January 2024
Our January meeting was a huge success and a brilliant way to kick start 2024. We were very lucky to have Yiannis along to share his stories and passion for Greek Dancing with us. Our members never let us down and were all very happy to take part in this energetic activity and, oh yes, we do have the photographs to prove it! It was lovely to see so many of our group there and with all the fun and laughter it really set the tone for the new year ahead.
Our thanks to Yiannis and our members for making this such a memorable meeting.
Our February meeting will take place in the Community Centre on Monday 12th February at 2.00 pm and Grace Lovelass will be telling us all about her confessions of an Off Duty Opera Singer. Do come along and join us if you can. We will also be at the school supporting the COMPACT Panto, Snoozy Floozy, on 16th and 17th February by providing refreshments – oh
yes we will! T ickets for the Panto are available from our village shop.
March’s meeting will be on 11th March and is a talk by Jackie Winter on exploring the lanes of West Dorset. With the weather hopefully warming up by then, this should give us all inspiration to get out and about to enjoy our beautiful county.
Walking Netball is held at SturFit and on 14th February the Dorset Netball Development Officer – Sarah Clark – will be coming to run a special training session on umpiring. Our Kurling Team has been entered for this year’s round of competitions, Skittles are waiting for their match against Wool and our Craft Group is looking ahead to Hey Day (yes, already)!
Do get in touch if you’d like to come along and join in.
Trysh Williams
December 2023
Well, what a fabulous Christmas Party that was! It was agreat start to the Festive Season for us all. Our meetingin December took place in the Community Centrewhere we had a wonderful lunch provided by all our
members and an afternoon of fun and games with quizzes
and a version of Kim’s Game that kept us all on our toes. Thank you to everyone who came along and gotinvolved and especially to those who organised everything from decorating the hall to drawing up vast lists of
food and making it happen.
It’s been a busy few months and our congratulations go to our Skittles team who made it to the semi-finals justbefore Christmas – good luck – Go Girls! Congratulations also to our super-talented members – our Creative
Support Group held an Art Exhibition in the Exchange in Sturminster Newton from late November andclosed on 6th January. We hope you managed to find a time to pop along to see some of the inspirational
work on show and if you’re interested in joining the group, do get in touch. A staggering £334 was raised byour Craft Group at the village coffee morning which will go to support local people through the work of the Vale Pantry. Our first meeting of 2024 is Greek Dancing with Yiannis at 2.00 pm on Monday 8th January 2024 in the Community Centre and it may well have already taken place when you read this. So, looking ahead, February’s meeting will take place on 12th February 2024 at the usual time of 2.00 pm in the Community Centre. It is “Confessions of an Off Duty Opera Singer” presented by Grace Lovelass all about glitz, glamour and blowing rasberries! Put the date in your diary and join us for that if you can.
A Very Happy New Year to you all and see you soon.
Trysh Williams
The WI Art Group – everyone welcome.
Check out what is happening using your favourite media:
November 2023
In November we welcomed Alison Purseglove as our speaker. She came to share some hair-raising stories about her adventures on the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. She decided to go in search of adventure at the age of sixty three and came back as a highly experienced, round the world sailor – and there are not too many of those. She shared stories of living at a (mostly) 35 degree angle and spending weeks at a time being wet and cold or, alternatively, wet and extremely hot! She was hugely inspirational to us all. We thoroughly enjoyed her presentation and for some of us, me included, it confirmed that such an adventure was not for us! Thank you to everyone who came along – our Community Centre was full to the rafters.
This month also saw a group of us from the Child Okeford WI join with three other local groups, known collectively as The Beacon Group, in Tarrant Gunville. We had a fabulous afternoon with a quiz and lovely afternoon tea. Sadly, this was to be the very last meeting of this Beacon Group which began in 1955.There will always be opportunities to get together with other WI Groups and we look forward to meeting up again soon.
It’s Party Time! Our next meeting (in the Community Centre) will start at 12.30 pm on Monday 11th December 2023. The day will be full of fun and frolics and will include a Pantomime performed and directed by our very own WI members. Members will bring dishes to share and drinks will provided by the Committee. We ask you to bring along a plate, dessert bowl (or plate) and cutlery. We will provide everything else and we very much look forward to seeing you there.
A quick look ahead to the New Year and our January meeting taking place on 8th January 2024 will be an energetic afternoon of Greek Dancing to get us moving after the excesses of the season. Do please put the date in your diary and we’ll see you there.
