Around The WI

BENSON

MEMBERS met in February back in our usual venue of Benson parish hall.

We were very pleased to welcome our usual members plus three potential new members and our speaker, Faith Fitchett, who gave us a lovely demonstration on spring floral arrangements.

Faith made it look so simple yet so effective.

Her four completed arrangements were given out as raffle prizes.

Over refreshments, there was a chance for hints and tips to help us with our own floral projects.

There was the usual business and notices, including the results of our voting for the 2025 resolutions.

“Bystanders can be lifesavers” gained the most votes from our members and we understand that more than 32,000 members nationally voted for this too.

During March, our president and secretary will represent us at the Oxfordshire Federation’s annual meeting at Cassington.

On March 26 we will hold our own annual meeting. We will be renewing our memberships and voting in our committee for the next WI year (No 99), starting on April 1.

We will receive an update on the Association of Country Women Worldwide for which we currently collect spare coins at each meeting.

New members and visitors are always very welcome. For enquiries about Benson WI, call the secretary on (01491) 837885 or email bensonwi@oxfordshire.co.uk

Sue Brown

CAVERSHAM

AT our February meeting, we welcomed Keith Knee-Robinson, who spoke on the subject of “River Thames locks and messing about in boats”.

This proved to be a fascinating talk about how locks were gradually introduced to the river and, as time went on, were improved until they became push-
button operated.

Lock-keepers, with the help of much automation now, control the weirs.

They also keep the gardens around the locks neat and tidy and maintain the public convenience and waste disposal units for boaters as well as maintaining contact with lock- keepers up- and downstream to check the river levels.

We meet on the first Tuesday evening of each month (7.30pm). This enables members with daytime commitments to join us and those looking for a mid-week distraction to get out.

In March we will hold our annual meeting.

At the April 1 meeting we will have talk by Ailsa Claybourne on “The birds of Berkshire”. We are looking forward to learning about garden birds and places to visit locally to see different species.

If you would like to join us for an evening, feel free to reach out to us on Facebook or email cavershamwi@
berkshirewi.co.uk Visitors are welcome and and entry is free.

Meetings are held in central Caversham, in a fully accessible venue, for about two hours and include tea/coffee, biscuits, a small raffle and, of course, time to learn something new, meet with your neighbours and discuss local and national issues.

Claire Elliott

CHAZEY

DESPITE the chilly weather, our members enjoy getting together for monthly meetings, particularly when there is an interesting speaker.

At our February meeting, Jenny Morgan gave a fascinating anthology of “The wonderful world of the honey bee”.

With the aid of charts, she explained the composition of a hive and the functions of both the queen bee and the drones before taking us through their yearly cycle.

We also learned that the bee population is falling both across the UK and around the world.

Since the Second World War we have lost 97 per cent of our wildflower meadows in the UK as a result of intensive farming and urban development, exacerbated by the spread of pests such as the Asian hornet, parasitic mites and fungal diseases.

Climate change, we were told, has interfered with plant growth and when bees starve, so do insects, birds and the rest of the food chain.

It was a sobering reminder of how important it is to protect our bees.

On a lighter note, following some appetising refreshments, our president Margaret Keen took us through the forthcoming outings, dates for coffee and lunch with a brief mention of the book, art and knitting groups, all of which are popular with members.

If you have ever thought about going to a WI meeting, then please do come and visit us. We meet on the first Friday of every month at St Andrew’s Church hall, Caversham, RG4 7AW from 2.30pm to 4.30pm and always give visitors a warm welcome.

Jill Dibben

CLEEVE-BY-GORING

IN February all WI members try to “Show the Love” for our planet.

The speaker for the month was Julia Green, our member and climate ambassador, who talked about the impact of fast fashion.

We were shown how to mend and make do and to use clothes for longer and more sustainably.

Many of our members are of an age where this is second nature but it’s good to be reminded.

A fashion parade of members wearing second-hand buys, together with hearing their stories, proved an amusing interlude and many members wore green clothes and sported green hearts for the meeting.

