Balham Women's Institute | Culture, Charity, Craft, & Cake

For our June meeting, we didn't have a special speaker, but had our own crafty ladies leading us in making some fun DIY cosmetics. All shades of pretty lipglosses, flavoured with natural oils and coloured with natural pigments were melted and poured.

On another station, we were blending exfoliating ingredients like brown sugar & coffee grounds with lovely natural oils and essential oil fragrances for our own bath scrubs. The room smelled amazing!

On the night, we also did a bit of art creation. Members drew and sketched out ideas for our very own BWI enamel pin design! The committee came up with a shortlist and members then voted on a fun and empowering design we hope to have ready for autumn.

Sometimes the best nights are the ones we do all on our own!

This year the Surrey Federation of Women's Institutes turns 100. We enjoyed celebrating the National centenary in 2015, and 2018 has had a lot of fun and more local events as our federation celebrates its own milestone.

The London group of the Surrey Federation held a Centenary Fair on 9 June at Barnes Green Centre. Our own Balham WI had a terrarium making stall (after that activity was incredibly popular amongst members last year). It was a beautiful day out and a fun way to meet members of the public and share the WI love!

Last weekend a number of BWI ladies joined up with other WI members from the London group of Surrey Federation to try their hand at lawn bowls.

The ladies of Streatham WI hosted at their usual meeting venue and everyone had a laugh and a good time.

This month we all got to do some carving. Luke & Laura from Lavender Print School in Battersea came along to teach us the art of linocut printmaking.

Everyone had their own idea to create from portraits to pets to wedding designs! It was a great night to try something new and we all got to take home cards printed with our new designs.