Brizlee WI, Meeting

The business was discussed, with information from Northumberland College Leisure Learning about courses ranging from dressmaking and reflexology to needle felting and Indian head massage. There were also details of events at Cresswell House. Margaret listed the events in the ‘red book’ for members to consider.

Our birthday dinner is to be held at the Plough Hotel on Tuesday, March 28. Anyone interested was asked to choose from the menu.

The annual meeting will be held on Saturday, April 8, at the Royal Grammar School, Jesmond. Six members expressed an interest in attending.

Barbara then introduced our speaker Sheila Johnson to talk about Recycling Of Waste. Sheila is a senior waste management officer at Northumberland County Council.

The council is governed by EU directives, national targets and league tables to reduce waste. The level of material sent to landfill peaked from 2008/09 to a high in 2011/12, but this dropped to a low in 2015/16. Sheila explained that the growth was caused by a throw-away society, more packaging on goods and high capacity waste bins.

Less than 10 per cent of waste goes to landfill. This is mostly large household items, such as mattresses, settees and chairs.

All waste collected in recycling bins is sorted by hand at West Sleekburn. Sheila informed us of the waste that can be recycled – card, paper and plastic that is bottle-shaped, such as shower gel, shampoo and aerosol cans.

Some items that cannot be recycled are tetra packs, polystyrene cups, shredded paper and old video cassettes.

Members were keen to ask questions regarding their own waste materials, from garden waste to hazardous materials like pesticides in our sheds. It was good to know that these can be collected separately by the waste team.

Sheila was warmly thanked for her informative talk by Susan Gray.

The competition was something recycled: 1 Marjorie Brown, 2 Kathleen Turnbull, 3 Hazel Shell. Birthday flowers were given to Isobel Jury and Sylvia Taylor. Raffle winners were Susan Frater, Kathleen Turnbull and Margaret Hope.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday, March 21, at 7pm, and our speaker is Fran Elson. Her subject is Auschwitz – Holda’s Story. The competition is for A Teenage Memento. New members are very welcome.