WI Newsletter – October 2012

Lots to write about this month, but we will gloss over our performance at the first round of Hampshire Federation’s skittle competition – it wasn’t our finest performance, although we didn’t come last. Enough said.

The Supper Club met for the second time at the Poplar Farm Inn, this time our visit on was on their Pie evening and once again it was a very enjoyable relaxed evening, lots to talk about and have a laugh or two along the way. The walking group enjoyed a lovely stroll around Amport and Monxton lead by Barbra Dixon, followed by lunch at The Black Swan in Monxton, Christine Fell hosted the coffee morning and the reading group continued to discuss their latest selection.

The lunch group had a lovely meal at the Clatford Arms – the menu was certainly different to other nearby pubs and many were a little more adventurous than normal.

The final meeting of the Danebury Group took place this month in Chilbolton, with a party theme and jazz singer, prior to its merger with the nearby Anton Group – to be known as the Anton Danebury Group with effect from January 2013 with its inaugural meeting in April 2013.

Hampshire Federation’s Autumn Meeting at The Anvil in Basingstoke had proved so popular it was over-subscribed and tickets were restricted. Fortunately for us we were still allocated 12 and it certainly lived up to and surpassed our expectations. New Federation Chairman, Brenda Fletcher, gave an understated but informative and enthusiastic résumé of this year’s activities and explained how the WI is evolving for the future. She finished by saying “the WI can be anything you want it to be” and “The WI is what you make of it”.

Each sub-committee chairman spoke succinctly and enthusiastically of what will be on offer for 2013. We had two superb guest speakers, in the morning it was Nick Hill, who gave us quite a lot of technical information on Enigma and Bletchley Park where he is a volunteer guide, but in such a way we were not over-loaded and he promised we would not be tested later to check we were listening. His sense of humour was also much appreciated. Next year’s outing maybe – watch this space.

Our speaker in the afternoon (hence the sell-out) was Adam Henson of Countryfile fame, gosh his delivery was very fast, but audible and clear, he told us how he made it into the TV world, it is obviously in the blood as his Grandfather was Leslie Henson (a war time entertainer) and his Uncle is the actor Nicky Henson. He is very busy, he films two days a week with the BBC programme and then fits in other work where he can and he is certainly making the most of the opportunities that come his way, as he knows it is finite. However, at heart he is a farmer and when it comes to an end he will just go back to what he loves best and that is working on the land. He is passionate about farming, and whilst he believes there are still challenging times ahead he also believes the future is positive, but perhaps all of us, farmers and consumers, have to start thinking differently. We mustn’t be afraid of technology, it helps the farmers make cost effective decisions as to how the land is farmed and he also touched on more controversial subjects such as badgers and “mega” farms.

A great day enjoyed by all of us attending and generally it was agreed one of the best.

We were delighted to welcome Kelly Jenkins, who lives in the Village and is already known to some of our members, as our guest speaker at this month’s meeting. Although it was billed as a crafty evening, Kelly opted to tell us about her work as a textile artist, with a much loved knitting machine, which sadly died on the day she moved into the village two years ago. Kelly spoke about her passion for knitting and to paraphrase, but “not as we know it”.

Kelly, originally from Wales, moved to London to attend the renowned Royal College of Art where she gained a 1st class honours degree in Contemporary Textiles and a Masters in Textiles. Whilst in London Kelly took the chance to visit as many exhibitions as possible, where she gained inspiration to experiment further – she now has her work in private collections including The Haunch of Venison Gallery, Bond Street, London. Now that her knitting machine is no more, she has recently been using her sewing machine to create her unusual designs.

There will be a complete change of topic for month’s meeting, ‘Both sides of the Wall’ with Gemma Ireland – so put the date and time in your diary – 29th November at 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall.

Diary Dates:
2012

01 November – Film Club

10 November – Walking Group

13 November – Coffee Morning

15 November – Supper Club

24 November – Lunch Club

29 November – Meeting 7.30 p.m. in the Village Hall – Both sides of the Wall – G Ireland

Sharon King