Lincoln WI had a very busy end of August, start of September. Over the August Bank Holiday we held our annual cake sale in St Mary Magdalene in the Bail, hosting those attending the Steampunk Festival. Our bakers turned out a great array of cakes from the crowd pleasing coffee and walnut to the more unusual, but still very popular, toffee apple. As usual we only asked for donations, and given the cost of living crisis, people were more than generous. We opened at 10am, closed around 4pm and hardly stopped between. We raised over £800 to be split between St Mary’s, St Barnabas, in memory of a member who had been nursed by them and also for our annual educational bursary, where a member can win £100 to go towards an education course.
The following week was our September meeting, and we hosted the Canal and River Trust (CRT), this tied into the national WI campaigns on clean rivers, Keep Britain Tidy and ending plastic pollution. Jayne from the Canal and River Trust spoke about the work they do looking after some of England’s waterways, how they also maintain historic buildings including the Anderton boat lift. Lincoln WI has a trained lock keeper, who volunteers at Torksey where the Trent meets the sea, there is often a narrow window for boats to come through and the operation was described as 3D Tetris, as boats need to clear a lip at the bottom of the lock, the bridge as well as fit in as many as possible in to conserve water. We were informed of the variety of wildlife that can be seen on the Trent, including salmon, porpoise as well as invasive crabs and a rather large pike that lurks in Torksey lock, that knows then to prey on the smaller fish coming through the water. Whilst the CRT has many volunteers, there is a full time lock keeper at Boston, this is a really delicate and skilled job as a serious misstep could see Boston being flooded. We were also informed that spending time by water can really help mental wellbeing, fitting in with the 2018 mandate “Mental Health Matters”.
If you want to join Lincoln WI our next meeting will be Oct and will be Morris dancing with local group Poacher Morris, on Thursday 3 Oct, 7.15pm for a 7.30pm start at the Grandstand, Carholme Road.
The Lincoln WI 