WI members keep busy despite Covid-19

MEMBERS of Croft WI, although unable to hold their normal monthly meetings due to the Covid-19 pandemic, have kept busy in recent weeks.
They took part in Zoom calls, made a scarecrow for the “Lockdown Carnival” which took the place of the usual Croft Carnival, swapped recipes, recommended good books to read and made greetings cards, donating the proceeds to charity.
They also took part in “virtual netball” and generally kept in touch through their monthly newsletter.
Cheshire WI Federation organised a Zoom presentation to support one of the WI resolutions for this year – a call to increase potential stem cell donor registration.
There were over 150 participants in this call, in which Peter Mc Cleave asked WI members to spread the word about a real need for stem cell donors. Mr McCleave is a 42 year old family man who had always been very fit, competing in Ironman and Triathlon competitions, but was then diagnosed with Myeloma in 2017.
His lifespan is now dependent upon him finding a suitable genetic match for stem cell donation. Increasing the pool of stem cell donors is now his mission.
Croft WI member Brenda Simm, herself a recipient of stem cell treatment which saved her life, listened with great empathy to Peter and participated in the Zoom call.
She is encouraging anyone in the age group 17-55 to take a test to become a stem cell donor, which may save the lives of many people, including McCleave. For further information and to send for a test kit go to website dkms.org.uk and take a look at the website www.PeterMcleave.co.uk.
The Croft WI Scarecrow, constructed by Janet Hughes and her team won a Highly Commended Certificate and was displayed outside the Memorial Hall.
About 60 scarecrows were created for the Lockdown Carnival.