At our May meeting we had our Annual General Meeting. After a welcome from our President, we sang Jerusalem.

We had one visitor and forty members attending. Four of our members are celebrating birthdays this month.

Our speakers had to pull out at the last minute, but thankfully our member Janice stood in at the eleventh hour and gave a fantastic talk about her experiences of volunteering at Knysna Elephant Park in South Africa, which is a home for orphaned, abandoned and rescued elephants.

Janice told us that she loves all animals, but especially has a soft spot for elephants. In 2013 her husband booked this trip for her for their 30th Wedding Anniversary – but just for Janice! We learnt about the set up of the park, the elephants that live there and the research and jobs that Janice carried out over her two week trip. This included shovelling copious amounts of dung and taking it by wheelbarrow to the most enormous dung heap!

Janice’s talk was delivered with humour and passion. We were all enthralled and thoroughly enjoyed the talk. Thank you Janice for standing in at the last moment and giving us such an excellent talk.

As the business part of the meeting got started, Liz invited members to stand up and give their thoughts for and against the singing of Jerusalem. The different viewpoints were interesting to hear.

For the AGM, reports were read out by the President, Secretary and Treasurer, highlighting what a successful year we’ve had. We voted in our new bylaws. We also voted as to whether to continue to sing Jerusalem and a very large majority of members voted to continue this tradition. Our new committee was elected, which now sees the welcome addition of Rose and Maureen. Julie was voted is as President. Thanks go to Sue and Chris who acted as tellers.

We had a display showing some of the events that Brockenhurst WI have run or been involved in during the past 12 months.

As usual, we were helped by a team of volunteers; Janice and Karen on reception, Maureen ran the raffle, Catharine and Sue provided the refreshments and Jayne who arranged the beautiful flowers for the top table. Grateful thanks go to all who help to make our meeting run smoothly.

Our ‘Competition of the Month’ was to display a single bloom in a vase. Members vote for their favourite by placing a silver coin next to their choice. This money is donated to ‘Associated Country Women of the World’, a WI charity supporting rural women and their organisations all over the world. We also had cards for sale (thanks to Issy who donated them) with money raised going to ACWW.

The winning flower belonged to Carole.

As usual, our upcoming events were highlighted, including lunch, walking and craft group activities and a forthcoming outing to Highclere Castle.  Plus, activities such as croquet and quizzing.

Our immediate focus is on our stall at the Railway Station 200 year celebrations on 1^st June where Brockenhurst WI are having a stall from 11am-2pm. Volunteers are required to help on the stall where we will feature the railways role in the Rural Pie Scheme that Brockenhurst WI were involved in during World War Two. Do come and have a look at this village-wide event.

We are planning our entries for the WI tent at the New Forest Show, where we showcase our skills in flower arranging, cooking and a variety of crafts. You can see the schedule here. If you would like a copy of additional notes that were taken at New Forest Show meetings, please contact us and we will email them to you.

We look forward to the coming year for Brockenhurst WI.

Our next meeting is on Monday 9th June 2025 where our speaker Emma Toomey will tell us about “Working as a mounted police officer in London”.

Our meetings are held at Brockenhurst Village Hall – arrival from 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Visitors are welcome.

Please contact us  for more information.