our best cake competition. Lots of exciting people will be popping up in our area, and the Shoreditch Sisters will be there peddling our wares and inviting you to experience some of the kinds of things we get up to at our meetings.

Future events invites (part one)

2011-05-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

May's meeting was rather packed with information, so I promised to do a quick round up, as well as dedicating some time to a beautifully crafted couple of blog posts about our last three meetings - coming soon! First let's cover two political issues, with invites to a rally and a march:

We have had a call to arms from the NFWI (our parent national organisation) to speak up in defence of legal aid:

Calling all London WI members!

Do you believe in Justice for All?

The Ministry of Justice have proposed important changes to the legal aid system, which will deny thousands of people access to Justice. The National Federation of Women’s Institutes is particularly concerned about the disproportionate impact these proposals will have on women, particularly women who have experienced violence.

The NFWI, which is part of the Justice for All Coalition, will be joining a rally outside the Supreme Court on Friday 3 June. The Justice for All coalition has organised the rally to highlight the opposition to these changes. We are encouraging WI members who live and work in the capital to come down and help us stand up for justice, and hear from a range of inspiring speakers.

Where?
The Supreme Court, Parliament Square, London, SW1P 3BD

When?
12 – 1pm, Friday 3 June

Why?
To show the government that a wide range of people from a diverse range of backgrounds oppose the proposed changes to legal aid

What?
Come and demonstrate your opposition to the changes, and hear from a range of inspiring speakers

To find out more about the proposed changes and the NFWI’s work on legal aid go to http://www.thewi.org.uk/standard.aspx?id=23519

Next we had an invite from one of our members to join her at Slutwalk London, for a march through London. SlutWalk started in Toronto (more info on their website and it's been mentioned in the UK national press), as a reaction to the ridiculous attitude that in order to avoid being raped women should avoid dressing like sluts. We'd like to have a gang of Shoreditch Sisters at the march, so will be in touch with our members to arrange a meet up point to rally our troop. Here is the Slutwalk poster:

The march will be peaceful and everyone is invited to bring their friends, families and kids.

We've also had a debate about reclaiming the word slut at our Facebook group.

Yoga and Massage at April's meeting

2011-04-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

Calling all London WIs for a big Swish

2011-04-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

The whole WI starting to campaign against Fast Fashion, particularly against clothes being so cheap that they become disposable, which drives down working conditions and pay of garment workers. Below is an invite to a Saturday afternoon clothes swapping event to launch the campaign. If you want to read more about the campaign, click here.

Dear London WI members, Come along to the Fast Fashion Campaign Swish on Saturday 21^st May St Brides Foundation, Fleet Street, EC4Y 8EQDrop off clothes from 1.30pm, Swish opens from 2.30£5 entry As part of the NFWI’s Fast Fashion campaign, WI members are invited to a Swish event to launch the next stage of the campaign. The event will be a chance to spend a Saturday afternoon swapping clothes, shoes and accessories with WI members and friends from across London, while enjoying tea and cupcakes and finding out more about the Fast Fashion campaign.
The Swish will launch the next campaign actions for the WI’s Fast Fashion campaign, which aims to raise awareness of unfair wages and working conditions for garment workers and the environmental impact of clothing. Sewing tutors from Traid will be on hand to help you adapt and alter your swish finds, as well as stalls to browse and a film screening. Please bring along up to five items to swish – these can include clothing, accessories and shoes. You will then be issued with a voucher for each item that can then be exchanged for your swish finds. Places are available on a first come first served basis, but early registration by emailing e.lindsay@nfwi.org.uk is essential. Do contact me if you would like any more information or have any questions.

International Women's Day and Million Women Rise

2011-03-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

Some people might have already seen our photos from Million Women Rise on Facebook or in this Flickr Set. A group of us gathered bright and early in the unexpected Saturday morning sunshine at the cafe in Hyde Park. There was time before the start for commiserations over hangovers, birthday best wishes to Naomi and Becky and lots of photographs of our placards made by Tara and Daniella. My Mum came along too and brought chocolates to hand around, while we drank tea and prepared ourselves for the march down Oxford Street, Regent Street and all the way to Trafalgar Square. We had a slight farce with serveral ladies needing to run off and find a toilet, but everyone made it back in time to line up near the front with our Shoreditch Sisters banner and placards. Luckily it wasn't as windy as last year, so this was easier to carry.

We said hello to lots of different people in the march. Some ladies from Brixton WI were helping with the stewarding. My Mum got chatting with women from Bradford Rape Crisis Centre and we were all awed by those who had come from all over the UK to attend. I have to admit that the marching, whistle blowing and banner waving was exhausting, and Mum and I left our friends for a sit down, before joining the group again for the music and speakers in Trafalgar Square.

It had already been quite an emotional day and I had been welling up with feelings of pride for all the women willing to come together and make a stand, but then in the square there were tears for different reasons.We heard about the treatment of women in the war zones around the world. Ordinary women from Palestine and Sri Lanka told us about the struggles in their lives. Saria from Forward and Nimko from Daughters of Eve spoke about FGM. The mighty Justice Hotep was on comparing duties, having impressed us with her freestyling last year, helped keep the crowd positive. She lead the chanting in the square as the march arrived and later ably helped deflect a random man wanting to get hold of the mike while the whole crowd sang along to Redeption Song. As the weather started to turn cold, songs had been sung, speaches made, placards neatly stacked up there were hungs all around as we made our seperate ways home, all feeling a little bit proud of ourselves and all our sisters.

You might have missed this year's march, but you can join us next year and bring your friends, sisters and mother.

The national Women's Institute is campaigning for an integrated strategy to tackle all forms of violence against women as part of End Violence Against Women (EVAW) coalition. Get involved in the national WI's campaign to raise awareness of the need for specialist support services for victims of domestic violence (link) Towards the bottom of the page is a what you can do section with a template letter to help you write to your local council and ask what rape crisis services they provide.

Shoreditch Sisters Embroideries campaign gets some press coverage

2011-03-18T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hackney Gazette covered our Embroideries campaign in last week's paper and online. The journalist got in touch to tell us it was the most readstory on their website. To have a look at it click here.

March: Book Night

2011-03-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

RSVP to the Facebook Event here

On Tuesday 22md March, we will be joined by Persephone Books for an evening of bookish delight.

Chiara Allsup, from Persephone Books will be opening the meeting with a short talk, followed by Q&A session.

Persephone Books is an independent publisher which publishes neglected and forgotten 20th Century texts, both fiction and non-fiction; by women, for women or about women. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, the printing house also has a beautiful shop on Lamb's Conduit Street, which sells the distinctive books with their dove-grey covers and vintage fabric print endpapers.

After that we'll be getting crafty with some notebook/ journal making. Please bring with you an old book for up-cycling, and any bits of paper, photographs or cuttings that you might wish to embellish with, scissors and glue.

Members: please bring £30 to pay for 2011 fees
Vistitors welcome to join on the night

February: Female Frontiers

2011-02-25T01:42:00.000-08:00

Starting 2011 as we mean to go on, the Sisterhood celebrated their first meeting of the year with a furious concentration on “lady bits”.

Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month is coming up in March, and to mark the occasion the lovely ladies from Ovacome paid Shoreditch a visit to give us a talk on ovarian cancer and involve us in their Teal Tips campaign.

Teal is the colour chosen to represent ovarian cancer; and this March Ovacome, together with OPI nail varnish, are using a rather dashing shade of teal nail polish to raise the profile of the disease. As we learnt on Monday ovarian cancer causes vague symptoms, if any at all, earning it the nickname “the silent killer”. By tealing our tips we hope to do what women do best – help each other. Simply being aware of the disease may encourage worried women to go their GP, and knowledge of symptoms will empower women further by taking away the mystery of the “silent killer”. Ovacome’s campaign BEAT makes this easier to remember the three most common presented symptoms.

