Latest news
May 2025
The start of our 2025/26 year saw us welcome our members - and some new members! - to our new venue and share with them our new programme of events. Due to our numbers increasing, to now around 70 members, we decided to move to larger premises at Glebe Methodist Church for our monthly meetings. Our 2025/26 programme is packed with activities from meetings, speakers, dinners, parties and craft classes.
This was our annual meeting and elections, and we were delighted that Elaine Wright was once again voted our President. We then had a talk and presentation by Diana O'Hagan representing Tropic Skin Care with Linda, one of our lovely members, volunteering for a mini treatment.
April 2025
Spring is definitely here! At our monthly meeting we heard from Helen and Andy Redfern of the Green Heart Collective, a social enterprise based in Gateshead dedicated to reducing waste to landfill by providing an attractive and sustainable alternative to buying new. Their presentation certainly opened our eyes to the issue of textile waste and how we can all play a part in reducing waste. Helen and Andy run their collective from Gateshead to try to help tackle the problem.
Some of our members attended the Tyne and Wear South Spring Council. A lovely day that saw representatives from all WIs across the federation come together.
March 2025
We can't believe it is March already! So far this month we have enjoyed a very creative craft class, open to all members of our Federation. In three hours we learned how to crochet - big thanks to Margaret for helping us learn this lovely craft.
More than twenty of our members enjoyed a Supper Club event at the Cantoro Lounge at Washington Galleries. Yummy food and great company!
February 2025
At our February meeting we heard from our member Chris O'Neill who shared her story of 42 years of supporting the Manzini Youth Care project in eSwatini, Africa. It was a very humbling and touching to hear about the moments of joy and sadness that Chris has experienced over her many years of support. Also in February some of our members enjoyed a Chinese meal at the Imperial Restaurant, Low Fell. The evening was organised by our Federation and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting with members of other local WIs for fantastic food and company.
January 2025
In January at our first meeting, we collected votes for this year's resolutions.
December
Our December got off to a great start with our WI Christmas party night at the Ramside, with great food, music and dancing to xthe act - Diva Decoded. We also enjoyed a lovely Christmas lunch at Springwell Village Community Venue. Finally, our President Elaine presented a cheque for £200 to Daft as a Brush charity, raised by members, along with a card signed by all our members.
November
In November some of our members enjoyed the Federation Craft Class run by Margaret at Wrekenton. We created some amazing decorations for our Christmas trees and even made small gifts. Big thanks to Margaret for all her hard work! The sweet-toothed among us took up the chance to catch up with The Canny Chocolate company, who spoke at one of our meetings this year. At a workshop we made truffles, chocolate bars, and tasted the best ever hot chocolate! Later in November Gillian Cain from Bowes Belles WI hosted a Christmas cracker making workshop at our meeting. They were fabulous and glittery, so thank you Gillian. We joined more than 100 WI members from the Federation at the Mother Goose panto at the Customs House in South Shields - what a hoot that was! A great show. And finally to top off our Christmas crafts, we made Christmas gnomes which were so lovely.
October
As autumn gets well underway we've lots going on at Washington Station WI. Our second supper club took place at Novello's in Washington, with more than half of our members coming along. We heard from Mitch Bridgewater at our monthly meeting. Mitch appeared in the Great British Sewing Bee after learning to sew during Covid. Ladies from across our Federation enjoyed a Festive Small Cakes workshop run by Margaret with special thanks to Katherine from Bowes Belles for all her help in arranging. And finally some of us got together for an evening out at Saba Indian restaurant in Sunderland. Big thanks to Joanne for organising.
September
Some of our members enjoyed a lovely trip to Leeds this month. First we went to see the Marks and Spencer Archive based at Leeds University. What a lovely time we had reminiscing! The staff there were lovely and provided complimentary tea, coffee and biscuits. After that we stopped off at Leeds city centre for some retail therapy. At our monthly meeting we welcomed crime author Rob Scragg who shared his journey to being a best selling author. We learned a lot about the world of publishing and writing, and how moments in everyday life can inspire a storyline or book. Thanks Rob for joining us, we enjoyed your talk immensely.
Latest news
August
This month we launched our first ever website (you're reading it now!) and are putting plans in place to keep it updated and fresh. Look out for our committee profiles, coming soon. We enjoyed a lovely Summer Social at our monthly meeting, with card bingo, guess who (featuring photos of us in our younger years) and cakes, washed down by a cuppa. It was really good fun and a very relaxed evening. We also had a great time at our origami Craft Night.
July
This month we celebrated the milestone of Washington's 60th birthday by reflecting on two momentous visits to our town in 1977: that of President Jimmy Carter and Queen Elizabeth II. Of course, many of us can recall both events, and some joined the crowds to welcome both!
Helping us glance back memory lane was Michael Gough, who recorded parts of both events and shared his recordings with us with a presentation full of creativity and humour. We really enjoyed hearing from him - thank you Michael!
We also joined our sister WIs at our annual Summer Party at Springwell Community Centre, a lovely night filled with fun, friendship, dancing, a fabulous buffet, and a drink or two.
June
Wow, what a busy June we had! The month started with a trip for some of us to the Women's Institute National AGM, an amazing day with inspirational speakers. At our monthly meeting we learned about cocktail making, and took some tipples home, and we enjoyed some mindful crafting at our regular Craft Class. Our first Supper Club saw 23 of us gather for dinner - a great start to this new initiative.
Many of us braved the rain and took part in the Tyne and Wear Federation's Big Green Walk at Herrington Park. And the popular Springwell 1940s weekend was a huge success. We joined in by helping staff a stand with other WIs to help anyone interested in coming along. And the trip to the Lavender Fields in Yorkshire was a delight, and included a visit to the York shopping outlet.
May
Our May Meeting was our AGM, and we elected our President for the year: once again it is Elaine Wright - we are delighted that she has accepted! During the meeting we welcomed Nicky and Tina from Ultimate Boutique. Their business focuses on helping women to feel empowered and improve self esteem. We had an opportunity to try on and purchase some of the lovely outfits.
April
Thanks to Margaret for her crafting inspiration for our April Meeting. We all went home with some beautiful handcrafted flowers, see our pictures below.
