Whitton

WOMEN'S INSTITUTE -- Whitton Women's Institute recently held their January meeting with J Sandercock in the chair. The minutes were read by S Price. The members were told about the county's 80th anniversary celebrations which will be in 2003. They were also remind of the healthy living conference on April 16 where Powys Radnor are hosts. This year is also Whitton's 80th anniversary. A letter from Denys Smith was read out thanking members for their condolences on the death of his wife Gwellian, who used to be a very good member before they moved away. The guest speaker was Michael Haines from New Radnor who spoke on furniture restoration. The members found this very interesting as he specialises in antique furniture. Mr Haines said how, due to our warmer houses, old furniture had shrunk and one way of telling if a piece was 100 years old was to look if it had shrunk across the grain. The other enemy was woodworm which liked wet, warm surfaces. Mr Haines also explained that if bits of the laminate had fallen off an item of furniture those bits should always be retained for the restorer. Screw and nails should never be used as they rusted, but wooden doweling should be used instead. Modern silicone polish was bad for furniture. Mr Haines also explained how to get rid of the white marks on furniture but the process involved a lot of hard work. He ended his talk by looking at small items which members had brought, and said what wood they had been made from. He was thanked by M Phillips. Hostess was R Graves.