All our groups are thriving and I am delighted to report that both our Skittles Group and Walking Netball Group deserve a huge round of applause. As I write, Skittles Group have played four matches and won three! I mentioned last month that our Walking Netball Group was hosting a tournament at Sturfit – we came second and raised a brilliant £100 in the raffle for The Vale Pantry. Well done to everyone involved – players and supporters alike. If Crafting is more your thing, do get in touch with our Secretary (email below) who will tell you when and where it takes place.
We would like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and to thank you all for making our WI Group such a lively, warm and welcoming place to be.
Trysh Williams
October 2023
The Community Centre was buzzing when I arrived to listen to our speaker this month. Professor Karen Hunt came to talk to us about Women’s Suffrage in Dorset. It was a fascinating account of some very strong women who fought very hard to enable us to vote. We learnt that, although no one specifically from Child Okeford was mentioned in the archives, it was happening all around us in the larger towns. How brave these women were and how lucky we are now to have the choice.
We were invited to the official opening of Nourish in Blandford in early October and three of us went along to find out more about their amazing commitment to the community. It has evolved alongside the Food Bank and offers advice and support as well as food. We heard about the way in which it has transformed lives and is much needed. We will be looking at ways in which we may be able to support them in the future.
We are a very active group and enjoy a little friendly competition! Our Walking Netball Group hosted a festival at Stur Fit on Sunday 15th October and our Skittles Group had their first match on 17th October against Shillingstone. As I write, these have not yet taken place so updates to follow.
As you can see, there is a lot going on and as we get closer to Christmas our projects take on a festive flavour. There is a Beacon Group Carol Service on 15th December at 2.30pm in Iwerne Minster and others in Wimborne (1st December) and Sherborne (4th December) organised by the Dorset Federation WI, to which you are all very welcome. Our Craft group has been creating lots of Christmassy things for the Vale Pantry and is also getting ready for our sale table in the Village Hall on 2nd December – do come along and support us if you can.
Our next meeting will be on Monday 13th November 2023 at 2.00 pm in the Community Centre. Our topic is “Around the World” and Alison Purseglove will be talking about her adventures on The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. We look forward to seeing you there.
September 2023
After a disappointing summer where we were unable to meet outside for our usual August get together and chat on the Rec, we made the very best of the last days of sunshine with our inspirational speaker, Gina, at our meeting on Monday 11th September. She came along to introduce us all to the calming influence of Qi Gong and Tai Chi. We went outside and worked through a short form of very gentle and flowing movements, enjoying the warm sun on our backs. There was a lot of interest in the practice and later Gina shared some amusing stories about the development of Tai Chi and also told us of some of the health benefits. These include the possibility that it could lower blood pressure and ease joints. It is also excellent good for improving your balance and sense of wellbeing. It was a very relaxing
afternoon full of laughter and catching up.
You may have seen us at the Newcomers Event in the Village Hall on 9th September. Thank you to those who came along to chat with us and to those who looked after the stall and provided refreshments. As you know, we are all about Community and there are more plans to get involved including in the Christmas Coffee Morning on 2nd December – watch this space. Our regular groups are now up and running again these include skittles, walking netball and our craft group – you don’t need to be able to knit or sew to come along as there are many other things to be done! If you’re interested in joining in or simply finding out more about what we do, please get in touch with our Secretary who can give you all the details.
Our next meeting is in the Community Centre on 9th October at 2.00 pm where we will hear about Women’s Suffrage in Dorset from Professor Karen Hunt. Do put the date in your diary and join us. We look forward to seeing you there.
Trysh Williams
August 2023
A warm welcome to our regular WI update. This month’s report is slightly different to the others throughout the year as this time we take a look forward
through our interesting and varied programme of events.
September’s meeting on 11th September is all about Tai Chi and the benefits and joys associated with this ancient Chinese martial art. It is a particularly popular form of slow exercise and moving meditation. I have been lucky enough to enjoy this form of exercise in many a park in China, when I lived there and very much look forward learning more about this gentle art.
Our October meeting will be held on 9th October and is a talk by Karen Hunt who will explore Women’s Suffrage in Dorset taking us through some of their forgotten stories. This also promises to be a fascinating afternoon, learning about those women who went before us.
In addition to our monthly meetings held in the Community Centre in the village, we have some very active sub groups for our members to take part in. Our WI Walking Netball starts again on Wednesday 13th September from 5pm to 6pm at Sturfit and our Craft Group will be up and running again following a summer break.
If you would like to come along to one of our meetings to find out more, you will be most welcome. We are a lively and friendly group, working to support the local community and each other. We generally meet on the second Monday of the month, bank holidays permitting. Do feel free to get in touch (details below) if you would like more information or just pop along. We hope to see you there.
