Sullington Windmills WI

I hope that you all had a very happy Easter.

Mine was improved with the eating of some delicious Simnel cake, made following a recipe provided by the Surrey Federation website.

This was an easy recipe, although the grating of the marzipan was a bit sticky!

I didn't have the right size tin, only a larger one, so just kept my eye on the cooking time to make sure that the cake did not over bake.

I was very happy with the result and it all went down well with the family on Easter Sunday.

** NEXT MONTH**

Sunday 18^th May 2025 is World Baking Day.

Crunchy biscuits, gooey brownies, decadent tortes, sweet cupcakes, crusty baked bread…baking is an art that this world would just not be the same without.

This World Baking Day, why not dust off your recipe book and prepare something delicious! Surprise a friend, neighbour or relative with a delicious sweet or savoury treat to let them know how much you care, or just make something to enjoy in your own home.

As always, please join in with me and send me some photographs of anything that you bake.

We had a very good meeting this month, with the new committee and chair doing an excellent job.

Business was covered off quite quickly, moving on to the more interesting part of the evening.

Our speaker was Jonathan Cox, who retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2013 and within days had published the first of his books in The Nostrils Series. 

We learned how Jonathan’s real life policing experiences had fed into the storylines of his books and why the main character has the nickname of ‘Nostrils’.

This was a fun talk, with lots of enlightening and entertaining stories, which gave a good insight into the atmosphere and attitudes of policing in the 1980s.

Members were able to purchase Jonathan’s books at the end of the evening and the Book Club are considering his first novel, ‘From Green to Blue’, as one of their monthly reads.

The Book Club had a lovely day out in Chawton, immersing ourselves in Jane Austen and her family history.

The weather was glorious and we started the day early at Chawton House, one of the houses Jane's brother Edward inherited when he was adopted as heir by distant relatives the Knights. We had a curator's tour and learned so much about both the Austen family and the Knight family.

* Jane's writing nook.

The house now holds a unique collection of early women's writing. Once again, we realised how difficult it was for women to pursue intellectual interests and be paid for artistic and literary skills. As well as learning more about how difficult Jane Austen found it to get her work published, we also learned about a very colourful early woman writer, Mary Robinson. Mary was an actress, poet, novelist and radical (and briefly a mistress of the future King George IV when he was a young Prince of Wales) who believed passionately in women's rights. She was influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft who wrote 'A Vindication of the Rights of Woman' and Chawton House holds works by Wollstonecraft too.

After completing the tour of Chawton House, we had a picnic lunch in the sunny courtyard and at the same time discussed our latest read, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee.

Everyone had enjoyed reading the book and there were links with our visit to Chawton in that the prejudice and suppression of Black people, so clearly described in 'To Kill a Mocking Bird', echoed the suppression of women we learned about during our house tour.

Some of us had not read the book before, in some cases fearing the violence it contains. In fact, we found that the book was gentler, funnier and more carefully inciteful than we had realised. We loved the main protagonist Scout, a young and intelligent girl who resented efforts to make her more ladylike. Most also loved Scout's father, the liberal and principled lawyer Atticus Finch, although some felt he neglected his children somewhat, leading to them being attacked in the final stages of the book.

We all agreed that the book was a powerful story in combatting racism and in understanding the bitterness felt by those who have been harmed by racism. By telling the story through the eyes of children Harper Lee demonstrates that racism is an adult construct and not because different races possess different characteristics, abilities or are inferior in any way.

After lunch we took a leisurely stroll to Jane Austen's House (formerly Chawton Cottage), just a few minutes away. This was much more of a modest cottage than the grand Chawton House. There we learned about Jane's daily routine and how her sister Cassandra facilitated Jane's writing by taking on much of the household tasks. We also realised what a talented artist Cassandra was, as her paintings hang on the walls of the cottage. In fact, the whole Austen family seem to have been talented and successful in their chosen careers and pursuits.

*Jane's bedroom.

We enjoyed sitting in the lovely garden for a while before making our way back to Storrington.

A very successful and enjoyable second outing for the Book Club.

The next book to be read will be "You Are Here" by David Nicholls.

This will be discussed on Friday 9th May 2025.