BEAT stands for:

Bloating that does not fluctuate with your cycle,

Eating less than normal,

Abdominal pain and

Talking to your GP.

Finally we hope our nails will show our concern and support for all the women who have been affected by ovarian cancer.

Jazz hands everybody!

While our nails were drying our very own Tara and Saria from Forward gave us a talk on FGM and the Embroideries campaign. The Sisterhood have been involved in this campaign for nearly a year now, and we were very excited to hear Tara confirm the location for the quilt launch. For those of you that haven’t finished (started) your patches yet don’t worry! There’s still plenty of time to pop a pussy in the post and join the collection so get creative.

The address to send them to is:

Embroideries
5a Gransden Avenue
London
E8 3QA
United Kingdom

Snack Chat: Vegan cookies (Caroline), brownies (Jen)

See you at the next meeting! SSWIxx

Stitching Vulvas with the WI

2011-02-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

We have had some patch deliveries from far and wide, even one from France. A lovely Glaswegian has blogged her contribution here. If anyone wants to sew, embroider or knit or other wise craft a 7x7 inch patch for our Embroideries Project, they can be posted to :

Embroideries
5a Gransden Avenue
London
E8 3QA
United Kingdom

Our Tara loves getting pussies in the post at work, so make her happy and get crafting.

Of course, anyone (female) can join us at our next meeting on February 21st @Concrete to make more vulva patches as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We had great fun at the Women's Library on Saturday. Thank you to all the sisters who came and helped out and all the stitchers who sat and created with us and Saria from Forward who provided lots of information about FGM.

Saria's table, with International Women's Day fabric that several of us want to make dresses out of.

I have honestly never said the word vagina so many times in one day, only to be reminded afterwards that the vagina is technically the inside bit and we were making vulvas, the exterior bit.

Here is our table:

A favourite reaction to the table ladened with vagina/vulva patches was "These seem to be.... variations on a theme." A lovely WI member from Sussex wanted the pattern for my crocheted cardigan (which I had to admit was from eBay) and took me around the current exhibition "Handmade Tales: Women and Domestic Crafts", showing me where the tatting had been scandalously mislabelled as crochet - quite a few eagle eyed Women's Institute member had spotted this mistake. Also got to meet ladies from East End WI, Stoke Newington WI, the First Ladies of Barking and Dagenham WI and N1 WI.

Some more pictures from the event at the Women's Library:

February's Meeting: Embroideries & Lady Parts

2011-02-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

Our next meeting has shifted to Monday 21st February at Concrete and we'll be open from the earlier time of 6.30pm to say hello to new members and do all the annual fee paying for existing members.

Saria from Forward and our own Tara are going to introduce our Embroideries campaign (see pic above & previous blog post). There will be lots of sewing going on. Useful things you could bring are needles, sewing thread, embroidery thread, fabric, scissors, embellishments and any thing else you'd like to make your patch - lace, sequins, etc.

There will also be a chance to have a your nails painted as part of Ovacome's Teal Tips campaign. We wanted to lend our support to Ovacome's Teal Tips campaign this March to raise awareness about ovarian cancer. Although ovarian cancer is more likely to manifest itself in post-menopausal women, and we are a largely younger WI, we know that awareness amongst ourselves can have positive implications for mothers and friends - awareness is key to recognition of symptoms, early diagnosis, and ultimately lives saved. Hopefully all our distinctive nails will prompt questions and comments from friends and colleagues in the days following our meeting, so we can spread the message even further!

RSVP to the facebook event page or just turn up and say hello.

What with making patches, talking about FGM and ovarian cancer, it is unintentionally a lady parts theme night!

WI Craft Day at the Women's Library

2011-02-12T01:29:00.000-08:00

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106645649410700&index=1

Hope you can join us to day, to learn new crafts, maybe listen to some talks and buy some cakes. Free entry, open to all. Drop in any time between 11-4pm.

Ground Floor Exhibition Hall 10 - 4
Hand Made Tales Exhibition

First Floor- Café space & Mezzanine 11- 4

Craft demonstrations:
Surrey Federation -Lacemaking, tatting, goldwork embroidery and rag rugging
Suffolk East Federation - Patchwork, knitting and button necklaces
Barking & Dagenham - Needle felting

Participatory events:
Shoreditch Sisters WI - Creation Station -Patchwork
Knit 1 Pass it on- for children & families

Refreshments: East End WI are organising the refreshments for this event
Seminar room (Centre of exhibition hall) 12.30-1.30 & 3- 4pm

Talks:
Anne Stamper, WI Honorary Archivist -Crafts in the WI- a Historical Perspective
Pat Lumsdale, National Crafts Adviser -WI & Crafts Today

Reading Room visits - 11.30am, 1.30pm, and 3.00pm Meet in the foyer
Visit The Women’s Library Reading Room (normally closed to the public on Saturdays) and get the chance to look at material from the NFWI archives

The Shoreditch Sisters will be there making vulva patches for our end FGM campaign with the charity Forward. The European Parliament estimates 500,000 girls and women living in Europe are suffering with the lifelong consequences of female genital mutilation. Read more about this issue from Amnesty:http://www.endfgm.eu/en/

The patches we make are going to be sewn into a quilt and displayed at a future exhibition with Forward http://www.forwarduk.org.uk/key-issues/fgm.

Message from our new President Becky

2011-02-10T06:24:00.001-08:00

I wanted to take this opportunity as I take over the role of President of the Shoreditch Sisters to say a huge thank you to our outgoing President, and founding member, Jazz. I haven't been a member from the very start, but from the very first meeting I attended, making an Amy Winehouse costume for a PlayStation Little Big Planet Sackboy, Jazz's passion and enthusiasm for the Shoreditch Sisters and the activities and campaigns that we have been involved in is what stands out. I am slightly daunted by the task of taking over from Jazz and the very large metaphorical shoes I will have to try fill, but am lucky to have such a great committee behind me.

Wishing you all the best with the completion and launch of the book Jazz, and know that the group will most definitely miss having you at the helm! Thank you.

Embroideries: A campaign to end FGM

2011-02-04T20:08:00.000-08:00

My first reaction when hearing of FGM was disbelief that something so cruel could really be inflicted on young girls. For those like me who hadn't heard of it before, FGM stands for female genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision or cutting.

It is a brutal and inhumane practice often performed on very young girls. The procedure consists of cutting off the inner and outer labia as well as the clitoris before sewing the area up, leaving one very small hole for urination as well as sexual activity. The practice is designed to remove the possibility of pleasure from sexual intercourse, as well as confirming the virginity of the girl upon marriage due to the profuse bleeding that is guaranteed to occur upon the tearing of her scar during her first sexual encounter.

FGM is most commonly conducted when the child is 7 years old, it is rarely performed in sanitary conditions with proper sterile equipment and the child is seldom anaesthetised. The practice is most wide spread in Africa and some parts of the Middle East, but it does also happen here in the UK where it is illegal and so the domain of corrupt 'backstreet' surgeons. This also means that infections are rarely treated as parents are too scared to take their daughters to a doctor.

The word used in Iran to refer to the procedure of FGM translates to English as "embroidery"; this planted the seed of out creative campaign which aims to draw attention to the atrocity of this practice and also to breakdown taboos surrounding the vulva. We have been compiling a collection of embroideries of ornate and luxurious vulvas! Made from the finest material and the richest colours, individual and elaborate embroideries on the finest silks and velvets to celebrate and glorify the vulva as it should be, as unique as a fingerprint.

We hope this piece of work will achieve the main objectives of creative campaigning: to attract attention, shock and surprise, make an impact, subvert, inform, educate and to appear in the media. The message we will be trying to spread is that FGM is a human rights offence and a practice which must be erradictaed now.

Thanks to Tara for the most of the words and picture.