Trysh Williams
July 2023
Welcome to our regular WI update. We have had a hectic month which included our fabulous Jarbola stall at Hey Day – thank you to every single one of you who were
instrumental in making that such a success. Our thanks too to the members of the WI who created and ran the stall for the afternoon. It was a challenge on such a windy day but we made it and it was a thoroughly enjoyable day. It was an absolute delight to see so many
happy faces when they received our jars of goodies.
Our meeting in July was a guided tour around the Mill at Sturminster Newton followed by a delicious tea. It was such a popular event that we were taken in two groups to see the workings and hear the story of this historic place. It’s been there for over a thousand years in some shape or other and has been producing flour, animal feed and early on, textiles. The research and the display created by the staff and students at Sturminster Newton High School and funded by Sturminster Newton Heritage Trust added even more to the story. We discovered that the fabric finished at the mill (known as Swanskin) was shipped via Poole to Newfoundland in Canada. There are still links with families from our area who travelled to Newfoundland over 200 years ago. The Mill is well worth visiting. Take a look at the website at sturminsternewton-museum.co.uk for more information.
Our meeting in August will be an informal and relaxed gathering on the recreation ground at the Community Centre on 14th August 2023 at 2.00 pm as long as the weather holds. Bring a chair and a drink and come for a chat, we look forward to seeing you there.
Trysh Williams
June 2023
All Aboard!
Our meeting this month was held on Monday 12th June at Shillingstone Station. We spent a fascinating afternoon learning about this community project right on our doorstep – well, just across the fields, anyway.
The station itself is 160 years old at the end of August and great celebrations are planned. We met volunteers Jack, Colin, Barry and Ann who told us about the hard work that had already gone into restoring the buildings and the ongoing restoration of the locomotives and the line itself. We visited the Signal Box and Project 62 (so called as it is all about the Class 62 locomotive which was brought here from Yugoslavia). Volunteers play a huge part in keeping this project going and there are so many opportunities to help out if you have some spare time, from the big engineering projects to helping to run the café and keeping the gardens looking beautiful. No previous experience is necessary as you can learn on the job! We rounded off the afternoon in the traditional way with a lovely slice of cake and a cup of tea. Our thanks go to everyone who made this afternoon such a success.
We are a busy group and are involved in supporting local charities. We have been particularly busy over the last few months making Worry Monsters for Julia’s House Children’s Hospice and they were handed over to their new home this month. Worry Monsters are soft toys with a pocket behind their mouth and are given to the children to encourage them to recognise and discuss their worries and fears. They can write or draw on a piece of paper and ‘feed’ it to their Worry Monster. Once the monster has eaten it, the worry can be discussed with an adult helping to make talking about difficult emotions and feelings a gentler process for everyone involved.
Now we are super busy preparing our stall for Hey Day on 1st July and we look forward to seeing you there. We’ll be doing a Jarbola and selling chutneys and jams so look out for us.
If you would like to see what we do at our monthly meetings, please do get in touch (email our Secretary, details below), you will be made very welcome.
April & May 2023
Pages-Hill-June2023 copy 6Rp
Report of April and May Meetings.
Our last two meetings have been on the third Monday of the month due to Bank Holidays.
In April we held our Annual Meetings which I am very pleased to report was very well attended. After the Business Sue Fulford helped us to make cards. A fun activity enjoyed by all.
At our May Meeting we were given an insight in to the workings of The Vale Pantry. The scale of support that the team there are providing is absolutely amazing and indeed quite concerning, we wish them well.
We have now published our 23/24 programme, an astounding selection of activities. In June we shall be visiting Shillingstone Railway Station and in July we are planning a trip to Sturminster Mill.
Hopefully the weather will be sunny days for both of these occasions.
We shall have a stall at Hey Day on 1st July, do come and find us and join in the activities we have planned and also learn more about some of the groups our ladies take part in.
We are very happy to host visitors at any of our occasions, if you fancy joining us at the Railway Station on 12th June or The Mill on 10th July, or indeed further information about any of our meetings please contact Liz our Secretary.
March 2023
Report of March Meeting
Our March Meeting was very much enjoyed by all members, Martin the founder of Xtreme Falconry introduced us to some of his beautiful birds of prey.
He showed us a Tawny Owl, a Kestrel, an African Eagle and an American Bald Eagle. The birds were amazingly tame and as Martin talked, giving us a history of his career and delighting us with stories of the endangered species that he strives to breed, they sat patiently on his hand.
The Xtreme Falconry team is based at the bird sanctuary that Martin and his family own near West Stafford in Dorset. We would suggest that it would be a lovely outing for families in the summer. The details can be found on line. I believe it would be well worth a visit and will definitely be taking my grandchildren there.
