A Black Country Birthday Party


The tables were laid and wine bottles distributed before members began to arrive bearing appetizing plates of finger foods for our ‘bring and share’ supper. Guests invited from neighbouring WIs were welcomed – representatives from Abbots Bromley, Colton, Hoar Cross, Kings Bromley and Mavesyn Ridware. Business was kept to a minimum as our 93rd birthday party got under way. After absent friends had been toasted, members and guests collected their buffet food and tucked into their supper. There was a lively buzz of conversation as we appreciated the opportunity to catch up with others and exchange news and views with visitors from the other villages.




After plates had been cleared, our President Penny introduced David Bartley from Tipton who was to entertain us with his Black Country poetry and ‘banter’. If there were any members with doubts about whether this was their sort of humour, they were soon laughing in spite of themselves as David proved himself to be a very experienced performer who held our attention with his forceful delivery. He started by telling us that Tipton had just been twinned with Baghdad, “and the people of Baghdad are not too pleased about it!” The jokes came thick and fast, “I hate those Russian dolls, they’re so full of themselves”, or “I get on very well with twenty-five letters of the alphabet – I don’t know why”. Even ‘cracker’ style jokes like, “This horse meat scandal has affected B & Q’s flooring trade really badly – they’ve got so much lamb-in-it” or “Why do the French eat snails? Because they don’t do fast food”, went down well because they were delivered with impeccable timing. David interacted very well with his audience, asking people’s names and then involving them in his banter, but he was skilful at picking out those who were ’up for it’ and careful not to embarrass anyone. He also recited several topical poems which he had composed and soon had everyone joining in the predictable line endings. It was simply good clean fun which created a great party atmosphere which everyone seemed to enjoy.


After David’s performance it was time for coffee or tea and the raffle draw to round off the party. There were lots of good prizes including the signed book “A Force to be Reckoned With: A History of the Women’s Institute” by Jane Robinson, who has written about a very different side of WI from the usual rather prim ‘Jam and Jerusalem’ image. Our Treasurer Ann had bought it for a raffle prize at the SFWI Literary Luncheon at Hanbury at which Jane Robinson was the speaker. It was won by none other than the same Ann who had been wanting to read it ever since hearing Jane’s talk in April , but had dutifully kept it in pristine condition for our party! Fortunately several prizes were won by visitors from other WIs so no-one could claim the raffle had been fixed!


Our next meeting is on July 10th when Paul Newsham will speak on ‘Biometrics’. Visitors will be very welcome and for further information please contact our Chairman Penny Bailey at the link below.