To commemorate Brockenhurst WI’s 108th Birthday and the 110th Birthday of the National Federation of WI’s, Brockenhurst WI applied to the Woodland Trust for some hedge plants, and we have been working with Friends of Brockenhurst Station to come up with a project to help encourage wildlife at Brockenhurst Railway station.
The hedge saplings have arrived, so we are getting a working party together to get the saplings planted to give them the best chance of thriving. If you can spare some time this Saturday morning (7th March) to help with some planting, it would be very much appreciated. Please email me for more details. Or if planting isn’t for you, if you can make a cake for the volunteers, that would also be very much appreciated, so we can offer them refreshments. Thank you.
Monday March 9th sees our Monthly Meeting. The speaker is Chantal Dempsy and she will be talking about ’Empowering women to access and unleash their inner confidence’. This is especially apt as 8th March is International Women’s Day. The ‘Competition of the Month’ is a ‘a cheese scone/a recipe for a cheese scone’. There will be a raffle, so please bring some money to support these.
Forthcoming events
On Wednesday mornings from 10 am until 12 noon Rita and her team make bandages for Ukraine and any help would be very gratefully received with this, either at Rota’s house or in your own home. Rita is in need of extra people to cut or rip up the sheets people willing to sew.
The Darts Team meet on Thursday mornings at 11am in the Foresters Arms and new team members are always welcome.
Friday 6th March 2026 Craft Group Meeting. Please contact us for more details and location.
As part of the ‘Bystanders Can Be Lifesavers’ campaign, the WI are hosting a webinar titled: ‘Put your heart first: Everyday habits for lifelong heart health’, taking place on Wednesday 11 March, 13:00-14:00pm. This webinar will focus on ways to nurture your most important muscle, your heart. Learn simple, evidence-based lifestyle habits that can strengthen your cardiovascular health and promote you long-term wellbeing.
You will need to sign up for VIA (The WI educational platform) and then the course if free to WI members. If you can’t attend the webinar live, a recording will be available to watch shortly afterwards. Click here.
The Group Show is getting close! Judging takes place of Friday 20th March. Entries need to arrive at the hall between 08.45 and 09.15 on Friday 20th Or they can be delivered to Evelyn on Thursday 19th March, or entries can be brought to our meeting on Monday 9th March.
Viewing is on Saturday 21st March -from 10am-3.30 at St. Mary Magdalene Church Hall. Brockenhurst WI have a record number of entries, so please do come and look at all our hard work. Admission is £1. The prizegiving will take place at 3pm. Good luck everyone.
‘Brush Up Brockenhurst’ is also on Saturday 21st March from 0900-1200
We are very fortunate that on Tuesday 24th March 2026 the Hampshire Federation of Women’s Institutes’ Spring Council Meeting at is local to us at Central Hall, Southampton. There are some great speakers lined up. Get your tickets here.
Wednesday 25th March- Karen is organising a Skittles evening with Fish and Chips supper at The Huntsman at 7pm. The cost is £14.50 There will be a sign up sheet at Monday’s meeting, or email us to sign up.
Christine has arranged a Lunch Club on 30th March for 12.30. The venue is to be confirmed. There will be a sign up sheet at Monday’s meeting, or email us to sign up.
Group Social– Barton Bees are hosting a Bookfest on the afternoon of Friday 17th April, at St.Mary Magdalene Church Hall. Tickets cost £10 (Bank Transfer if possible, please)
Local authors will give talks. There will be tea, coffee, and a raffle ticket cake ticket included in price. Please take a preloved book which is a favourite of yours to donate. Put a card inside it saying why it’s your favourite. Then gift wrap it. At the end of the event, you will get to select a book to take home with you. There will be a sign-up sheet at Monday’s meeting or email us to sign up.
Needlework Fiesta 25th and 26th April
This a great event for fabric and all things needlework related. Brockenhurst WI serve refreshments at this event and this helps to fund our WI throughout the year. We very much welcome members making cakes and helping to serve refreshments over the weekend if they are able to.Please sign up to help, by either making a cake or helping over the weekend. Thank you.
The Group Quiz takes place on 10th June at St Savior’s Church all at 6.30pm and we are looking for team members. There will be a sign up sheet at Monday’s meeting, or email us to sign up.
The theme of this tears Hampshire WI Calendar photo competition is “Water, water, everywhere …”. I’m sure with the recent flooding and the fact that we have rivers, water and ponds in an around the village, that many of you will have taken some great photos. So why no enter them! An application for can be found hereThe closing date is Friday 19 June 2026
Brockenhurst Defibrillator Network. We are delighted that our campaign of ‘Bystanders Can Be Lifesavers’ has prompted a village-wide campaign to get more defibrillators in the village. BCAG (Brockenhurst Community Action Group) in conjunction with Brockenhurst Village Trust and others will be aiming to install further defibrillators across the village and provide vital training for using the AEDs (automated external defibrillators).
Every minute of delay in using an AED for someone in cardiac arrest decreases their chance of survival. If you would like to learn more about the project and receive training on resuscitation and defibrillators, please email me for a link to join the Your Brockenhurst Defibrillator Network group.
Finally, you may notice that on the Hampshire WI News magazine (when you pick it up on Monday), it says “The WI is what you make it” and this is very true of our WI. We would very much welcome help and contributions to the running of our WI
Would you like to get involved more involved ?
Running a Book club?
Or run a group such as knitting, crochet etc?
Litter picking?
Do you care about Climate Change? Did you know the WI has climate ambassadors?
Or would you like to be on the committee? Or be secretary? As I previously mentioned in my last newsletter, Evelyn is retiring from being secretary and from being on the committee after several years of hard work, so we are looking for members to be on the committee and also for a new Secretary. If you’d like to find out more, please do email us and we can arrange a time to have a chat about it.
We look forward to seeing you soon.
Brockenhurst Women's Institute 