Julia had suppled green heart cakes for the interval and we tried to form a heart shape for a photo of us all enjoying the discussion about this serious subject. Krys Knox, one of our talented crafters, made a post box topper to spread our message wider. It can be seen by the Chocolate Café in High Street, Goring.

We are preparing for our annual meeting in March and to assist at Goring’s litter pick. Never a dull moment.

Chris Cox

COCKPOLE GREEN

LAST month was a very busy one for our members.

On Wednesday, February 12, we had an excellent first aid workshop provided by Sue Stovell, of the Red Cross.

Most of us had participated in first aid courses before but we all agreed this was the best.

The workshop empowered us to feel more confident about how to get through a crisis and be able to help others who may need it.

The hall where we meet has a defibrillator, so it was really good to see one demonstrated should we ever need to use it.

On the morning of February 19 a group of members got together to make tote bags for the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

Currently, when a patient passes away, their possessions are returned to family members in a plastic bag. The hospital would like to use fabric tote bags made by volunteers instead.

At our meeting on February 19, we had a very interesting and informative talk by Dr Lindsay Browning on “How to sleep better and for longer”.

She is a sleep expert, author and neuroscientist with a doctorate in insomnia from Oxford University.

Lindsay’s talk began with why we need sleep and how it boosts the immune system and protects against a host of illnesses such as infections, heart disease and stroke, cancer, diabetes, stress and depression. She went on to talk about how much sleep we need and this differed by age.

We are all individuals but on average a baby of zero to three months needs 14 to 17 hours, a child aged six to 13 nine to 11 hours and an adult aged over 65 needs seven to eight hours.

We were encouraged to know that we all wake up during sleep so it’s not unusual.

There are three parts to sleep — light sleep, REM sleep and deep sleep, which are equally important.

Sleep goes in cycles and includes all three parts in multiple cycles throughout the night.

It’s important to have good sleep hygiene to prepare for sleep, just as you would do with a child.

Pay attention to:

• Your sleep environment — make your bedroom quiet, dark and cool.

• Your sleep schedule — go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, establishing a bedtime routine.

• Avoid sleep disrupters — large meals, alcohol and caffeine close to bedtime and turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed.

• Relax — practise relaxation techniques like meditation, reading or listening to soft music before bed. Schedule a time to worry before bed and do a “brain dump” by writing down concerns and to do lists and don’t wait until you are in bed.

If you can’t sleep, do something else, such as read.

Members also participated in other events, including a cookery demonstration at the Crooked Billet in Stoke Row, where they enjoyed both food and wine tasting, and also a flower arranging demonstration. Forthcoming events are as follows:

Wednesday, March 12 (am) — Visit to All Saints’ Church in Dunsden with its Wilfred Owen window followed by lunch at the Crown in Playhatch.

Friday, April 25 — Berkshire Federation’s spring council meeting.

Friday, May 1 — Dying to be beautiful.

Our next meeting will be our annual meeting on March 19.

Sheila Brockelbank

HARPSDEN-GREYS

SUZANNA Rose welcomed members to the February meeting and introduced Karen Wheeler, who had come to talk to us about the Henley and District Housing Trust.

She gave a most interesting talk, beginning by explaining how the trust came about.

It was as a result of a meeting held at the Chantry House in 1928 when the study circle discussed problems faced by the less well off in Henley and decided that a practical way of helping people would be to provide housing at an affordable rent.

The trust was set up in 1929 and by 1930, 10 houses had been built on land leased from Henley Borough Council.

Today the trust has 76 properties in Henley and Rotherfield Greys that are rented by people who live and work in Henley.

These are people who can’t afford rents in the private sector or who are not yet in a position to buy a property.

As none of the properties can be sold, those that become vacant are offered to families or single people in need who are part of the Henley community.

The trust has benefited in previous years by being given properties by generous benefactors but now is able to purchase suitable properties when they become available and renovate and modernise its existing ones.

