Happy Birthday To Us!

February saw Herts Belles celebrate our 2nd birthday and Emma G made a gorgeous cake that soon disappeared during the tea break. Here's to another fabulous and busy year!

This month's special guest was Dawn Fry from The Melting Pot. Having been made redundant, Dawn started her own chocolate business at the height of the recession in 2009. Despite the fact that most people thought she was crazy, the business has been a great success. Dawn runs chocolate making workshops for all ages and takes her chocolate tank into schools and corporations for talks and team building activities.

Dawn gave an interesting talk about the history of chocolate - "From bean to bar". We learned about the development of cocoa beans as a currency in the Mayan civilisation to a luxury drinking in 16th century Europe to the development of the brands we know today like Nestle, Lindt and Cadbury's. Interesting to find out that Quakers had seen chocolate as a replacement for gin!

Then it was time for the part of the evening that everyone had been waiting for - tasting time. Dawn brought with her a selection of different flavoured chocolates including white, milk and dark chocolate. Strangely the lemon flavour was actually green!

The evening was rounded off with a chocolate themed tombola with lots of Belles going home with some tasty treats. Some of us headed next door for cheeky birtday drink at Bar 62 before heading home.

If you would like to find out more about Dawn's chocolate workshops for adults and children, take a look at her website http://www.makechocolates.co.uk/  or The Melting Pot's Facebook page for more information. Dawn's  Easter themed children's holiday workshops are currently taking bookings.

More pictures from February's meeting can be seen on the new Herts Belles official Instagram page - hertsbellesstalbanswi.

Details of the centenary celebrations and other events have been added to the Group Events tab at the top of the page - check them out as there is a lot going on in the next few months.

March's meeting will see Annie Brewster coming down to teach us some calligraphy. Yearly membership of the W.I. is just £36 and non-members and guests are welcome to visit three meetings before joining at £3.50 a meeting. All members will also be eligible for the draw to attend this summer's special Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in June.

See you all in March!

best wishes
Emma C x