President, Bernadette O’Donnell welcomed members and visitors to the Little Leigh WI meeting.

Menus were given out for the New Year meal on January 14 at Winnington Rec, money will be collected in January. Brenda Smith volunteered to be the delegate for the 2015 National AGM in London. Ideas for the use of the bursary, won by Kathleen Hewitt, were requested as she wished for something to benefit all members. Names were taken for the County Quiz on Monday, February 16 at Appleton. The WI calendar has been suspended due to the drop in sales. A Centenary event will be held at Gawsworth Hall on July 8.

The speaker for the evening was Joan Colwell, who gave an interesting and humorous talk on the ‘Christmas Cracker’. Members were given an insight into the origin of the humble Christmas cracker which had originally been called ‘Bangs of Expectation’. Joan told how she and her husband had become involved with the production and distribution of crackers and earned the name Mr and Mrs Crackers. She was thanked by Cath Smith.

A festive raffle was held and the competition: a Christmas cracker made by you was won by Anne Antrobus; 2. Jan Whalley; 3. Elsie Evans.

The next meeting is on January 7, with a talk entitled The Origins of Christian & Surnames. The competition is a photograph of an ancestor.