After our summer break, we were back and ready for a busy September meeting. Liz, our President, was taking a well-earned holiday, so Julie stood in for her.

After welcoming the 37 members and 6 guests, we sang Jerusalem. We then mixed things up by having our speaker, which was our very own member, Diana Fletcher, who gave a very interesting and informative talk entitled ‘Brockenhurst – a World War I Hospital Village‘.

We learnt how Brockenhurst became a hospital village and how the hospital expanded to cope with the sad need. It was a fascinating insight into how this happened and the excellent way patient’s were cared for in trying circumstances. Although the hospital cared for over 20,000 patients during WWI, the fact that many survived despite the lack of antibiotics was a testimony to the care from the doctors and nurses.

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and Di was thanked for her great talk.

Next followed the ‘business’ part of the meeting and this covered a wide range of activities and forthcoming events. More can be read about them here.

Birthday flowers were presented to Sally, a September Birthday and to April and Barbara who had their Birthdays in August.

We had the judging of our annual growing competition. Britta, last year’s winner chose for members to grow beetroot and it was also Britta’s job to judge the competition! Britta also chose the judging criteria

• Present your beet(s) on a named plate.
• They should be cleaned, and all leaves left on.
• The judge assumes permission to cut each beet during the judging process.
• Points will be awarded as following:
• Number of different colours achieved 1-4 points
• Number of healthy leaves counted 1 point per leaf
• Largest overall circumference of a beet 1 point
• Healthy internal appearance / juiciness 1 point per beet

Britta was assisted in her judging by Evelyn.

It was a very close contest! The winner was Julie with 8 points, with the runners up Kim, Britta and Issy with 7 points. Julie will now get to choose next year’s annual growing competition!

Julie talked to us about the upcoming WI Week of River Action which takes place from 16th to 22nd September. There are activities planned which can bee seen here. Julie urged all members to take part in some way as water quality affects each and every one of us! Writing a letter to our MP would also encouraged. A sample letter can be found here. There will be daily website posts for the Week of River Action. If you would like to write a post about what clean rivers mean to you or of your experiences of our waterways, please contact us.

Evelyn sang the praises of those who entered the New Forest Show and encouraged each and every member to enter the forthcoming Group Show which takes place at the end of November. The schedule can be seen here.

Carole asked members to fill in a Craft questionnaire asking what craft activities they would like to do and also volunteer to offer.

After the raffle, which was run by Maureen and April, Julie ended the evening by thanking Janice or reception, Maureen and April for running the raffle, Sue, Rosemary, Anne P and Carole for making the refreshments, Maureen and Rita for flower arrangements, Britta and Evelyn for judging the beetroot and all the committee for what they do behind the scenes.

Thanks go to Christine K for the photos.