Having enjoyed a summer break, members came back refreshed and ready for action again.
The evening started with thanks being given to all those involved in the success of our themed evening, Desert Island Discs back in July and everyone who had helped in anyway with the fete. We had been kept very busy organising not just the teas on this occasion, but the cake stall as well. We took over £400 on the day – which was a great effort.
Plans for a workshop on 04 February were outlined, judging by the number of names down for this event, this is proving very popular. The suggestion of a tabletop sale in late spring/early summer next year was also met with approval.
Six of us had represented the Institute at the final of the quiz organised by Hampshire Federation, unfortunately, we had not finished in the top three, but we had done our best – there were a few tricky rounds.
We were especially delighted to welcome two new members this month, this is very encouraging and we had two other ladies who came along as a result of watching an item on the BBC’s six o’clock news earlier month, which highlighted the NFWI’s 90th anniversary. It showed one WI in Gloucestershire which goes quad biking, so now we have a challenge laid down to us – fortunately this is something we were looking into anyway. So, you see we are more adventurous than you think. We also have some members who want to go abseiling – so watch this space, who knows what we will be doing next.
Our guest speaker this month was Helen Creese, who as I have mentioned previously, was the winner of the Chairman’s Challenge for 2004. Helen had an amazing amount of statistics readily available; she had “visited” 107 WI’s, 84 of them in Hampshire, travelling approximately 5000 miles from January – August. When she came to our July meeting last year, we were number 103 on her list and just days later Helen managed to organise a WI get-together on the QEII – that’s enterprise for you.
One embarrassing statistic Helen revealed was that she had won over 30 raffle prizes whilst visiting all these Institutes.
Coming up:
01 October – Visit to Clarence House
17 October – Danebury Group Meeting, 7.30 p.m. Grateley Village Hall
27 October – Management for Wildlife at Porton Down – S Corbett – 7.30 p.m. Village Hall
31 October – Autumn Council Meeting – 7.30 p.m. City Hall in Winchester (admission by ticket only)
02 November – Danebury Group round of Federation Skittles Competition
24 November – Annual Meeting – 7.30 p.m. Village Hall
08 December – Christmas Party – 7 p.m. Village Hall
So come on – come and see if we really are going quad biking or abseiling – I dare you.
Sharon King
