about us

We are Borough Belles Women’s Institute. Our mission is simple. We bring together women from across London who all share a common interest – a love of crafts, learning new skills and, of course, socialising.

Founded in September 2009, we have 50+ members already and a 10-strong committee, but we’re looking for as many like-minded ladies as possible to join our group. We’re celebrating all the things the WI stands for: interesting craft projects, insightful speakers and presentations and a whole lot of cake. But we draw the line at Jerusalem.

Our founding president Kirsty McCaskill has sadly left the big smoke for the bright lights of the North, but we hope to carry on her great work to bring the women folk of inner london together, and follow her motto of “there can never be too much cake”!

The committee

We’ve just elected our new committee for 2012! Congratulations to Lara, our new president. We’ll be updating the details below very shortly.

President: Lara Clements

More on Lara soon!

Secretary: Celia O’Meara

About me: The WI is a great chance to meet like-minded ladies in the big smoke, and hopefully learn some new and useful skills-jam making is at the top of my list!
Favourite cake: coffee and walnut
Heroine: My mum

Treasurer: Sally Connor  

About me: I joined our lovely WI looking for other Londoners who share my life-long love of baking and my new-found passion for crochet and have found plenty of those! My nana set up a WI 40 odd years ago and it’s still going strong, so it seems only right to follow in her footsteps and keep the tradition going.
Favourite cake: you can’t beat a good chocolate cake!
Heroine: My nana is pretty amazing, ran a dairy farm on her own as well as her local WI and still managed to try and find time to teach me to knit (a task that required enormous amounts of patience!)

Committee member: Kathy Clark

About me: The only things I can produce successfully from a  kitchen have  golden syrup in them, and I spent every weekend of  my teenage years  attempting to alter clothing on a sewing  machine that was (and still is) 10  years my senior. The WI  seemed like a good way to indulge these two gentle  hobbies, find  some new ones and make some new pals into the bargain.
Favourite cake: Uncooked chocolate cake.
Heroines: My Great Auntie Phyl, 90, who reads voraciously  and is  interested in people and life, and Nancy de Dombal, retired teacher, who  runs a small volunteer museum in Leeds with a huge amount of energy and tea-making and good-humour.

Refreshments co-ordinator: Vicki

more on Vicki soon!

Committee member: Amelia Butterly

About me: I love crafting and cooking and the WI seemed like the perfect place to find more people who liked doing the same things as me! I love to knit, sew and bake but have discovered that I am terrible at icing cakes.
Favourite cake: Does cheesecake count? (They’re yummy and don’t need icing!)
Heroines: 1 – My mum – Always able to come up with the most fun activities – from letting me paint all the paving stones in the garden to helping me make a papier machete solar system and not getting cross when it covered the bath in goo.
2 – Jane Austen – BEST AUTHOR EVER – fact. Never fails to amuse.
3 – Amelia Earhart – Awesome aviator – am very happy to be named after her.

Committee member: Holly Simms

About me: I have lived in Kennington for the past 3 years. Reception class teacher in east london and always looking for creative ideas to take back to the classroom. Love the Borough Belles initiative for celebrating its urban setting – guerrilla gardening, urban birder, borough market stalls etc…. interested in knitting (also not v good!), gardening, book club, Brockwell lido and gin and tonics when it’s warm! Feel like it’s a good way to become more in tough with what’s happening in our neck of the woods!
Favourite cake: chocolate torte!
Heroine: my mum. She has managed to combine being clever, ambitious, selfless, loyal & loving with being glamorous at all times and I think that’s quite a thing to aspire to!

Committee member: Emma Tunstill

About me: I moved to London back in 2003. Warned, that I’d never find a ‘community’ in the big city, I decided to have a look into the W.I. After a bit of research and going to a few different groups I decided that the Borough Belles was the W.I. for me! I joined to find a community, friends and a relaxed environment to meet new people and learn new things – & this I found in abundance!
I’m energetic. A random / sporadic blogger. Am still trying to master the art of knitting / sewing / etc etc Relax by cooking late into the night (has been known that I’ve set my alarm to get bread out of the oven at 4am!?)
Favourite cake: Ones that are baked in an Aga (they have that lovely dense crusty edge which is to die for!)
Heroine: Coco Chanel – an inspiring women with a strong self-belief, ambition and determination.

More on the rest of the committee soon!