News

2011-02-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new Shoreditch Sisters blog. Our previous blog over at shoreditchsisterswi.typepad.com/ is now in retirement.

We've also said a sad au revoir for now to our founding president Jazz, who is still on our committee and will be busy with forthcoming WI related things (more to come on this soon, it's very exciting). The new president is baking specialist Becky, with the craftastic Jen as treasurer and myself as secretary.

So far this year we have been busy making plans for our monthly meetings, but we'd like to hear from our members on what they'd like to do. Any ideas, people you'd like brought in to talk to us, subjects you are interested in, skills you think you could share and anything else you can think of. We have a lot of super talented members, so does any one want to design a new banner for this page or have a go at making a new logo? If drawing isn't your thing, you could knit, bake or sew something and take a photo.

We'll also be getting involved with other people's events and are planning out first march of 2011. Subscribe to this blog to find out more, find us on our Facebook page and follow us on twitter. Paid up members will be getting a news letter emailed out soon, in the mean time have a look at the events page on Facebook (and invite your lady friends to join us) or look at the calendar on the right.

The next meeting will be on 22nd February at the new earlier time of 7pm (don't worry if about coming in late though). Details of what we'll be doing coming to the blog and facebook soon.

Finally, soon on the blog I'll be posting about some of our previous events and campains and thanking all the lovely people who have helped us, taught us something or talked to us.

Caroline
Secretary Shoreditch Sisters

PIC-NIC AND BIKE RIDE

2010-08-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

The time has come again to dust off your pic-nic blankets, haul out the bunting, crank up the ghetto blaster and gather friends for the annual summer Shoreditch Sisters potluck picnic in the park.

Bring: food to share, pic-nic baskets, mini BBQ'S, drinks, cups, plates, blankets, mix tapes but most importantly friends - boyfriends, brothers, fathers, mothers everyone is invited!

Date: Sunday 22nd AUG 2010

Time: 1pm meet

Venue: The Glade, Victoria Park, E2

The Glade is situated on the Western side of Victoria Park and the nearest tube is Bethnal Green. Walk all the way up Approach Rd, cross over the canal and The Glade will be signposted on your right as you enter the park.

Busses - 8 - D6 - 106 - 254 - 388

BIKE RIDE

This year we've even planned a cycle route so If you're feeling adventurous why not get on yer bike and cycle down with us en-masse to meet at the pic-nic? Cycle route to follow......

Cake Club and Recipe Swap July Meeting

2010-07-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Shoreditch Sisters Take The Cake! @ the Cake Club and recipe swap TUESDAY 27TH JULY 2010.

This month the Shoreditch Sisters are inviting you to join them for a Cake Club party! That’s right, each member must bring down one home baked item to share amongst the group for cake chats and an informal bake-off competition - prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Also share and swap recipes - bring along at least one favourite recipe to share with members and to be included in the Shoreditch Sisters recipe zine to be distributed at the Summer pic-nic.

FREE TEA!
At Concrete, underneath Pizza East @ The Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High St
From 8pm - 10pm

Tie-Dye Party Sponsored by DYLON Saturday 17th June 2010

2010-07-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

Sponsored by DYLON Fabric Dye

Shoreditch Sisters in collaboration with
London 6os Week present…

* CARNABY ST TIE DYE PARTY *

Feeling groovy? Well then bring down your whites and color your own threads at
the Shoreditch Sisters ‘Way Outta Sight’ Tie Dye happening. Learn how to bind
and tie your own far out designs to create your very own DIY creations.

Or come and have a blast with the Shoreditch Sisters Bunting Flash-Mob, who need your help to decorate London’s streets with oodles of hip handmade colorful bunting flags embellished with messages of peace and love.

Material and fabric donations much
appreciated!

DJ PSYCHEDILC BUMBLE BEE MARIE - Spinning
sweet swinging 60s sounds.

SATURDAY 17^TH JULY 2010

FROM 12pm – 6pm

UNIT G7 KINGLY COURT

CARNABY ST

LONDON

W1 B 5PW

Dress: psychedelic 60s hippy trippy dolly birds and boys.

June 2010 Meeting Zines, Bunting and More

2010-06-25T04:38:00.000-07:00

This Tuesday 29th June will be packed to the rafters with with fun and creative things to make and do, including zine making, kit making, embroidery and bunting!

We will also be discussing our summer events and signing up volunteers to help out at WI run stalls and fetes throughout the year.

PLEASE BRING:

An idea. illustration, recipe etc for the Shoreditch Sisters zine.

* Also If any members are able to bring 1 X ball of wool ( or more than 1 if going spare!) to donate to a women's craft cooperative in an Albanian mountain village, which will be used to make embroidered cushions to sell in order to bring women closer to financial independence and raise some funds for the Balkans Peace Park Project.

VENUE:
Concrete, Underneath Pizza East @ The Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High St
Time: 8pm - 10pm

JOINING FEES:

Non-members are allowed to visit one meeting for free before committing to join.

The cost of an annual suscription to the WI is £29.50 which can be paid in either cash or cheque on the night.

May 2010 Meeting - Resolutions and Creative Card-Making Workshop

2010-05-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

Come and join us this Tuesday 25th May from 8pm -10pm at Concrete, Underneath Pizza East. @ The Tea Building, 56 Shoreditch High St, E1 6JJ
From 8pm - 9pm there will be a discussion on WI resolutions.

Then from 9pm - 10pm join us for a creative card-making workshop with multi-talanted French fashion designer and illustrator, Blandine Bardeau.

Check her website for more information
http://www.blandinebardeau.com/

With a focus on using recycled materials we are asking all those attending to please bring along with them a selection of items including........

Fabric swatches
Used wrapping paper
Tissue paper
Old magazines
Junk mail
Bubble wrap
Embroidery threads and needles
Buttons
Stickers
Ribbons

Basically anything and everything goes so get creative and have a rummage round the house...

See you there!
x

What Women Want Debate

2010-05-23T08:16:00.000-07:00

Dear All,

On Tuesday 27 April I attended the ‘What About Women?’ lecture at LSE, hosted by the Fawcett Society http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/ .

Female representatives of the three main parties; Labour, Liberal Democratics and Conservatives were invited to answer pre-submitted questions from a predominately female audience, addressing what their party would do for women if they were to get into power.

Present were:

· Ceri Goddard- CEO of Fawcett Society (I loved her, think we should get her along for a talk)

· Harriet Harman (Labour)

· Theresa May (Conservative)

· Lynne Featherstone (Liberal Democrats)

For those on twitter look out for the following hash tags sent live during the debate:

#fawcettdebate

#ge2010

Before the questions were asked each representative was asked to give a short pitch for her party.

Lynne Featherstone (LF)

o Key pledge- Fair taxes, party promises to not tax those who earn £10,000 or less.

o Aim to change portrayal of women in the media

o To protect vulnerable women

o Believes inequality boils down to money

Theresa May (TM)

o Changed the selection process for the Conservative party to allow more women in. If got voted in would have 55 female MPS in their party.

o Is involved with Fawcett society (but I am not sure how)

o Pledges to improve career advice for girls and to administer pay audits on companies of over 250 employees found guilty of underpaying female, compared to male employees.

o Will create flexible working for parents with kids up to 18 years.

o Policy against violence- will fund up to 15 new rape crisis centres, will implement ‘drop ins’ by police officers on households where domestic violence has taken place.

o Will implement work programmes to help female run businesses.

o Increase NHS funding

o Give more aid abroad

o Give women more choice

Harriet Harman (HH)

o Work and Family- flexible childcare and working hours, longer maternity leave, implement paternity leave.

o Positive discrimination in pay; make businesses publish what they pay women, to encourage more women to join

o Continue to work on improving facilities for violence against women

o International- create a women’s UN agency to back up female foreign ministers etc

o Gender duty- all public authorities to consider how they will narrow the gender divide

Below are brief notes on the answers each woman gave to the submitted questions. I have tried to report as neutrally as possible. My apologies to those more politically literate than I.

