South Lincolnshire WI groups hold Make, Bake and Show event

Elizabeth Mantle, President of Ropsley WI, receiving the Cynthia Pearson trophy from Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire, Toby Dennis. Photo: Janis Tunaley

The event on Saturday, October 28 was on the theme of "Come to the Carnival", with seven categories of entries - Photography, Flowers, Cards, Craft, Cookery, Art and a Novice class to encourage people to have a go at a competition for the first time.

Janis Tunaley, First Vice Chair of Lincolnshire South Federation of WIs said: “I'm pleased to say this has been well supported by the WIs in the region and we had a total of 113 entries across all classes.”

From 9am entries were delivered to the hall and flower arrangements were carefully tweaked; cakes, fudge and chutney were handed over; photos, invitation cards and artwork gently placed on easels and hand made Venetian masks and knitted/crocheted carnival figures displayed to best advantage.

First prize winner in the craft category went to Shirley Rowley, of Witham St Hughs WI. Photo: Janis Tunaley

At 11am, the hall was closed for judging. Expert opinion was brought to bear, comments were written and after much deliberation the results were determined. At 1.15pm, the doors were opened to the public with great interest along with a great deal of cake eating, tea drinking and perusing of the jewellery, scarves and handbags on sale.

Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire Toby Dennis, with his wife Sarah, joined the gathering and Mr Dennis presented the trophies to the creators of the winning entries, who were:

Photography: Jo Webber of Ropsley WI

Flowers: Sue Case, Caythorpe WI

First prize for flower arrangement went to Sue Case, of Caythorpe WI. Photo: Janis Tunaley

Hand-made Card: Judith Poore, Barrowby WI

Craft: Shirley Rowley, Witham St Hughs WI

Best Novice: Barbara Oates, Wellingore WI

Cookery: Debra Dows, Wellingore WI

Art: Shelley Marsden, Barrowby WI

The Cynthia Pearson Cup was presented to the WI which achieved the best overall performance. This was determined by awarding points for the total number of entries plus additional points for being placed first, second or third, or being highly commended. Ropsley achieved the highest score, with Wellingore second and Caythorpe third.

The Lord Lieutenant congratulated everyone for their entries and echoed the judges’ opinion that a very high standard had been achieved across all classes. Mrs Dennis drew the raffle and the afternoon was concluded with a vote of thanks by Federation chairman Tina Orange to everyone who had been involved in setting up and running the event and particularly to Mr and Mrs Dennis for attending.