Our New Programme of Speakers
.We are very excited to let you know that Jane has put together a new programme for our future talks.  The Committee has decided that we should continue to arrange our meetings to be held via Zoom for the next few months, and we are now able to share with you the future list of speakers.  In addition, to try and encourage as many of you as possible to attend these sessions, we are also starting a new session for speakers on a Tuesday, at 2pm.  Please add these dates to your diary so you don't miss them!

KeWI programme for 2021
Tuesday 26th January, 2pm Lindsey Barrell: Marvellous Mindfulness.  Lindsey will cover the benefits of Mindfulness, handy hints and tips for everyday Mindfulness and will end with a relaxing and calming guided meditation.
Wednesday 10th February, 7.30pm TBC
Tuesday 23rd February, 2pm Lynn Barrow: Quirky Bird Watercolours. ‘Just one piece’ a Paint-A-Long to show how to make a small 7x5 picture, a card, gift tags and a bookmark from one piece of A4 paper.
Wednesday 10th March, 7.30pm Claire Bethel: Violence against women.  What form violence against women and girls takes, policy and political context, some data on prevalence, impact of the pandemic, what impact it has on victim-survivors and their families services and interventions for victims-survivors, with examples. 
Tuesday 23rd March, 2pm Jane Lappage: Calligraphy Arts.  An introduction to modern calligraphy.  Faux calligraphy; based on classic copperplate, but cheating to make the learning process more in keeping with lifestyle.
Wednesday 14th April, 7.30pm Tim Mitchell: lighting designer.   Tim has worked in all forms of theatre and television and has lit over 350 productions throughout the world including the West End, Broadway and some of the largest Opera Houses.
Wednesday 12th May, 7.30pm Frances Carlaw: A passion for pearls.  The history and science of the world’s most secretive and only living gemstone, the pearl. Going back over 5000 years, pearls have been associated with wisdom, power, wealth and beauty.  This talk explains the creation of a natural pearl and their production in farms and the geography of pearls, as well as exploring the beauty of the shells and will illustrate the colours and shapes of pearls to suit you!
Wednesday 9th June, 7.30pm Sarah Slater:  Ghosts of Hampton Court Palace.  An exploration of the history, stories and sightings of some of the ghosts of Hampton Court Palace that have been reported over the last few hundred years.
Wednesday 14th July, 7.30pm Jim Thomas: Hearing Dogs, Changing Lives
I will be sending out the Zoom links for these talks closer to the time, and in the meantime, if you have any future suggestions for speakers, please do forward them to a Committee member.

​Thames Luminaries series of talks
You may remember that we visited Turners House not so long ago, and we have been contacted by one of the trustees about a virtual lecture series about Thames Luminaries.  The tickets are free, but you are encouraged to make a £5 donation for each talk, if you are able, which will be divided equally between the nine participating organisations.   The link to the lecture series is here. The Thames brought commerce and wealth to South West London, attracting royalty, aristocrats, artists, writers and wealthy property owners. A legacy of these luminaries is an area exceptionally rich in heritage buildings, gardens and landscapes. Drawing on the success of our Twickenham Luminaries lecture series, Pope’s Grotto Preservation Trust and English Heritage’s Marble Hill, with other local heritage organisations, have organised a series of nine free virtual talks over three weeks beginning on Wednesday 27th January.  Acknowledged experts will explore, explain and offer insight about a luminary and their garden, landscape and their property. There will be talks about the occupants and aspects of the gardens and landscapes of Ham House, Boston Manor, Orleans House, Popes Grotto, Chiswick House, Marble Hill, Hogarth’s House, Strawberry Hill and Turner’s House.
Each 20 minute talk will be delivered using Zoom and will begin at 7 p.m. They will be chaired by Professor Judith Hawley of the Department of English 17th and 18th Century Literature and Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London. Time will be allowed for questions and answers at the end. The events will end at or before 8 pm. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link by email about an hour before each talk begins.

Things to Do 
For something completely different, how about a real-time theatre-game, The Inquest.  
There's a body, and a body of evidence, and a fixed amount of time for a small group of remote participants - convened on Zoom- to deduce what has gone on.  A collective verdict has to be reached that satisfies the presiding coroner as to what befell a Cambridge university student found drowned lat at night 10 years ago.......  For information and tickets, click here.

The Royal Opera House is now streaming performances, and I am very taken with the idea of Cendrillon (Cinderella, 2011), which is available from 22-29 January.  For information on all their performances, click here.

The Surrey Federation of WI's has sent a Flyer of their events for February and March.  If you are interested in attending any of these, then please do look at the Surrey Federation Website, the link for which is here.