Two Tarvin WI Events in March

On Tuesday 24 March members took part in a Daffodil walk at Whitegates in aid of Macmillan Nurses. We had a lovely afternoon and the weather was kind. The walk was guided by Len Tomlinson, who told us all about daffodil growing, propagating, competitions, local history of the area and farming, and we were shown many varieties of daffodils that have been cultivated for over a century, the walk was followed by an afternoon tea.

The monthly meeting was held at the Community Centre on Wednesday 25th March. Our speaker was Barbara Broderick from Cheshire Search and Rescue. Barbara is employed full time as a teacher at Grange School Hartford and her subjects are Chemistry and Navigation skills. She has been training members of the Search and Rescue Team for 2 years.
Barbara explained how Cheshire Search and Rescue Team was formed following the disappearance of a teenage girl in 2004 and started as a group of community spirited individuals with little more than high visibility jackets and torches.

The team today is extremely well trained and equipped and they regularly assist Cheshire police and other statutory emergency services. They are called out to assist in the search for missing or vulnerable people across the county's 904 square miles. Most people's mental image of Cheshire is of large swathes of rural, flat land and towns and cities including Warrington and Chester. Cheshire, however, has large areas of moorland, dense forests (Delamere and Macclesfield), cliffs and quarries

Members were surprised that the Team does not have any Government funding and that they have to raise money themselves to buy the equipment necessary to maintain their valuable service. Barbara and some of her team will be partaking in the Three Lake Challenge during 2015 as a fund raising exercise. This involves rowing across three lakes. Members made a collection to support this challenge.

Half way through her talk Skye who is a one of the Search and Rescue dogs was introduced. Skye is a sprocker, a combination of a Springer Spaniel and a cocker Spaniel. Skye demonstrated how she responded to commands and members were allowed to fuss and pat her.

The talk ended with Cake and a drink. The cake was supplied by one of our members who is celebrating her Diamond Wedding Anniversary on the 26th March.

Our next meeting will be on the 29th April 2015 at 7.30pm, Tarvin Community Centre, please come along if you would like to see what we do.