The date of our April Meeting will be 17th April, a week later than normal due to the Easter Holiday. The Annual Meeting will take place on that day.
The May meeting will also be a week late, planned for 15th May our speaker for that meeting will be a member of the Vale Pantry Team. We will also be launching our 23/24 Programme on that day.
We warmly invite visitors to our meetings, if you would like further information about any aspects of our group do not hesitate to contact Liz our Secretary.
February 2023
The speaker for our February meeting was Malcolm Wells, MBE.
The Title of his talk “So far So Good” what does that mean? Malcolm spoke to us about himself, and his career and the title was very appropriate.
In this report, I could repeat some of Malcolm’s stories – but that would be unfair to others who are going to listen to him and to Malcolm as I could not convey his sense of humour, selflessness or spirit.
In a very informative entertaining and amusing talk, he told us how, as a young cello player with an ambition to make it his career, he was advised to join the Army as a musician and the story takes you on a very varied and full career and journey of State Banquets, Wembley, Bands, Paramedics, field hospitals, the Gulf War to name but a few.
On leaving the Army after 24 years’ service, he then spent several years working as a national speaker helping to raise funds for Canine Partners, explaining to audiences how dogs can be trained to operate washing machines!
His career as a fund-raiser has seen him even do a parachute jump for charity – not something he would choose to repeat! As he says: “Why would you choose to jump out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft?”
For the last few years, he has been fund-raising for the Literacy in a Box charity, a project to give children in 3rd World countries the basics of education. Each Literacy Box contains enough materials for 25 children providing the essential materials that the teachers and children need.
What runs through his talk is the importance of a team and team work, and his service to helping others and commitment to enhancing life for others.
See http://www.literacyboxtrust.org.uk.
A brilliant talk delivered by an excellent speaker.
In March, we hopefully will not be ruffling feathers, when we are joined by Extreme Falconry, Dorset
Falconry Park . The meeting is on 13 March.
In other news our walking netball group are getting match fit; the craft club are working their magic and we are planning future events.
January 2023
Our January Meeting was a joyful event, an Afternoon of Sea Shanties performed by The Wareham Whalers. We were joined by members of other WI’s in our Beacon Group, and the hall was very full.
An entertaining and informative hour when the origin of many of our every day words and phrases were linked to some of the songs.
We have a diverse and varied programme prepared for the next few months and I would like to thank the members who take on the task of finding such interesting speakers and activities for us. We meet on Monday afternoons at the Community Centre. The second Monday of the Month at 2pm. The next meeting in Monday 13th February.
If you have ever wondered what we get up to at our meetings please come along as a visitor. Liz our Secretary would be happy to talk to you, please contact her by email.
This month we shall also be practicing for the County Kurling Competition, some of the matches are played in Child Okeford at the village hall, another occasion when we will be meeting members of other local groups. Walking Netball is also played weekly, our group meet at Stur Fit on a Wednesday, late afternoon, further information available from Liz.
Looking forward to longer and warmer days.
Best Wishes Pam Morris (President)
We havea new facebook page – check it out:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088331842640
December 2022
Our ‘Christmas Celebration’ was well attended with over 90% attendance – despite the cold.
We enjoyed a tasty, sumptuous homemade buffet complemented by excellent wines, all kindly donated by our generous members. Throughout the afternoon, amidst much chat and laughter (keeping ourselves warm), we spent more than a few minutes playing Dingbats, Christmas Bingo, Handbag Surprise and the Panto was back.
It was a great end to a busy and successful year. Thanks to all who attended, contributed to making this such a memorable festive event.
November 2022
Our October meeting was a Christmas Craft session, led by members of our Craft Club: Jackie C, Rita, Tina and Liv. They took the group through the process of creating Tree Decorations of a Christmas Basket and a Robin; A Christmas Tree (from a book) and stars…a great session and lots of time for a natter and a cup of tea/coffee. Some of the decorations were taken home and others will be used to dress the table at our December Christmas lunch – talking of which….and check out our page for update on the walking netball
October 2022
Our speaker this month gave us an introduction to British Sign Language. We spent an amusing hour signing the alphabet, counting and learning some simple phrases. We went on to learn colours and to ‘sing a rainbow’ and finished with a very challenging rendition of ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’
We all felt it was a worthwhile exercise, made very enjoyable by the humour of our speaker.
The ladies of the craft group have finished making Christmas Stockings and now just have the enjoyable task of filling them with sweets and chocolate. They have also held extra sessions to make up a new set of cushions for the school from designs drawn by the pupils.
The walking netball team have been taking part in games with other local groups and at the end of November will be hosting a tournament to be held at Stur Fit.
