June started with the Railway 200 Celebrations at the Railway Station on Sunday 1st June, where we had a stall showcasing the role that Brockenhurst WI played in the Hampshire Rural Pie Scheme during WW2. We had a display and also gave out free fruit pies. We were also recruiting prospective new members and giving out our new flyer. Thanks go to all our members who made pies, donated plants and helped on the day.
Julie hosted a Watch Party for the NFWI Annual Meeting. ‘Bystanders can be lifesavers’ was voted in as our campaign for 2025-2026. Rose will be updating us all about this soon.
Monday June 9th 2025 Monthly Meeting -With speaker Emma Toomey who will be talking about her experiences “Working as a mounted police officer in London”. The location is at Brockenhurst Village Hall – arrival from 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Emma will be bringing books to sell, so don’t forget your purse!
Don’t forget that the new parking scheme is in operation at Brockenhurst Village Hall, so please come with your car registration to input into the tablet to enable you to get free parking. There will be help available in reception for this.
Competition of the Month is “An interesting piece of china”, so have a look on your shelves and cupboards and bring something along. Members vote for their favourite with a silver coin of any denomination and the winner is the photo with the most coins. Donations go to ACWW. At the meeting this month , we will have our usual raffle run by Maureen and April.
This will be the last meeting where we will be collecting toothpaste, toothbrushes etc as part of our Dental Health Matter campaign. Thank you for your support with this.
We have been approached by Honeypot charity, whom we have supported in the past. Honeypot provide respite breaks for young carers between the ages of 5-12 year old who care for parents (a huge undertaking at a young age). Each child is giving a memory bag to take hope and it that bag of “treasure”. So they have an appeal for items to fill the memory bags with small stocking filler items such as small lego items, Uno or card games, stationery, accessories for girls like hair accessories, bracelets etc, small games and puzzles. In essence, small items that would fit in your hand. So we will be collecting such items at our June and July meetings if you would like to donate to this worthy charity.
An order form for 2026 Diaries will be at the meeting if you’d like one ordering. They cost £8
Don’t forget The New Forest Show! Entries need to be in by 13th June, so please email us or sign up at Monday’s meeting. You can see the schedule here. Or contact us to sign up.
We still have 3 places on our Croquet evening on Wednesday 18th June at 5.30pm, so if you would like to join us or if you have a friend that would like to take part, please do get in touch.
This is the last chance for our members to sign up for our trip to Highclere Castle on Monday 18th August. The trip cost £30 for Brockenhurst WI members (£38 for non-members) and is inclusive of coach travel, entrance fees to the Castle, the Egyptian Exhibition and the magnificent Capability Brown designed grounds. Please note that tours of the Castle staterooms, bedrooms, cellars and staff quarters will be on a self-guided basis.
The Craft Group have sessions on Friday 6th, 13th and 27th. Do see Carole or any member of the Craft Group at the monthly meeting if you have any questions or would like to attend future sessions and Carole will put you on the distribution list. Or contact us.
The Darts team continue to practice on Thursday mornings at the Foresters Arms at 11am. New members always welcome. They are practising for the WI Tournament in September.
Bandage Making Bandage Making for Ukraine -Rita continues to lead a team in Bandage making for Ukraine on Wednesday mornings from 10am. Please contact us for the location. New helpers are always welcome.
Christine has organised a lunch at The Smugglers (88 High St, Milford on Sea, Lymington SO41 0QE) at 12.30 on Thursday 26th June. Please sign up at Monday’s meeting or contact us for more details.
Rose has organised a walk. The date will be on the Diary Dates page on the website soon.
On Friday 27th June, we have been asked to take our human fruit machine to Brockenhurst Primary and Preschool Summer Fair. We will also be recruiting at this event. The fair starts at 3pm and finishes at 7.30pm. We are looking for volunteers to help on our stall for lots of different roles – taking money, sharing your passion about the WI and being part of the human fruit machine. Please contact us to volunteer or sign up sheet at Monday’s meeting.
Advance notice, please start saving items of denim clothing (jeans, jackets etc) for future projects. More information will follow!
Other Activities for June:
Walking in Partnership Beat Surgery is at 9am this Saturday 7th June at the BLACKWATER CAR PARK, SO42 7QB Forestry England host guided walks throughout the Forest and this is the fifth time we have joined them for these events that are aimed at encouraging solo walkers and those people who don’t feel comfortable walking alone. At this a Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary PCSO will be on hand to ask us questions and raise any concerns you might have about Policing in your area.
To end:
Brockenhurst Women's Institute 