Our February meeting was Brockenhurst WI’s 107th Birthday! This gave us chance to celebrate, and as our President Liz said “consider how the WI has changed throughout all of those years, appreciate all of those things that have remained constant, and perhaps contribute to the inevitable change that will evolve in the future”.

We started the evening with a glass of fizz, a welcome by Liz and singing ‘Jerusalem’.

We then had a short talk from Keith from Brockenhurst Probus about a ‘Strictly Behind The Seams – Fashion & Dance’ event that is taking place in September. More details can be found here and tickets can be purchased here.

We then tucked into delicious fish and chips from the Rainbow Fish Bar, which was enjoyed by all.

Birthday cake followed.

Isyy had prepared 3 great quizzes which members worked on as we ate.

We had 11 members celebrating Birthdays.

Thank you certificates were presented to:

• Janice for (wo)manning the reception desk,
• Anne N for bringing her CD player to each meeting,
• Carole for running the Craft Group,
• Kim for running the Quilting Group,
• Christine for organising Lunch Club
• Karen for organising outings.

Long service certificates were presented to:

• Britta for 10 years
• Karen M for 10 years
• Di for 10 years
• Valerie for 10 years
• Pam for 10 years
• Sue Gr for 10 years
• Judy for 10 years
• Jan V for 36 years
• Anne N for 37 years
• Ann H for 41 years
• Pam M for 45 years

We then had a Beetle Drive on each table and Kim guided members through this with much hilarity and competitiveness! The overall winner was Jayne, who was awarded a bottle of fizz.

The raffle was organised by Maureen and April.

There was a plethora of sign-up sheets, including:

Thursday 20th February : Lunch Club – At The Haven in Lymington at 12.30pm.

Brockenhurst Pancake Race: Tuesday 4th March 2025 starting at 3.30pm.

Friday 14th March: Brockenhurst Group Event at Bashley Village Hall between 10.00am and 1.30pm. The event will include a cookery demonstration, morning coffee and a two-course lunch. We have been allocated fifteen tickets at £15pp. Should be informative, good fun and sociable. Email us by 28th February to book your place.

Saturday and Sunday 26th and 27th April: Needlework Festival at the Village Hall. We will be providing the usual refreshments service again and asking for your customary support to bake loads of cakes, to help in the kitchen and servery and act as cashiers on a rota basis for a couple of hours or as long as you would like to stay. Don’t forget this event is our major fundraiser from which we all benefit, so please sign up to make your contribution.

A BIG thank to all our members for coming to the meeting and special thanks go to Issy for the great quizzes, the committee for all their organisation and work, to new members Clare and Jenny for helping is to set up, to Sue Gr and all those who helped to clear up and wash up afterwards. Teamwork truly is dreamwork!