Which is the best way to progress women’s equality; the ‘big state’ or the ‘big society’?

HH- Believes in the ‘Big state’ helping people, more help to be given form the government

LF- Believes in the ‘Big state’ helping people, more help to be given form the government. Society needs support from government in order to function at its best. Does not believe the government has all the answers.

TM- Believes in ‘big society’; believes government failed us; responsibility lies with communities working together to solve problems of society.

Who should pay the greatest cost for the financial deficit; women or the bankers (that caused it)?

LF- Bankers should pay. We should protect the vulnerable even when tackling the deficit.

TM- Deficit should be dealt with by taxing the public. Against Labour job tax (those earning £20,000+ to pay more tax). Businesses are against an increase in National Insurance as it would cost them more. Believes there should be a pay freeze and we should give the professionals back the power to make decisions.

HH-continue economic growth, fair taxes and public spending carefully monitored. We need tax in order to raise the money to pay the deficit.

What issues would you raise with the Pope on his imminent visit?

TM- Would ask, has the Catholic Church done all it can to deal with the alleged child abuse.

HH- Outright avoided the question saying she thought the Catholic Church would have more to ask than her.

LF- would questions the alleged abuses against children.

How should the government use money to promote one kind of lifestyle?- Basically a question about proposed marriage tax.

HH- Believes marriage tax is wrong as it allows men to marry, walk away from family, and remarry and get tax break each time, but leaving women (possibly with kids) without tax break, in fact it is then removed. Says this system would promote an attitude that to be married is best, to not be means there is something wrong with you; which would impact negatively on children’s view of themselves and their family. Believes this is an old fashioned and dictatorial system. Argued to TM that you can lose money if you divorce or if the woman goes out to work as her tax allowance would then go to him. This would encourage women to not go out to work as it would not be financially viable.

LF- Believes the marriage tax break is unfair and unjust for those not married, or separated/divorced. Wonders if this system incentivizes men to philander.

TM- Says tax break is not dictating a particular lifestyle; it is a financial recognition of marriage and civil partnerships by the government because it has been proven that commitment is good for children. Reiterated party policy to create flexible parental leave which is regardless of whether married or not; therefore meaning no money is taken away.

There are only 2 women MPs for every 8 men. What reforms could be done to make this 50/50?

LF- Electoral reform (one of their manifesto points); a single, transferable vote. Believes biggest barrier in not having more female MPS is women do not put themselves forward as the political world is aggressively male and anti-social.

TM- Proportional representation does not mean more women in cabinet, but we need more women candidates. We need to change the selection process. Would implement ‘Women to Win’ scheme. Believes cost of being a candidate puts women off as it is very expensive and women may be reluctant to use family/children money ‘on herself’.

HH- If we only have men in the cabinet this is not democratic; issues such as domestic violence, women abroad are not addressed. Labour has an all women shortlists scheme.

Crime- What new actions and resources would your party provide for prevention, provision and protection?

TM- Improving Sex education- teaching of consent, re-educate girls and boys about relationships, what is acceptable behavior. Rape centre funding, reassessment of what is violence against women, look into how funding is distributed.

HH- Cross party support on some issues. Having DNA kept n file to help prevent and bring to justice sex offences. Make prison sentences for men who commit violence against women no less than 6 months.

LF- Funding for 15 new rape centres; 10 sex offenders centres. Trafficking- to insist all massage parlors etc have the details about what goes on their written in many different languages. Investigation into forced marriages and ‘honour’ killings.

Equal pay- Would you make it a legal obligation to check? Currently women are paid an average 16% less than men for full time work and 30% for part time work.

LF-Would make it mandatory to publish pay figures for companies of over 100 employees.

TM- Those found guilty of inequality to do a pay audit.

HH- Business of 250+ employers to do a mandatory pay audit. Will be a phased programme. Transparency is essential. Will work with Trade Union equality reps.

Unless men take on more care roles in the family women cannot continue to thrive in the workplace. How do you propose to get men /enable men to take on a more caring role?

HH- Believes attitudes have changed and we now see unequal pay hinders families plans to implement equal care even if they desire it because it makes sense for the lower paid i.e woman to stay at home. Would implement flexible working hours for men and women.

LF- In manifesto states there would be 19months parental leave, shared as desired.

TM- Would create more flexible maternity and parental leave. First 14 weeks off by mother only, then next 25 (paid) and 13 (unpaid) weeks can be shared and be off together. This will positively change employer attitudes as at interview when presented with woman of child bearing age will not know whether she or man will take time off.

Sun newspaper ran a story on children’s padded bikini being sold in Primark, and how it sexualized children but it still has Page 3, what is to be done about this?

LF- Liberal Democrats have no press links so potentially they could look into removing page 3.

HH- Party has political involvement with The Sun; however, worried about ads for cosmetic surgery in back of women’s mags. We are against FGM and yet we live in a culture accepting of [other] forms of ‘cosmetic’ surgery.

TM- In fight against sexualisation of children would ban peer to peer marketing, e.g children selling products to children. Would place government ban on advertisers breaking those rules that they could not advertise for three years.

This question seem to cause the most outrage and stir amongst the audience with one girl shouting ‘‘Let’s ban page 3; come on, we can do it!’’

For more accurate answers to the questions please visit the Fawcett website where all the questions and answers are: http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=1064

I feel that this was a very worthwhile debate to go to as I personally find politics hard to engage with and despite not necessarily understanding all the technical terms, I found myself more engaged and thinking more realistically about how politics might affect my future. In particular I was very interested to hear the different parties speak about childcare as this may not affect me, or many of us right now, but it may do in the future.

I was particularly pleased to see that all parties had similar and quite strong ideas about how to deal with violence against women.

Aside from the politics, it was really inspiring to see so many women (and men) of all ages coming together to show they really care about the future of women’s lives and I really think it would be great to be more involved with Fawcett society.

If you have any questions give me a shout.

Sian xx

sian_estellepetty@hotmail.com

March Meeting - Burlesque Life Drawing

2010-04-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

The March meeting of the Shoreditch Sisters saw us tapping into our creative sides as we picked up pencils and sticks of charcoal to take part in a life drawing class. The session was run by Jemma, one of our committee members, who has past experience of teaching life drawing, and we were joined by the lovely Bunny Warren who was our model for the night, posing both nude, and in a Burlesque outfit. A mix of existing and new members showed up, and once everyone was settled with cups of tea or glasses of wine, Jemma took us through a series of fast paced drawing exercises to loosen us up. Those that had little or no experience of life drawing found that it didn't matter, the short time spent drawing each pose meant that there was no pressure to create a masterpiece. After a small break for mingling, comparing work and topping up drinks we moved on to a couple of group exercises in which sheets of paper were taped together to form two huge canvases which we communally worked on to produce a couple of large, slightly abstract drawings, an amalgamation of our different styles and techniques. The final part of the session was reserved for us to work on an individual piece using what we had learnt earlier in the evening. Everyone went home with something they were proud of, with most of us exclaiming "Wow, I never thought that I could draw before!" as we dusted charcoal marks from our hands, rolled up our sheets of paper, collected coats and bags and headed off into the night.

RISE UP SISTERS!

2010-03-03T05:22:00.000-08:00

Once again, the Shoreditch Sisters will be attending the Million Women's Rise March to show our solidarity with our millions of sisters who suffer at the hands of Violence Against Women every day.

WHETHER YOU ARE PART OF THE SHOREDITCH SISTERS WI OR NOT, PLEASE JOIN US TO MARCH UNITED AGAINST VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN!!
Unfortunately it is a WOMEN'S ONLY march (which we strongly disagree with), so please GIRLS ONLY.

