March started with Brockenhurst WI, with the help of Friends of Brockenhurst Station and Greener Brockenhurst coming together as a community to plant hedge saplings in the wildlife area at Brockenhurst Railway Station.

Brockenhurst WI applied for 30 hedge saplings from The Woodland Trust To commemorate the two great milestones of 108 years since Brockenhurst WI was formed and 110 years of NFWI. You can read more about it here.

Our March meeting coincided with International Women’s Day. Our speaker was coach and hypnotherapist, Chantal Dempsey. her talk focussed on ways to empower and unleash our inner confidence.

Our member Mavis celebrated a big Birthday this month and Liz made a beautiful cake to commemorate this. The cake was enjoyed by all with a cuppa. You cn read more about our March meeting here.

Our various groups have continued to meet. Rita and team have continued to make bandages for Ukraine. The Dart team have continued to practice. The Craft, Quilting and Cross Stitch groups were all busy preparing their entries for the Group Show.

Saturday 21st March saw the 75th Brockenhurst Group Show. Of our 71 members, 41 out of heeded the call to enter and did us proud!

It total, there were 137 entries from Brockenhurst members and these entries equated to 426 fantastic points!

We are very proud to announce that:

We won the overall cup for the most points!

We won the cup for the highest percentage of entries!

Geraldine won the cup in the floral category for her Easter arrangement.

We won the cup for the highest points by an individual.

Kim won the cup for first prize for her beach bag.

Kim won the cup for first prize for her vegetable cake.

Janette won cup  for first prize for her cheese scones.

We also attained second place in the Produce Cooperative.

This is so very impressive and we are so proud of you all. You can read more about the Group Show here.

On 24th March, 6 members of Brockenhurst WI attended Hampshire WI’s Spring Council meeting at Central Hall in Southampton. As well as the business side of the meeting, we were enthralled by 3 great speakers. You can read more about it here.

Karen organised an evening of Skittles with a fish and chip supper. Four lively rounds of skittles and a 2nd place play off made for a great evening. You can read more about the evening here.

We ended the month with Lunch Club at the Forrester’s Arms. 16 members enjoyed such and a chat.

What a great month with such a variety of activities – something for everyone!