Our WI continues to have a book club and a monthly lunch club.

We have arranged an outing to Winchester Cathedral where we shall have a guided tour.

We meet on the second Wednesday of each month at Harpsden village hall at 2.30pm and we welcome new members.

Gwen Wilding

HoT (HENLEY-ON-THAMES)

THE theme of our February meeting was cavaliers and gin.

We welcomed David Eggleton, who was dressed as a cavalier and came with an arsenal of weaponry.

It was a very interesting talk from which we learned about the origins of the cavalier’s uniform and the early history of Henley and its street names and heard some amusing anecdotes.

We shall be looking out for some of the landmarks and oddities in the Henley buildings. We were also shown how the weapons were loaded and fired.

As part of a national theatre group booking scheme, Anne Sandars accompanied our president to the Aldwych Theatre in London to see the emotionally charged Tina Turner, the Musical using two free show tickets.

We shall certainly be looking into using this service again in the future. You may have spotted on the golden post box in Hart Street that some of our crochet group have created a Beatles-themed postbox topper in memory of George Harrison’s birthday.

We were very touched that it had been spotted by Olivia Harrison and she had shared it on Instagram.

I’m always impressed by the inventiveness of our women and it’s wonderful to be recognised in this way.

Our next gathering will be our annual meeting on Friday, March 21.

Nicola Taylor

PEPPARD

OUR president Val welcomed everyone to our February meeting, including three visitors.

Our booked speaker had to postpone his visit but Ian Scott-Hunter came at short notice and gave us a fascinating insight into “Life as footman to Prince Philip”.

Ian and his wife and daughter, who has special needs, took up residence in a flat over some stables but it wasn’t long before they were moved to more suitable accommodation at Hampton Court.

Ian had to move with the royal family of course but was never away from home for more than six weeks.

He had to undergo a three-year training scheme, being instructed in each department — silver pantry, wine cellar, silver cleaning, precision table laying, serving and so on.

He even had to practise leaping up and down from the back of a carriage.

His livery changed according to the occasion and the most uncomfortable footwear were the pumps worn with velvet trousers and silk stockings.

When asked, he told the Queen how difficult the pumps were for walking, so they were exchanged for Clarks shoes with big buckles adorning them.

Ian explained how the Duke of Edinburgh’s clothes had to be set out.

The Duke hated aircraft going over Windsor Castle every three minutes, although he did dine out on a joke about the tourist who asked why the royal family had built the castle so near an airport runway.

The royals enjoyed picnicking in the hills of Scotland and, as the Queen enjoyed washing up, Mrs Thatcher sent her some Marigold gloves.

There were occasions when Ian took the 13 corgis for walks — without leads. He spent very anxious times counting his charges.

Ian told us how much the Queen Mother liked to dine outside and was very cross with him for setting up indoors when rain was forecast. Luckily, the heavens did open at lunchtime and the Queen Mother apologised.

The Queen felt the loss of the Royal Yacht Britannia very much as it had meant that just for a while she could enjoy not being in the public eye.

The royal flight and train were both very comfortable.

Ian’s favourite royal is Princess Alexandra and he spoke of the Alexandra House of Joy in Oxfordshire for adults with complex learning disabilities.

He worked for the palace for seven years. Following Ian’s fascinating talk, we were treated to an excellent tea. Our next meeting will be at Peppard War Memorial Hall at 2pm on Wednesday, March 12.

Jennifer Smith

REMENHAM

WE held our normal monthly meeting and annual meeting in February.

Everyone met in the hall for a delicious and warming lunch of homemade soup with bread, cheese and paté.

This, plus some additional tasty platters, all of which were provided by the committee, provided a good start to the main proceedings of the afternoon.

The agenda and minutes of the day included the presentation of several birthday floral sprays.

The results of the voting for the resolutions showed that “Let’s talk about incontinence” received most votes to go forward.