We will meet at SPEAKERS CORNER from 11.4.5am, look for the Shoreditch Sisters WI Banners if you do not know anyone (please feel free to just turn up, we love to make new friends!) or Head for the National Federation WI Banner and we'll be around there somewhere probs. IF YOU ARE LATE OR CAN'T FIND US PLEASE CALL TARA: 07701057415 OR CAROLINE: 07904456379

Deets about MWR:
Million Women Rise is a coalition of individual women and representatives from the Women’s Voluntary and Community Sector who have come together to organise an annual national demonstration against male violence which coincides with International Women’s Day in March each year.

On the demonstration, we celebrate and honour women’s activism, courage and achievements and continued struggle against global male violence in all its forms. Million Women Rise is an expression of women’s continued resistance and struggle against global male violence. The first demonstration in 2008 saw 5000 women and children take to the streets of London. It was the largest, recent demonstration of women in UK history and the most diverse demonstration many of us had ever attended. Because male violence continues, so too does Million Women Rise and women and children marched again in 2009.

More info here: http://www.millionwomenrise.com/

See You Next Tuesday for the Vagina Monologues...

2010-03-03T05:17:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION THEATRE LOVERS!

Special discounted preview tickets to ‘See You Next Tuesday’ festival’s staging
of The Vagina Monologues.

Friday 5th March, 8pm, New Players Theatre, Charing Cross.

There are a LIMITED NUMBER OF HALF PRICE TICKETS (£10)
available to Shoreditch Sisters members.

To reserve your place please email me at sian_estellepetty@hotmail.com .
Tickets will be payable on the door.

Please note this event is open to members only. If you wish to become a member before the trip please contact Jazz at shoreditchsisterswi@googlemail.com
.
For more details about the festival:http://www.newplayerstheatre.com/london/events/seeyounexttuesday.asp

Come And Join The Shoreditch Switch!

2010-03-03T05:11:00.000-08:00

Secret Location Revealed for Mad Hatters Tea Party!!!

2010-02-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

Come and join us for an afternoon of tea, cakes and fascinator making this Sunday 28th Feb 2009 from 2pm - 6pm.

@ The Jamboree

Cable St Studios

566 Cable St

Limehouse

E1 3HB

* CASH BAR ONLY *

Check map below for directions:

http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&rls=en&q=566+Cable+St+Limehouse+E1W+3HB&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=566+Cable+St,+Poplar,+Greater+London+E1W+3,+UK&ei=01eJS4urBJay0gSl_sDVC

February Meeting - Mad Hatters Tea Party

2010-02-08T14:43:00.000-08:00

Please RSVP to jazz@shoreditchsisterswi.co.uk for more details......

Knitting Workshop

2010-02-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

The Shoreditch Sisters first meeting of 2010! - Thanks to all who made it down.....

Listen to the podcast from Hoxton Handmade here - http://www.hoxtonhandmade.com/

Shoreditch Sisters Knit-Along

2010-01-22T11:18:00.000-08:00

COME and KNIT-ALONG with the SHOREDITCH SISTERS!

As a launch for our very own knitting circle scheduled to begin in Feb, we have decided to kick off with a bang and start the new year with an en-masse knitathon!

Yep that's right, so even if you are a beginner, or a seasoned knitter now is the time to hone your skills or learn new ones to help create a SHOREDITCH SISTERS knitted blanket.

Each person will be asked to knit an 8 inch by 8 inch square, which will eventually be pieced together to form a complete blanket that will then be donated to a charity yet to be announced.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Please bring along: 1 x pair of needles size UK8
1 x ball of wool 4mm double knitting (if poss!)

LOCATION:

CONCRETE, underneath PIZZA EAST at the TEA Building

56 Shoreditch High St

London

Christmas Fete - Sunday 13th Dec 2009

2009-12-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Making Workshop

2009-12-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

We will be holding a members-only Chocolate making workshop this Sunday 6th December from 2pm-7pm at our usual meeting place, The Royal Oak, 83 Wilton Way, Hackney, E8 1BG.

If you are not already a member but have been thinking about joining and would like to come along, then please bring along the sum of £29.50 - the cost of an annual membership to the WI.

Also please bring a tin of condensed milk and a microwaveable plastic dish - we will supply the rest!

Most of the chocolates made at the workshop are to be sold to fundraise for our group at the Shoreditch Sisters Christmas fete the following Sunday 13th.

To confirm your attendance please e-mail shaz@shoreditchsisters.co.uk

Or to get more details jazz@shoreditchsisters.co.uk

November AGM

2009-11-23T15:11:00.000-08:00

NOVEMBER AGM

This month is the Shoreditch Sisters Annual General Meeting where we will be holding in house committee elections as well as re-electing the roles of president, secretary and treasurer. If you would like to put yourself up for committee then please e-mail jazz@shoreditchsisterswi.co.uk to notify your interest.

In order to be involved in voting this month you must have paid your 2010 subscription fees, so please bring along the sum of £29.50 cash or cheque on the night and we can sign you up. Becoming a member entitles you to free meetings as well as invitations to join the other sub groups including our fortnightly sewing circle, campaigns committee and our knitting club that is to be launched in January, as well as other group outings and activities.

ROLL UP ROLL UP IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME!

Sunday December 13th will be the Shoreditch Sisters WI Christmas fete and fundraiser! So to get you into the festive spirit we will have hot apple spiced cider, mulled wine and homemade mince pies as we take this opportunity to discuss and plan the event as well as sign up volunteers to help on the day. We will need extra hands in baking for both our WI produce stall and the Viva Cake tea room as well as anyone who would like to run a handi-craft station or get involved with general planning and helping out. We really will need all hands on deck to make sure it's a success in order to raise as much funds as possible to ensure we have an amazing programme of events for 2010!

October Meeting

2009-11-05T11:31:00.000-08:00

Many Thanks to Ellie Levinson (pictured) who came down to give us a reading from her new book, 'A Noughties Girl's Guide to Feminism' - which provided us with a very interesting and thought provoking perspective on modern feminism today, as conversations carried on well into the night and on to the bus ride home.

Also many thanks to Amanda at Pop and Pixi Beauty, as well as Charlotte from Fish in Soho who both provided the vintage hair and make-up tutorials - all pictures of evening can be viewed on facebook now!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=10492401931#/pages/Shoreditch-Sisterhood-WI/10492401931?ref=ts

October Meeting - Feminism And Femininity

2009-10-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

In our fabulous new loft style meeting space in Hackney, on 27th October 2009, Ellie Levinson, author of the recent book 'The Noughtie Girl's Guide to Feminism' is doing a reading for the Shoreditch Sisters W.I. Ellie's book confirms that modern feminism doesn't negate fabulosity, and states that the modern woman can be glamorous, wear make-up etc.

To celebrate the art of make-up, and the role it has played in celebrating feminine beauty in Britain over the last 50+ years, the experts from Pop and Pixi -homegrown make-up brand to the stars- will be demonstrating vintage eye-makeup techniques, and teaching the W.I members and guests the inside secrets! Charlotte Willis of Fish in Soho will there too teaching 60's hairstyle techniques. With all these industry experts on hand, London's hippest W.I will most definitely have a make-over to remember!

Time: 8pm-10pm (arrive on time to avoid being turned away)

Location: 83 Wilton Way, Hackney, E8 IBG Nearest Station: Hackney Central Buses: 106, 55, 38, 254, 277

To become a member bring £29.50 cash or cheque with you.

Barbican Library Autumn Fete

2009-10-16T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Shoreditch Sisters will be holding a pom-pom station at the Barbican Library's Autumn fete on Friday 23rd October from 4pm -8pm. Come down to join us and learn how to craft the perfect pom-pom!

