Julie welcomed the members, guests and our speaker Ken Fowler.

Our speaker this month was Ken Fowler who had previously talked to us in July 2024 about his “Race to Scotland -an adventure”!

This time, Ken’s talk was entitled “Going Dizzy in A Dinghy – 250 islands, one bath tub sized boat, lots of adventures”

Ken told us his story of an epic challenge to become the first dinghy sailor to sail round all 200 plus islands in England and Wales. Ken’s boat Yoda weighs as much as a labrador dog and is only twice the length of your bath tub at home. By attempting to sail round all these challenging islands he hoped to raise £50,000 for two charities, but with 250 islands to take on, fearsome tidal rips and the difficulty of overcoming bridges and roads its not a straight forward adventure. The story was told with lots of on board footage, maps and stunning photos and brought to life the history and story behind such intriguing places as Deadmans Island. Each island holds its own story both in terms of its history and of the challenges it presented to sail around it. The talk opened our eyes and minds to some amazing places in England and Wales and great wildlife that we have. 

Ken had sadly lost family members to cancer and wanted to raise money for Cancer Research and Oakhaven Hospice. We were delighted to hear that this challenge took Ken over his previous £50,000 goal to a staggering £83,000 and hopefully the bucket collection at the meeting added a bit more to the pot too. We all thoroughly enjoyed Ken’s talk and was delighted to hear that Ken sailed round 262 islands and in awe that it took him three and a half years, covering 1336 nautical miles! Ken, you are inspirational!

Julie read out notices. Evelyn talked about the Brockenhurst Group Show and encouraged members to take part.

Rose introduced the Resolutions for 2026 and we voted on them. Our votes will be sent to Hampshire WI and will be added to all the other votes.

There was the usual raffle run by Maureen 

The competition of the month was a Hellebore or a Snowdrop in a vase. Despite stiff competition this month it was won by Maureen. Donations from this competition go to ACWW.

We ended the evening by singing ‘Happy Birthday ‘to our Brenda who celebrated her 90th Birthdays and we enjoyed a piece of Birthday cake with our refreshments. Thank you Janette, Sue R and Ros for making the drinks, to Zena for decorating Brenda’s cake and to Suzanne K for making and bringing some banana cake.