The chosen title for the next book club meeting was The Bookshop Ladies by Faith Hogan.

Frances showed the beautifully completed knee rug made from knitted squares which will be taken to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading with another hopefully following shortly.

The craft competition was won by Frances Plowman with her beautifully crocheted blanket.

Members were reminded about the next meeting on March 10, when the speaker will be Chris Owen with his guide dog Chester, and the coffee morning on March 17.

The annual meeting then followed.

The secretary gave a full report of the activities of the year, which showed how busy the group had been with music, craft and art activities in addition to a range of interesting speakers and topics.

The president thanked all those present for their support during the year and in particular the committee, acknowledging their hard work and commitment before and during the various events.

Although a smaller group, she noted the range of activities undertaken as well as supporting various charities over the last 12 months.

We are pleased to report that the present committee members were re-elected for another year, as was the president, Daphne Austen.

Cups were awarded during the meeting as follows:

Most helpful member: Madeline Baynes.

Craft Cup: Judy Palmer.

Photographic frame: Judy Palmer.

Art Cup: Daphne Austen.

Best bloom: Judy Palmer.

A vote of thanks to the committee was given by Madeline Baynes.

Daphne Austen

SHIPLAKE

OUR president Sue Lines opened the meeting by welcoming one new member and two visitors. Our preferred resolution was stop medication packaging going into landfill. A member advised us that this packaging can be recycled at Boots.

Two members attended the Beechwood Group to put forward ideas to the National Federation’s chief executive for the five-year strategy.

It was suggested that the resolutions should be changed to every two years.

Our meeting place, Shiplake Memorial Hall, will be celebrating 100 years on Sunday, July 20 with afternoon tea for invited guests. Our WI will provide cakes etc.

We were advised that Henley WI is putting together a display of poppies to acknowledge VE Day in May and have asked if any of our members could help to knit or crochet poppies or donate red wool. Some members have already offered.

In April we will be collecting tins or dried food for the food bank, which one of our members will deliver.

A proposal was put forward to provide friendship for lonely or new residents of Shiplake village. Sue reminded members of dates for the upcoming outings, the first of which is in March to see the musical The Devil Wears Prada.

The next Beechwood Group meeting is at Cleeve-by-Goring on Wednesday, March 26 when anyone attending has been asked to provide a limerick for the competition.

Our members were asked to bring their limerick to our March meeting.

Members were asked to support a pancake supper and beetle drive at Dunsden church on March 4.

Our speaker this month was John Paine who talked about “Tigers and maharajas”, accompanied by photos of his holiday in India.

Any fee that John receives for giving these talks he donates to the charity Crohn’s & Colitis UK.

Our next meeting will be at Shiplake Memorial Hall on March 19 at 2.30pm. Visitors are always welcome.

Judy Rolstone

SONNING COMMON

QUITE a long list of apologies was read out at the February meeting. We hope that everyone is feeling better and can join us this month.

Our president reminded us of some of the items that have been sent out in our monthly bulletin, which keeps those unable to attend informed.

Jane’s cards were making one of a few final airings as she is reluctantly giving up making them and needs to dispose of her stock.

We were asked what we wanted to do for the summer village day. Another cake stall would seem welcome as it was popular last year.

The next Beechwood Group meeting is on March 26 at Cleeve-by-Goring WI, when the speaker will talk on “Coaches and coach horns”.

We are asked to produce a suitable limerick and bring it to the next meeting and we will judge the best.

Unfortunately, the last competition to bring along an item relating to a significant woman proved too much of a challenge.

This was a shame as these competitions usually provide a little something extra to see and talk about.

Perhaps something easier next time when it will be a wildlife photograph.

There was a good selection of flowers for that competition, which included welcome snowdrops and hellebores. Spring is just around the corner after all.

Our talk was about Gertrude Bell, a wealthy English woman brought up in the early 1900s.

Once she had gained her degree in history at Oxford, she used her wealth to fund travelling overseas to what were inhospitable places at the time, such as Jordan.