Bust Magazine Craftacular Spectacular

2009-10-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the Bust magazine Craftacular are on facebok now! The Shoreditch Sisters ran the clothing customisation station, where we helped people to make-do-and-mend from their old clothes as well as fashion a whole range of cute and creative accessories made entirely from donated materials!

Check facebook for more pictures now!

Buy Your Own Shoreditch Sisters Rose Name Necklace & Brooch at Lady Luck Rules OK Now!

2009-10-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

Lady Luck Rules Ok - Shoreditch Sisters Necklaces On Sale Now!

2009-10-04T07:19:00.000-07:00

The September meeting was an all time record breaker in numbers! We had close to 100 ladies turn up to join in the fun and make their very own custom piece of Lady Luck jewellrey. We were honored enough to have our own Shoreditch Sisters inspired rose design pendant (modeled below by the beautiful Amy Grace) designed specifically to signify friendship and sisterhood. The girls got to pick from necklaces and brooches including 3 charms that each reprsented one aspect of the WI, the make do and mend scissors, the rock n roll musical note and even the take action lightening bolt!

So many many thanks to the creative Leona and her lovely team of ladies at Lady Luck Rules Ok! To buy your own personalised Shoreditch Sisters glitter rose name necklace go to http://www.ladyluckrulesok.com/index.php

Theatre Ambassadors feedback

2009-09-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

Dear Sisters,

Firstly many apologies for the delay in getting around to writing this.

On Wednesday 2 September myself and Bizi Websdell were lucky enough to be invited to the first meeting/get together of the WI Theatre Ambassadors group, headed by the delightfully eccentric Theresa Baker. We also got to see the genuinely life-affirming Hairspray (more of that later).

The purpose of the group is to offer WI members reservable, discounted tickets to, often, West End theatre shows that may be we would not normally be able to afford to attend. The performances are also always in the evening, or at the weekend, recognising that the majority of us will be working in the weekdays.

At the post show drinks Bizi and I got chatting to Angela, the President of Stoke Newington WI. She was very interested in collaborating with our group in various ways. I will write up the details of this in a separate post.

The next trip will be open to all members of the Shoreditch Sisters (as well as the other WIs taking part in the scheme); and that will be....

Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre

Sunday
31st January 2010. Lunch
Party & Theatre

Two
Course + wine Lunch at Planet Hollywood, Haymarket
£TBC.

Top
Theatre Ticket for the 3pm matinee £29.50pp (groups of
8+)

If you are interested in going to this please contact me, your theatre ambassador directly on sian_estellepetty@hotmail.com, or 07790919628. I will find out if there are still places available.

Musicals seemed to be typical of the type of shows being offered to us but after some discussion with Angela of Stokie and some feedback from Theresa we realised there is plenty of scope to see a variety of performance; we just have to say what we want. At the bottom of this post I have included some links to various theatre listings pages.

This week is also the last week to book for this...

Speaking In Tongues - Duke Of Yorks Theatre
8th October 7.30pm
Group of 8+ top seats reduced to £29.50
http://www.ambassadortickets.com/1386/669/London/Duke-Of-York's/Speaking-in-
Tongues
****Last chance to join the event - tickets must be book and paid for by
Thursday Th Sept this week*****

If you have anything you are burning to see then please let me know. I will then look into arranging trips for those shows that garner the most interest. In addition to the Theatre Ambassador scheme I am quite willing to organise theatre trips outside of this if you want to see other things. I work at Shakespeare's Globe so often have access to last minute deals etc. I also know that the National theatre offers the Travelex £10 ticket scheme. Half of their tickets are sold at £10 which is a great deal for some very good theatre.I saw Brecht's Mother Courage last week and was totally blown away, not only by the performance but also by the space.

I personally would very much like to extend the 'theatre' group into all areas of performance large and small, within the theatre world and beyond. We will start with the system as it is but I think we should let it develop naturally so don't be afraid to bring your individual interests to the table.

For those of you who have expressed a specific interest in the theatre trips I have also sent this information in an email. If you wish to be added to this list please let me know.

Here are listing links.

http://www.whatsonstage.com/

http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/

Calling All Craftaholics!

2009-09-17T08:48:00.000-07:00

The Shoreditch Sisters will be holding at stall at the Craftaholics event on Saturday 26th September from 12pm - 5pm at The Old Queens Head, Islington N1

We will be selling traditional WI produce such as jams, chutneys and a variety of cakes as well as an assortment of other handmade items in order to raise funds for the group and ensure we have a fantastic programme of events for next year.

So please do get in touch if you can help out in anyway way, with either coming down to help sell on the day or even better contributing, to the baked goods by bringing down some homemade goodies...... please contact Jazz at shoreditchsisterswi@gmail.co

Invite to the Premiere Screening of The C-Word

2009-09-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

The Shoreditch Sisters have been invited to the launch
of craftscotland's new campaign The C Word, to see the world premiere screening
of the new cinema campaign and help celebrate the launch of a major initiative
designed to raise the profile of contemporary craft and the designer makers
within the sector. Once deemed the
little sister of visual art and design, the C Word is about to come of age.

Cocktails provided by Caorunn a unique Scottish hand
crafted, small batch distilled Scottish Gin www.caorunngin.com

When and Where?

7pm Thursday 24 September 2009 at the Curzon Soho
Cinema, 99 Shaftesbury Avenue London, W1D 5DY

Tube: Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus. Buses:
14,19, 38. Overground: Charing

If you are interested in
attending please contact Jazz at shoreditchsisterswi@gmail.com

September Meeting - Jewellery Workshop with Lady Luck Rules OK

2009-09-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

Next Tuesday 22nd September Come and dive into a box of charms and ping a few jump rings at the Lady Luck Rules OK Jewellery Making Workshop! Custom make your very own piece of Shoreditch Sisters WI jewellery with all basic skills covered, top tips, useful how-tos and a whole heap of insider knowledge which will enable you to produce professional looking trinkets forever-more. We'’ll bring the tools of the trade and all the materials which we'’ve designed especially for the WI workshop including mini acrylic crafty charms, vintage tattoo style wooden charms with an optional razzle-dazzle show-girl-glitter. You'’ll leave with an amazing handmade necklace or brooch and a head full of what ace jewellery you can make next...

http://www.ladyluckrulesok.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lady-Luck-Rules-OK/22263445168

Time: 8pm - 10pm

Location: The Royal Oak, 83 Wilton Way, Hackney, E8

Nearest Station: Hackney Central

Buses: 106, 55, 38, 254, 277

Care Not Custody - A visit to Wandsworth Prison

2009-08-31T13:24:00.000-07:00

Having been invited on the WIs visit to Wandsworth Prison in July as part of the Care Not Custody campaign, I'd have been lying if I hadn't admitted to feeling even the slightest pang of trepidation on first hearing that Wandsworth was in fact a men's prison. Described as one of the largest in Western Europe, it is also one of the oldest, built in 1851 and with a holding capacity close to 2000. Infamous past prisoners have included some of the country's most notorious criminals with the likes of Ronnie Kray, Charles Bronsen and even the great train robber himself, Ronnie Biggs all spending time there at her majesty's pleasure, with Biggs even managing to successfully escape in 1965.

So you can only imagine the thoughts that were running through my head as I went to join the small group of fellow WI members, including the NFWI's newly appointed chairwoman, the lovely Ruth Bond (pictured) outside on the front steps. The exterior of the prison itself was nothing short of Dickensian, however after passing through all the usual security checks and as we crossed the threshold behind the bars so to speak, we entered upon an entirely different world. Walking past inmates tending neatly manicured flowerbeds, it was surprisingly pleasant as we were ushered up into the wardens officers to be given a personal address by the new female acting governor.

The campaign resolution for Care Not Custody that was passed in June last year, aims to call an end to the inappropriate detention of people with mental health problems within the prison system. As part of this ongoing campaign Marianne Sladowsky, the WIs head of public affairs has been taking small groups of WI members on prison visits across the country to see first hand how the system works and what services are available.