Another busy month!
Our November meeting will be a home grown event when we shall be sharing ideas to make Christmas Decorations, this will take place at the Community Centre on Monday 14th November at 2pm.
Visitors are always welcome, if you would like further information about our lively, happy group please contact Liz our Secretary.
September 2022
The Queen and the WI
On Monday 12th September, the ladies of Child Okeford WI came together for their regular monthly meeting, albeit without our arranged speaker and due to circumstances, we held the meeting outside on a wonderful September afternoon. The committee felt sure, The Queen as a lifelong WI member, would be in agreement with our decision to carry on.
The Queen joined the WI in 1943 and would have celebrated 80 years of membership in January. She became president of the Sandringham and West Newton branch in 2003. Her mother Queen Elizabeth was also a member, as are Sophie, Countess of Wessex; Camilla, Queen consort; and Anne, Princess Royal.
In addition to our business (including tea and cake), Rita had arranged a quiz on the Royal Family. Some of the quiz questions specifically about the Queen that we answered and that caused discussion included the fact she was born in Bruton Street in Mayfair; first corgi was called Susan and Goodwill was the name of the Queens Horse that Princess Anne rode at the three-day equestrian event at the Montreal Olympics.
Ann Jones NFWI Chair has said that
“Her Majesty the Queen was the ultimate inspiring woman. Loyal, courageous, generous of spirit and a true leader of our times. She has been the monarch that has defined our living memories and shaped our experiences. Her life has touched each of us and of people all around the world. Outside of her Royal duties she was a long-serving and passionate WI member, absolutely epitomizing our values and ethos as an organisation. Hers was a life of service and we remain incredibly proud to have called her one of our own.
We have many fond memories which we will treasure and on behalf of our members across England, Wales and the islands we give our thanks for the life of Her Majesty the Queen and our condolences to her family at this sad time.”
Our next meeting will take place on the 10th October in the Community Centre. We will be joined by Wiltshire and Dorset Deaf Association Trustee and British Sign Language Tutor George Raggett to learn more, including some basic signing. On the 12th October at 2.00pm we are off to Fontwell Magna to listen to an uplifting talk by Alice May, ‘SURVIVING THE HOUSE THAT SAT DOWN’ a positive presentation based on the true story – Alice came home from work one day to find her house literally falling down before her eyes!
July 2022
Mighty oaks grow from little acorns and this may definitely be the case with The Big Yellow Bus Garden Project at Shillingstone.
In June, the ladies of Child Okeford WI journeyed to The Big Yellow Bus Garden Project (and accessed also via the trailway) arriving by foot, bike and car. We were hosted for the afternoon by the mastermind behind the whole project, Paul Williams. Over the last 3 years Paul has transformed, with the assistance of the local communities and volunteers (and continues to do so) a 4acre site. From the seed of an idea (and a 4 acre overgrown weed infested wilderness) he has created with both force and determination, a community health and wellbeing space for all, consisting of a Community Garden, Orchard with bee hives and a landscape garden for all to enjoy as and when they wish. You cannot help but be inspired by Paul and his vision, dedication and hard work. The site supports local communities including the food banks at Blandford and Shillingstone.
Check out the facebook page or website: https://www.bigyellowbus.co.uk/. We would recommend everyone to wander down and have a look and find out more
Hey Day was a wonderful success for the village with superb weather. The ladies of the WI did not disappoint they not only sold home produced produce of jam, chutneys and cakes but also held a Hunt the Corgi competition, as 11 of the Queens naughty corgis had escaped from the palace and children were invited to find them on the stalls at Hey Day – a big thanks to all Stall holders who helped us.
What is happening over the next few months? We will be meeting for a picnic on August 8th and our next meeting will take place on 12th September in the Community Centre. We will be joined by another wonderful inspirational person, Alison Purseglove, Carer, CEO of the Princes Royal Trust for Carers and adventurer who will be telling us all about The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, the world’s longest ocean adventure, regarded as one of the toughest endurance challenges on the planet. In August 2017, Alison embarked on the start of an adventure. Hear how she got on, in words and pictures
June 2022
Child Okeford WI were all up on their tippy toes, putting their best foot foward and they definitly had a spring in their step after the session with Gilly from @Walx, who took us through an excellent session introducing us to Nordic Walking plus giving us a great workout and promoting the physical, mental and social benefits of enjoyable but effective exercise.Thanks Gilly.
https://walx.co.uk/about-us/
May 2022
We began our New Programme with a fantastic talk about acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. The speaker demonstrated a few techniques on a willing volunteer and I am sure we all learned a great deal. The craft group have been busy making bunting, some of which is now displayed on the cross.
