MARCH BAKING CLUB

The well anticipated éclairs were back on the menu in this months baking club. Were our ladies shooed away by the choux pastry? The answer is no! Now as we recall they had ‘heat issues’ last time and the aforementioned éclairs did not make the grade. So, this time round they switched recipe, one that did not involve the potential for ‘heat issues’ …

Well they did not let themselves down and more importantly the Women’s Institute and offered up some mighty choux buns worthy of a Paul Hollywood handshake. Once those beasties were all dressed up for the occasion, smothered in a thick layer of chocolate and filled with cream, not only did they look good but tasted good too. Well done ladies … now the next question is when are you bringing some round for us?

Our ladies approach every bake with stoicism and when faced with a tricky situation they don’t back down, they get back out there and try again. Remember to bake a cake, you first need to brake a few eggs. Riding high on their choux pastry success, one of the ladies even toyed with the idea of revisiting the Battenberg cake! Let’s just say that’s fighting talk; we have the images of their Battenberg cake in our photo library, it’s not pretty ...

For more information on baking club and this year’s recipes head on over to our baking page.

MARCH MEETING

This month we were regaled with “Tales from a Scotland Yard detective”, Steve, the ex-copper entertained us with some light-hearted anecdotes of his time working within the Metropolitan Police and the many specialist forces that he served in. His career starting in the late 70’s as a bobby on the beat and progressing through to detective within units such as the ‘Flying Squad’ and the Kidnap unit.

The talk was light-hearted and frank, it also gave us an insight into the reality of how policing works. We learnt that it is not always glamourous, and that each day was not like an episode of the ‘Sweeny’ …, though the way he told it … effective policing requires a great deal of patience, diligence, creativity, teamwork, camaraderie and sometimes just plain luck. He also showed us the human side of policing, where bravery at times leaps ahead of the actual thought process and how having to think quickly on your feet sometimes armed with only with words and a handy truncheon can sometimes win the day. The talk was thoroughly entertaining and was enjoyed by all.

Angela’s wonderful raffle took care of our mind body and spirit and we look forward to next month’s offering.