The statistics show that two-thirds of all prison inmates suffer from two or more mental health problems, and although the wide spectrum of illnesses range from the more mild cases such as depression and anxiety, it also includes the more severe psychotic disorders such as psychosis and schizophrenia. These disorders if not properly treated often lead to incidents of self harm, and in some cases even suicide. My own family has unfortunately experienced this situation first hand, as my uncle a diagnosed schizophrenic, was temporarily detained at Brixton prison in the absence of finding a space in a secure mental health unit which tragically resulted in him committing suicide at the age of 23. This, it seems is not an uncommon set of circumstances as a recent report confirms that offenders with mental health issues are continuing to be failed by the criminal justice system. One of the campaigns key aims is in making sure that the criminal justice sector works closely alongside the health sector, in diverting people toward the most appropriate care and not just the most convenient.

The acting governor spoke to us about Wandsworths chequered history, and particularly of their aim to change the image of the prison within the local community. Known previously for its history of high suicide rates, this was clearly an image they were keen to shake, as the introduction of new training schemes and programs that had an emphasis on rehabilitation has seen the prison flourish within the last year. As we took the tour around the facilities meeting prisoners and wardens along the way, it was obvious the changes being made were extremely positive. Teaching trades such as bricklaying, plastering and motorbike maintenance seemed to enhance the inmates sense of self-esteem, as well as offering them a sense of future. There was also even a sewing group, who were employed in fine cell work - a needlework in prisons program that were even contributing to a quilt project for the V and A next year.

Finally we briefly met with the psychiatric team whose responsibility it was to evaluate the inmates on entrance before assigning them to the appropriate wings. Although clearly dedicated, this small team rather hesitantly admitted to the lack of resources as well as space and funding in order to successfully care for all those indeed. With just 12 beds available for the most severe cases, this often left many of those still suffering at high risk. The rehabilitation programs at Wandsworth are undeniably applaudable, however without funding or appropriate diversion schemes in place, these prisons will continue to struggle to cope with all the vulnerable and at-risk prisoners in crisis that inhabit them.

- Jazz

President

We are planning on organising a visit to Holloway prison through the Prison Reforms Trust, so if you are interested in attending please e-mail shoreditchsisterswi@gmail.com for more information.

Sizzling Summer Picnic

2009-08-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

If you were down in Victoria Park last Sunday, you may have sighted a large number of lost looking ladies wandering about, sporting their finest Sunday (picnic) Best. All were searching for the mythical Glade - the lovely, leafy setting for the 2009 Shoreditch Sisters Summer Picnic.

It was a dazzlingly sunny day; the rays beating down from the blue sky onto the green grass. After the Glade had been located, the bunting strewn wonkily onto the bushes, Punky the dog placated with a makeshift ball made from an apple and the enormous, giant battery fed ghetto blaster had started to swell the air with music, the Sisters, friends, boyfriends and assorted tiny dogs settled down to enjoy the delicious food and drink on offer.

As more and more people arrived, the delicious picnic spread grew more and more impressive. Jazz's pea and mint dip and bruschetta; lentil "pork pies"; crunchy home-baked peanut butter cookies; juicy fruit kebabs; gently melting chocolate cake and very much more besides was proudly laid out on colourful checked blankets (all, I'm sad to say, putting to shame my solitary, slightly squished box of animal biscuits) It was a tasty display of the culinary skills of the members.

Long after the piles of fairy cakes had subsided, the drink and chatter continued to flow into the warm evening...

For lots more pics see our Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=116292&id=10492401931&ref=mf

By Anna x

Last Months Meeting - Sushi and Origami

2009-08-07T06:16:00.000-07:00

We enter an old
converted pub, which is now the Shoreditch Sisters new very own home from home,
a large open space it has a warm feel created by comfy armchairs and old rugs.
There is a bustle of activity as adding to the ranks of our already present
canine mascots - new comer Toots the kitten is asleep and curled up on a
cushion.

Toots, now wide awake and with a twitching nose reveals the first clue
about tonight's activities at the SSWI. Salmon is being delicately sliced as
the last bit of preparation is underway for the Sushi making demonstration. We
are schooed out of the kitchen as the room begins to fill with chatter, to help
set up for the second activity of the evening - Origami.

Alex, the only man in the room and our instructor for the evening
looks to be enjoying his role, as he shows us the ancient art of paper folding.
The end results look amazing, as we now have brightly coloured paper frogs,
stars, birds and a few unrecognisable shapes dotted about the room.

Meanwhile a delicious sent of fresh food is in the air, as the Sushi
sessions progress. Lola, Ella and Kiki show us how to make the rolls that are
then sliced and ready for us to eat - who knew sticky rice and a few added
extras could taste so good!

As the girls tuck in, Jazz makes some announcements, where future WI
events are planned and signed up for. The drink flows and so does the
conversation. Then we gather our brightly coloured Origami and with full
bellies the Shoreditch Sisters stream out into the night air of East London.

- A Member

Location for Sushi and Origami Meeting Announced!

2009-07-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

This Tuesday!

LOCATION: The Royal Oak, 83 Wilton Way, London, E8 1BG.

Check link below for map:-

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=83+wilton+way+london+E8&ie=UTF8&split=0&ei=uSNnSqekCJa8jAfvy5idAQ&ll=51.546829,-0.061691&spn=0.006298,0.013003&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A

Nearest station: Hackney Central

Buses: 106, 55, 38, 254, 277

Our August Summer Picnic

2009-07-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

AUGUST
Shoreditch Sisters Annual Summer Picnic

It will be a good ole fashioned summer picnic with music and festivities throughout the afternoon. Please can everyone bring picnic food and drinks.

NB: This event is open to member’s friends and boyfriends also!

Date: Sunday 16th August

Time – 12pm noon sharp

Location – ‘The Glade’ Victoria Park

Next Meeting: Sushi and Origami Making

2009-07-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Ladies,

The next meeting will be totally exciting with our first ever sushi and origami making class.

The venue has changed, so good bye and farewell to the George Tavern and welcome to our exciting new location. Stay tuned for the exact address and more info.

Date: Tuesday 28th July

Time: 8pm-10pm

JOINING FEE..... Please bring the sum of £29 cash or cheque, which is the cost of an annual subscription to join the WI.

OR if you're not ready to join just yet, please come down anyway, as non members are allowed to visit up to two meetings in exchange for leaving a donation of £3 each time before they make up their minds.

Shoreditch Sisters

How to sew like a feminist

2009-06-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

March meeting write up in THE TIMES...

Behind the scenes of a Women’s Institute group that is like no other

March 2009 meeting - Quilting

2009-03-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

SHOREDITCH SISTERS QUILT MAKING WORKSHOP

Janice Gunner, former president of the Quilters Guild will be coming down to host the workshop, where we will be making our very own Shoreditch Sisters themed story quilt.

Each member will be given a 20cm (8 inch) block to design using techniques such as decorative needlework, embroidery, cross stitch, applique and patchwork.
A story quilt is comprised of a series of personal and individual story squares, with each block portraying either a story, an image, a unique personal insight, idea or perspective on the greater theme at large. As the quilt will be a collaborative work of both personal and community history, members will be asked to develop a design based upon themselves within context of the WI. Once the individual story squares are completed they will eventually be connected to create a quilt which will be used for display purposes at future meetings and other WI events.

Most materials will be provided, however it is advised to bring along personal sewing kits including (pins, needles, scissors, thread) and also a notebook and a pen in order to take notes and work out ideas for the blocks beforehand. Members may also wish to bring along their own fabrics or embellishments or anything else they might like to incorprate into their own individual designs.