Walking Netball continues on Wednesday afternoons. Our skittles team are practising for the county matches and some members are finding out about bowls in their Friday afternoon sessions at Blandford Bowls Club.
Our next meeting will be on Monday 13th June and we shall be learning about Nordic walking.
We are always happy to welcome new members and would invite anyone interested in joining us attend a few of our meetings as a visitor. Please contact our Secretary Liz for further information.
April 2022
Report of April Meeting
I have just referred to last months report and find I had managed to write a whole page. This months summary will be much shorter. Spending the Easter week end working in the garden has made me miss the official deadline!
We held our Annual Meeting on Monday 11th April and it was agreed that all officers and Committee Members should stay for the coming year.
Our Programme for 2022/3 has been agreed and this will be available to all members at the May Meeting.
The business of the Annual Meeting was followed by a short talk about scrap booking given by Sue Fulford. A fascinating subject and Sue brought along examples of her work and also her own personal scrap book to share with us all.
The craft group has been busy knitting Easter Chicks which were filled with a chocolate egg. The chicks, over a hundred were donated to local food banks.
The Walking Netball Group held a Taster Session at their meeting on 6th April and they welcomed many visitors who will hopefully become part of the group.
Next months meeting will be held on 9th May and we will be learning about Acupressure. In June we will experience Nordic Walking and our July meeting will be a visit to the Big Yellow Bus Garden Project in Shillingstone, it has been suggested some of us may choose to walk to the location. We are planning to take time to enjoy the lovely area we are so privileged to live in.
Visitors will be very welcome to join in any of these events. We meet at the Community Centre at 2pm on the second Monday of each month. Please contact Liz our Secretary if you would like further information about our friendly and lively group. Pam
Pam Morris President.
March 2022
The ladies of the WI have had a busy month, the Craft Club has restarted, the meeting was held at the home of a member and it was decided that the first focus would be to knit Easter chicks which will be filled with chocolate eggs and donated to a local charity in time for Easter. We have plans also to knit corgis and maybe prepare bunting for the Jubilee celebrations over the next few months and will find ideas for learning new skills as time progresses.
We hosted and took part in a Dorset County Kurling Tournament. A lively afternoon was enjoyed by several local groups and as always the tea and cakes provided by the Child Okeford team were much appreciated.
The speaker at the monthly meeting was a member PAT (Pets at Therapy) Barbara described some of the settings that the dogs and their owners visit and the benefits the dogs provide to many of the people who are visited. In many cases it has been possible for the dogs to encourage lines of communication where other strategies had failed. Care homes, hospitals and schools are some of the venues that our speaker regularly visits.
The Walking Netball Team meet regularly at Stur Fit on Wednesday afternoons at 5pm.
On 6th April a Taster Session has been arranged and it is hoped many people will come along and find out more about this fun loving group. The invitation is extended to non WI members. There is information about this session elsewhere in the magazine.
Finally our next meeting will be held at the Community Centre on Monday 11th April at 2pm, it is our Annual Meeting. Membership fees are payable for the coming year in April so it would be the perfect time for New Members to join us. Details of activities planned for the coming year will also be discussed, together of course, with tea cakes and time to chat.
We look forward to welcoming new members to our next meeting. Visitors are encouraged at a fee of £3.50. If a topic in our programme interests you, please join us, you may decide to stay!! Please contact Liz our Secretary who will be happy to answer your questions.
Pam Morris. President
Liz Thomson Secretary ChildOkefordWI@dorsetWI.org Website http://www.childokefordwi.Wordpress.com
February 2022
Did the WI witness Alchemy at their February meeting?
Hilary Bowen, a fully qualified senior instructor in Art Clay Silver and a member of the Association of Contemporary Jewellery, started with a small ball of clay and a blow torch! 45 minutes later (excluding drying time and with the aid of one dried earlier) produced a 99.99% silver Ivy pendant. Wow, it was amazing that something so beautiful could come from a small piece of clay and that I or anyone could create something similar!
Hilary took us through every stage of the creation of a piece of silver jewellery, explaining much more of the science – the Alchemy, handling and manipulating the silver clay through to firing, burnishing and finishing techniques showing how personalised this jewellery is and can be.
In her demonstration Hilary rolled, shaped and textured, the clay using an ivy leaf from the garden, after drying, she fired (hence the blow torch!) sanded & polished it. The alchemy magic, according to Hilary, is that its real metal – 99.99% silver. The session was informative, and her demonstration style was conversational, very clear and not over whelming.
