March started with Brockenhurst WI taking part in the Brockenhurst Village Pancake Race on Shrove Tuesday. We had a team in the ‘Walking Relay Race’. Our team consisted of Janice, Julie, Kim and Karen. We came third and were proud to be awarded our medals in this great village event.

8th March was International Women’s Day, which is rightly celebrated by the WI. You can read a report about it here.

Our speaker for our March monthly meeting was Bridget Eastman, who talked to us about ‘Becoming an Artist in later life’. You can read a report about the meeting here.

New Milton Sands organised a cookery demonstration and lunch at Bashley Village Hall, which was attended by seven members of Brockenhurst WI There was an informative presentation from Natasha Beatty about carbohydrate free eating.

Participants listened to an interesting talk by Natasha, a local chef, cookery school owner and consultant to GPs on healthy eating. It made to think when Natasha pointed out how much sugar is in so many foods we regularly consume, and which contributes to many of our common health issues. Natasha answered many questions from the audience about foods we thought, or had always been told, were good for us, only to find that the amount of sugar in them was huge!

We were then served a delicious two-course lunch cooked by Natasha, assisted by members of New Milton Sands W.I. This was enjoyed very much by us all.

Walk – We set off on a rather dull morning for our walk. We walked across Whitemoor and headed to Puttles Bridge. Despite the lack of sunshine, the birds were singing and this was especially noticeable when we walked though the woods. It stayed dry and we had a good chat as we walked.

Craft Group – Seven members of the craft group met at Carole’s.  We discussed whether we want to enter in the New Forest Show craft co-operative, and Committee Cup classes.  Carole had the display boards to give us some idea of the scale and various ideas were discussed as to  which crafts we could use.  Members are going to go home and think about what could be made.  Anne N and Ann H brought knitting books of wild animals which might be suitable.

Our afternoon craft was papier mache animals, which was an interesting technique.  Some members were more successful than others at getting them to stand up.  Perhaps more drying time and work will produce usable animals.  It is always good to try a new craft, which we all enjoyed.  Thank you to Carole for being host.

The Quilting Group have been continuing to make quilt blocks, under the tutelage of Kim.

Kim also ran a charity “Quilt in a Day” session with an excellent lunch. We enjoyed learning about the stages of quilt-making from Kim, helping each other and supporting charity too.

Britta has continued to run crochet sessions to teach us how to crochet.

Spring Council -The annual HCFWI Spring Council Meeting was held at Portsmouth Guildhall this year, after a hurried change of venue when the ceiling collapsed at Winchester Guildhall, the planed venue.

Evelyn, Kim, Jackie and Maureen represented Brockenhurst WI, and we met members from other WIs there, ladies we see at the Group meetings and events.  We went on the train and the 8.33 from Southampton Central should have been renamed WI Express as there were so many members on board!

Julie held a Virtual Watch Party for those unable to travel to Portsmouth.

The first part of the morning was taken up with the business side, voting on Resolutions, Trustees, appeals for Trustees, details of upcoming events and future strategies.  It was stressed that members’ ideas for events, activities and resolutions are always welcomed.

The first speaker was Dr Mark Aldridge who entertained us with details of the life of Miss Marple, and in parallel that of Agatha Christie, both as mysterious as the murders!

Nelly Ghaffar, who had taken part in the Great British Bake-off was interviewed by Jackie Carver,  This surprising lady inspired us and had us in tears with her life story.

After a break for lunch, we had a presentation from Esme Young from the Great British Sewing Bee with history of her career in fashion from the 70s and her Swanky Modes brand with its connections to the music and film industry.  Esme was on stage as she is on TV, blunt and funny.

Bursaries were next on the agenda, and we were thrilled that Kim’s application for a bursary was successful.  Kim worked hard to putting this together, and we look forward to hearing more soon.

Litter Pick – Evelyn and Julie took part in a Village Community Litter Pick. As the WI originally started the ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ campaign, it felt good to be representing the WI. But it is a shame that litter picks are necessary! We were joined by a poet and we look forward to seeing his work.

This month Lunch Club took place at at the Rising Sun, Bashey. Everyone enjoyed the food and we were looked after well by the staff.

Bandage making -Rita and team have continued to make bandages for Ukraine, which (unfortunately) is still very much needed.

Darts – The Darts team are continuing to practice for their upcoming friendly match. New members are welcome to join them at 11am at Foresters Arms, Brookley Road, Brockenhurst. Please contact us for more details.

We are now planning for April!