Tarvin WI October Report

The first event of the month was a Treasure Hunt and lunch in Tarvin on 16th October. The Treasure Hunt was prepared by Alan and Irene Wilkinson and proved to be a little challenging, but fun. 17 members walked the treasure hunt course and 26 attended the lunch held at The Manor, Deli and Bistro, High Street,Tarvin. Members were delighted to see Betty Parsonage and Win Sinclair at the lunch as they have both recently been unwell. The Manor did us proud and I am sure we will be back there again in the future.

This month, ten Strollers walked to the summit at Eddisbury Hill which is known as Pale Heights south of Delamere Forest. The hill forms the high point of the northern mass of the Mid Cheshire Ridge. There is a circle of red sandstone county stones, celebrating the views from Old Pale Heights and Standing stones help the visitor to get their bearings in relation to the views while the large central stone represents Cheshire itself. On a clear day views of seven counties unfold and it is possible to see Cheshire, Derbyshire, Lancashire, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England, and Denbighshire and Flintshire in Wales. After the very pleasant walk we all had coffee and cakes in the Delamere Train Station Café.

The Monthly Meeting, which was held at Tarvin Community Centre on Wednesday 25th October, was a talk by local beekeeper, Graham Fifoot on the "Fascination of Bees" Using Slides, Graham told us some remarkable facts about honey bees and how they make honey and even brought along one of his hives to show us how a typical hive is constructed.

Summarising Graham's comprehensive talk we learned that the hive is made up of 3 types of bees. Both Worker Bees and Drones are products of unfertilised eggs whereas the only egg that is fertilised is the Queen Bee. The female Worker Bees are responsible for everything in the hive to keep it well organised while the male Drone is responsible for mating with Queens from other hives. The Queen can mate (mid flight) with up to 15 Drones over a 3 day period before retiring to the hive to lay the eggs over a period of time. The Queen will not leave the hive unless the colony swarms (looking for another hive). As Graham's talk said, 'Fascinating"

Tea and biscuits were served and chance to talk and catch up before the meeting closed at 9.30pm.

The next meeting is on Wednesday, November 29th which is our AGM and Fish and Chip Supper. As we are catering this month you are still very welcome to join us but could you please ring Irene Wilkinson 01829 740868 so that she knows and can cater for you.

Meeting will start at 7pm for this one occasion, hope to see you there.