Silver Clay is pure silver which comes in the form of a clay-like material made of fine silver powder and water-soluble organic binders. As it’s fired, the binders vapourise, releasing very small amounts of non-toxic carbon dioxide and water vapour, leaving solid 999 silver.
Thank you Hilary. After Hilary’s presentation we had our formal meeting and it was lovely to welcome so many new members to the group and to have a chat and catch up.
Our next meeting will take place on 14th March in the Community Centre. We will be joined by Barbara and Daisy, a PAT (Pets as Therapy) dog.
Congratulations to Gaynor Waring, who has been appointed as Dorset’s WI Walking Netball Ambassador. In a report in this edition of the Hill she updates you all on Child Okeford WI latest activities.
Do you like crafting? Our Craft group are starting meeting in early March. Come along and join us. If you would you like to know more about our lively, creative and busy WI please contact:
Pam Morris, President
Liz Thomson, Secretary : ChildOkefordWI@dorsetWI.org
January 2022
HillFebruary2022-25Jan
I trust that everyone is well and establishing their New Year routines. The WI held its first meeting of 2022, we met at the Community Centre and made our WI resolution votes.
We then continued the afternoon demonstrating and playing indoor Kurling in readiness for taking part in the County Kurling Competition which will be held later in the Spring. It was a very convivial afternoon when members were able to chat whilst they were waiting their turn to play and it gave our new members a chance to get to know us. We are very pleased to welcome several new members and would be very happy to welcome more.
Child Okeford ladies have started the year in a competitive mood as the Netball Group is entering a tournament at Yeovil in February. We wish them well and hope they enjoy the experience.
The date of the next meeting is Monday 14th February – 2pm at the Community Centre we shall be having a demonstration of silver jewellery making techniques. Visitors are welcome, if you would like to know more about our group and it’s diverse range of activities please get in touch with Liz our Secretary. Further information can also be found on our web site.
Pam Morris (President of Child Okeford WI)
December 2021
We were extremely pleased to be able to meet together at the Community Centre for a Buffet Lunch and some Christmas Celebrations. Members provided the food, which as ever was a magnificent spread.
WewereveryawareofobservingSocialDistancingsoneededtodevisegamesandactivities withinthese constraints. Needless to say, as ever, everyone joined in with much enthusiasm.
I do believe the highlight of the afternoon was the ‘Pantomime’. There are no limits to the skills of this WI group, beautifully narrated, and with amazing costumes, the story unfolded and the audience were all greatly amused. This performance, together with coffee and home made truffles was a perfect conclusion to the afternoon’s activities.
Good company, simple pleasures was the theme for the afternoon and I would like to thank all of our members for trusting in each others judgement and meeting together to make the event such a happy one, and also mention the hard work of the Committee Members who set up the hall and oversaw the gathering.
As I write I fear, despite many of us being ‘triple jabbed’ life may be getting a bit complicated once again, we have our programme arranged in to the New Year and indeed are well advanced in the planning of our 22/23 activities, however I feel there may be questions to ask about how we proceed over the coming few winter months. We will of course have the safety and well being of our members and indeed the whole Child Okeford Community at the for front of our actions.
That being said we would like to wish everyone a safe, happy and healthy New Year and trust that common sense and the advancement of science will allow us to battle through these next few uncertain weeks. Thus being able, once again to share each other’s company and enjoy all that this beautiful part of the world has to offer. Details of our plans can be found on our web site and if you would like further information and would like to join one of our meetings please contact Liz our Secretary.
Pam Morris (President of Child Okeford WI)
November 2021
November is moving towards its close and by the time you read this report it will be December. We are looking forward to our December Meeting planned for Monday 13th, we shall meet at an earlier time and share a lunch followed by festive activities. The start time will be 12.30 for lunch at 1pm.
The November meeting also had a Christmas Theme Sue Brown, President of Child Okeford Flower Arranging Club gave us a very interesting afternoon sharing hints and tips for ways to produce Christmas Floral Decorations, she demonstrated some beautiful designs, talking her way through building an array of different designs. We are always amazed by her skills and this demonstration did not disappoint.
We then held a raffle with the flowers as prizes.
The afternoon concluded with the business meeting and, of course, tea and cake.
We are extremely pleased that since meeting back in the hall we have gained several new members and hope that they will enjoy becoming part of our friendly group.
Anyone considering joining us would be very welcome to attend a couple of meetings In order to discover how our meetings run, please contact Liz our Secretary for further information
The ladies from the walking netball group hosted a game with West Lulworth and Wool WI walking netball group and the afternoon was much enjoyed by all.
I would like to conclude by wishing you all a very Happy Christmas time and hope we shall all be able to meet with family and friends this year.