She endured deserts and mountains, fought locals and translated books since she had mastered at least six languages, including Latin and Hebrew. She collected artefacts and antiquities she found on her archaeological studies and then opened a museum in one the countries she visited.

Her wealth continued to grow due to family inheritances but she never married and left no family when she died, so she has largely been forgotten.

Tea and biscuits followed with catch-up chats resounding in the hall.

Our members had once again given generously to a table full of goodies, food and toiletries, which will be delivered to the local food bank for distribution.

Gill gave a report expressing the gratitude of local organisations for receipt of their share of £1,700 raised by our monthly coffee mornings, which have now been going for many years.

We have helped a great many local groups, such as Fish, the youth club and Greenshoots.

Our next meeting is our annual meeting when a new president and committee will be elected (some existing members are standing again).

Our subs are due and should be brought to that meeting.

Penny Noble

STOKE ROW

AT the February meeting we celebrated our group’s birthday with wine and song.

After a glass of wine on arrival and the welcome address by our president, we were entertained by singer Amanda Shera who performed a wide range of popular folk songs.

There was plenty of audience participation and even those watching via Zoom joined in with the singing.

Business was kept short and then it was a slice of birthday cake for everyone and a chance to socialise.

Five of our members had their birthdays in February and they were presented with small bouquets of flowers.

It was a lively, fun evening for everyone.

Despite the miserable February weather, our walkers ventured from Cookley Green to St Botolph’s Church at Swyncombe where we admired the lovely carpets of snowdrops and aconites covering the churchyard.

We also looked round the beautiful old church before heading back to the warmth of MakersSpace in Nuffield for tea and delicious homemade cake.

Our annual meeting will be on March 18 and we have an exciting new programme all ready to start in April.

There will be regular meetings of our craft, book and drama groups, swimming and coffee and chat sessions via Zoom.

Why don’t you come along and try one of our meetings? You would be most welcome. You can email our secretary at stokerowwi@oxfordshire
wi.co.uk

Denise Stanworth

WHITCHURCH HILL

A WARM thank-you goes to our very own Jenny Plumb for her very interesting talk on sardine dishes and their history.

Her subject prompted an informal competition with members entering “Anything Victorian”.

This was in addition to the regular raffle and flower of the month competition, so a good number of members went home with a prize.

Looking ahead, we have a lunch at the Four Points in early March before we welcome in our new committee at our annual meeting on March 18.

This may be a more formal gathering but we will end the morning with a fun quiz to send us home in fine spirits.

We will be hosting the Art Café in Whitchurch on Saturday, March 15. It’s a good opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones.

April is the start of our new year, when we enjoy a lunch to celebrate our WI’s birthday.

From thereon in we enter into our programme of events for the coming year, with something for everyone hopefully.

If you fancy knowing more, please call Frances on 0118 984 2162.

Sally Bergmann

WOODCOTE

SALLY Lambert welcomed members and visitors to our 81st birthday meeting in February.

Celebrating their own birthdays were Shirley Bryant and Debbie Emmett. We hoped they enjoyed their special days.

Our speaker was Jen Grimstone-Jones, an award-winning cheesemonger from the Pangbourne Cheese Shop.

We tasted a lovely selection of cheeses, including Rutland red, goat’s cheese, Waterloo and Fourme d’Ambert — all absolutely delicious.

Jen told us about the history of cheese-making and how the ones we sampled were made.

In March we are playing skittles at the Hithercroft sports centre in Wallingford and in April we are planning a visit to Reading Museum. We had a lovely tea thanks to Kerry Jones and Wendy Muchamore.

The tables were decorated with lovely spring flowers, so thank you to Margaret Carter.

The bloom of the month winners with their beautiful purple hellebores were Shirley Bryant and Carole Shelley-Allen.

In March we will have our annual meeting followed by fun and games. Come and join us in the village hall on Wednesday, March 12 (2.30pm start).

Judy Williams