For inspiration on desgining your blocks, check out some contempoary needlework artists such as Orly Cogan, who directly imposes images of modern femininity over vintage tablecloths and samplers. Or the feminist art crafters of the 70's such as Miriam Shapiro and Judy Chicago who coined the term, 'Femmage' and whose fabric collages, embroidery and quilts sought to bridge the divide between so called 'womans work' and mainstream art. Even Tracey Emin's quilt art is worth a second glance!

Upcoming Meeting on Tuesday 24th Feb 09

2009-02-20T07:29:00.000-08:00

NEXT MEETING:

DATE: Tuesday 24th February 2009

TIME: 8PM -10PM

LOCATION: Upstairs at The George Tavern, 373 Commercial Rd, E1 OLA.

Nearest Tubes

SHADWELL (one stop from bank DLR)

WHITECHAPEL (Circle/District/Hammersmith & City)

BUSES:
15/N15 24hrs, Paddington, Traf Sq, Cannon St, Plaistow, Romford
135, Old St, Liverpool St, Aldgate, Limehouse, Canary Wharf
115 East Ham, Canning Town, Limehouse, Aldgate

AGENDA: Stop Violence Against Women.

Stop violence against women is a national WI campaign that began in 2008. Statistics show that Three million women across the UK experience rape, domestic violence, forced marriage, sexual exploitation or other forms of violence each year. The impact ranges from physical injury, including death in extreme cases, to long term mental health problems, social exclusion and substance misuse. The campaign aims to raise public awareness on these issues as well as petition and lobby local MPs into positive and responsible action.

The Shoreditch Sisters will be getting involved with a local women's center in Bethnal Green called the U-Turn Project. The center aims to help, support and advise vulnerable and exploited groups of women by providing them with the opportunity and resources in order to self determine their own futures within their communities.

Rio Vella, the project director will be coming down to give us a talk about the project and how it affects these women's daily lives, as well as ways in which the Shoreditch Sisters can help.

Ideas such as, fundraising, volunteering, collection programmes and developing new skills through activity workshops will be discussed.

Please check the website below for more information:

http://uturnproject.co.uk/

* We will also be collecting clothes to be donated to the center, so please bring along anything you have going spare from a size 6 to a size 12. Anything and everything will be much appreciated!

Hope to see you all there.

All the best,

Jazz Domino Holly

President SSWI

The Shoreditch Sisters will be organising a group to join the Million Women Rise march through central London on 7 March 2009 to mark international Women's Day. So don't forget to come and speak to me at the end of the meeting to sign up and show your support!

The all-women march begins at 12pm at Portland Square (nearest Tubes Baker Street, Marble Arch and Bond Street) before proceeding down Oxford Street, Regents Street, and Piccadilly. There will then be a rally and celebration - complete with WI speaker and information stall - at Waterloo Place from 2.30pm to 5pm.

JOINING FEE..... Please bring the sum of £29 cash or cheque, which is the cost of an annual subscription to join the WI.

OR if you're not ready to join just yet, please come down anyway, as non members are allowed to visit up to two meetings in exchange for leaving a donation of £4 each time before they make up their minds.

*Please note the change of price for the visiting fee which is due to the new venues heating costs as well as the rise of the 2009 annual subscription fee.

Sister in the Press!

2009-02-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

Check us out!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/3636360/Women%27s-Institute-is-this-the-trendiest-WI-in-Britain.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/22/women

http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Magazine/Article.aspx?id=890651

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/3358846/LittleBigPlanet-Knit-your-own-videogame.html

Your Ideas for the 2009 Shoreditch Sister WI Agenda

2009-02-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

Hi ladies,

Just a quick headup that this Friday -the 6th of Feb, the Shoreditch Sisters W.I Comittee will be convening to plan the agenda for the next 6 months of activities, meetings and events.

Therefore, all you creative, crafty sisters should feel free to have a brainstorm and make suggestions. If there is anything you'd like to see in the meetings, from a fantastic fundraising idea to a pretty project - send us a quick email with your ideas to shoreditchsisterswi@googlemail.com - in order for your thoughts to be raised in the meeting, please ensure that your email has been sent by 6pm on Thursday 5th Feb at the latest.

Thanks!

Shoreditch Sisters W.I Comitte

Meeting on Tue 27th Jan 09

2009-02-02T04:21:00.000-08:00

Just a quick thank you to ABC for attending the latest Shoreditch Sisters W.I meeting on Tuesday 27th Jan. It was fun to have them film us!

A big thank you to all those ladies who joined us, and made or mended.

I personally made a really cute little purse from heart print fabric lined with yellow felt and it was a great sense of accomplishment seeing it finished (even though the buttons weren't placed quite right!)

It was really good having the sewing machine there too as often sewing by hand is just too time consuming.

The George Tavern was a great location for the meeting and the kitch environment was a great backdrop for our American TV preview.

This is just a blogging warm up, so you'll be hearing lots more from us!

Shaz x

Welcome

2009-02-02T04:14:00.000-08:00

Hello to all Shoreditch Sisters W.I members, and to all the ladies who are intersted in joining or finding out more about our fantatsic exploits and events, this is our newly founded blog - it will be updated regularly, so keep checking in for the latest news.

Shoreditch Sisters WI

Knit, natter and crochet

We came, we saw, we pom-pommed

October Meeting: Crochet, cheese and fast fashion...

October's meeting - Crochet and Fast Fashion with Traid

September's meeting at Time for Tea 110 Shoreditch High Street

Love Your Libraries

Newsletter

Interviews with Kirsty and Anna and a bit of Germaine Greer and Prick Your Finger

Knit & Natter group met up at Prick Your Finger

Future events invites & how you can help (part two)

Future events invites (part one)

Yoga and Massage at April's meeting

Calling all London WIs for a big Swish

International Women's Day and Million Women Rise

Shoreditch Sisters Embroideries campaign gets some press coverage

March: Book Night

February: Female Frontiers

Stitching Vulvas with the WI

February's Meeting: Embroideries & Lady Parts

WI Craft Day at the Women's Library

Message from our new President Becky

Embroideries: A campaign to end FGM

News

PIC-NIC AND BIKE RIDE

Cake Club and Recipe Swap July Meeting

Tie-Dye Party Sponsored by DYLON Saturday 17th June 2010

June 2010 Meeting Zines, Bunting and More

May 2010 Meeting - Resolutions and Creative Card-Making Workshop

What Women Want Debate

March Meeting - Burlesque Life Drawing

RISE UP SISTERS!

See You Next Tuesday for the Vagina Monologues...

Come And Join The Shoreditch Switch!

Secret Location Revealed for Mad Hatters Tea Party!!!

February Meeting - Mad Hatters Tea Party

Knitting Workshop

Shoreditch Sisters Knit-Along

Christmas Fete - Sunday 13th Dec 2009

Chocolate Making Workshop

November AGM

October Meeting

October Meeting - Feminism And Femininity

Barbican Library Autumn Fete

Bust Magazine Craftacular Spectacular

Buy Your Own Shoreditch Sisters Rose Name Necklace & Brooch at Lady Luck Rules OK Now!

Lady Luck Rules Ok - Shoreditch Sisters Necklaces On Sale Now!

Theatre Ambassadors feedback

Calling All Craftaholics!

Invite to the Premiere Screening of The C-Word

September Meeting - Jewellery Workshop with Lady Luck Rules OK

Care Not Custody - A visit to Wandsworth Prison

Sizzling Summer Picnic

Last Months Meeting - Sushi and Origami

Location for Sushi and Origami Meeting Announced!

Our August Summer Picnic

Next Meeting: Sushi and Origami Making

How to sew like a feminist

March 2009 meeting - Quilting

Upcoming Meeting on Tuesday 24th Feb 09

Sister in the Press!

Your Ideas for the 2009 Shoreditch Sister WI Agenda

Meeting on Tue 27th Jan 09

Welcome