Holidays, weddings and James Martin

The month of August has always been real holiday time. I remember my French pen-friend, Joelle, saying that the world is on holiday in August because the whole of Paris is on holiday, which to me, at the age of 15, seemed to be the case. Of course, I know now that this is not strictly true, but it does seem so at 8am in the morning when getting to the railway station means a ten minute journey rather than the usual 35-40 minutes. That doesn't help me too much though because, as I said last time, the WI tends to slow down in this month and the meetings are not so many or frequent for me.

As well as July, August is the month for weddings too; and not only have a couple of the members of staff married but I too have the joy of a few to attend. In fact for one wedding in the Cotswolds I found that the hotel I am staying in is actually advertised in WI Life. There don't seem to be as many such adverts lately as there used to be, which is odd, since there are so many more people who now see this magazine. Anyone out there, with a hotel or B&B to fill could do a lot worse than putting an ad in WI Life.

I meant to record earlier that one of the very nice WI events I have been to recently was a cookery demonstration by James Martin. He came to Denman College and his demo was one specifically using canned foods. Canned beans, tomatoes and similar were his most used ingredients and seeing him demonstrate live was even better than seeing him on screen. The audience were, of course, entranced - not least because he is a superb cook - or should that be chef. Suffice it to say, he definitely knows how to cook and his tips alone were worth the trip to our wonderful college in Oxford.

Indeed, why not take a course in the WI Cookery School at Denman College; think of it as a mini-break and the chance to learn something new at the same time. And gentlemen, you are most welcome on these courses too.