Best Wishes for the Festive season. Pam Morris (President)
October 2021
On Monday 11th, although autumn has returned, it was a lovely warm afternoon. The doors and windows were flung open at the Community Center and for those on the playing fields a lot of laughter could be heard coming from the center. In the room the laughter was infectious.
What were the ladies of the WI doing? We were learning some new dance moves in the form of line dancing – a great socially distanced session provided by Anette of the Moonlight Shufflers.
Annette took us through a few routines, for some of us, in addition to having to engage my brain, remember right from left, I was learning some new terminology – ball change, brush, drag, grapevine and in addition to legs arm movement was introduced – the time, needless to say, went quickly and I was a little breathless. Annette was patient, taking us through the moves and a complete sequence before we danced to music.
A great afternoon learning to line dance, with good physical and mental health benefits. Thanks to Annette from the Moonlight Shufflers. Definitely felt it in the legs on Tuesday.
Our walking netball group made the news again as they took part in the BBC Radio Solent (Dorset) Breakfast Show on Thursday 30th September with Steve Harris.
Gaynor Waring & Liz Thomson (trained WI Walking Netball Hosts) and Rita Walder (starting host training with England Netball ) spoke to Steve about the aims and benefits of the sport. Gaynor noted that the aim of the WI Walking Netball Programme is to empower WI members to engage, increase physical and mental activity and prevent social isolation. All the ladies noted that it helps to build women’s confidence, self esteem, physical and mental well being through netball. They all agreed it is also great fun, with lots of laughter as they ‘giggle and wiggle’ their way though sessions!
Yes the WI does a lot of laughing! We are always happy to welcome visitors or indeed prospective new members and if you would like to visit us please contact Liz our Secretary. Looking forward to seeing new faces at our next meeting and indeed catching up with all of our members.
September 2021
The ladies of the WI have had a busy month, we very much enjoyed taking part in Hey Day and were delighted that so many people visited our stall and made purchases. The pre-loved clothes were very popular as were the jams and chutneys. We were also offering wax wraps. We would like to thank everyone who bought items from the stall.
A few days later some members visited Cranborne House together with other local WI groups. A wander around the gardens and time for a cup of tea and a slice of cake and with friends old and new made a very pleasant afternoon.
Then on 13th September we met for the second time in the Community Centre. We were delighted to welcome Elaine from the Countryside Restoration Trust who delivered a very interesting talk about the work of the Trust and in particular their plans for Bere Marsh Farm.
Our walking netball group is meeting once more on Wednesday afternoons and the ladies are making news again as they have been invited to take part in the BBC Radio Solent (Dorset) Breakfast Show. This should happen on Thursday 30th September sometime between 7-8.30.
We truly hope that as the autumn returns everyone in the village and indeed the country will start to join in more activities and village groups and societies will once more become a regular event. To this end we have prepared our programme for the coming months. Details can be found on our website. On Monday 11th October we shall be taking part in line dancing and in November we shall have a floral demonstration. We are always happy to welcome visitors or indeed prospective new members and if you would like to visit us please contact Liz our Secretary. Looking forward to seeing new faces at our next meeting and indeed catching up with all of our members.
Pam Morris (President)
September 2021
Report of September Meeting
The ladies of the WI have had a busy month, we very much enjoyed taking part in Hey Day and were delighted that so many people visited our stall and made purchases. The pre-loved clothes were very popular as were the jams and chutneys.
We were also offering wax wraps. We would like to thank everyone who bought items from the stall.
A few days later some members visited Cranborne House together with other local WI groups. A wander around the gardens and time for a cup of tea and a slice of cake and with friends old and new made a very pleasant afternoon.
Then on 13th September we met for the second time in the Community Centre. We were delighted to welcome Elaine from the Countryside Restoration Trust who delivered a very interesting talk about the work of the Trust and in particular their plans for Bere Marsh Farm.
Our walking netball group is meeting once more on Wednesday afternoons and the ladies are making news again as they have been invited to take part in the BBC Radio Solent (Dorset) Breakfast Show. This should happen on Thursday 30th September sometime between 7-8.30.
We truly hope that as the autumn returns everyone in the village and indeed the country will start to join in more activities and village groups and societies will once more become a regular event. To this end we have prepared our programme for the coming months. Details can be found on our website. On Monday 11th October we shall be taking part in line dancing and in November we shall have a floral demonstration. We are always happy to welcome visitors or indeed prospective new members and if you would like to visit us please contact Liz our Secretary.
Looking forward to seeing new faces at our next meeting and indeed catching up with all of our members.
Pam Morris (President
July 2021
I hope you have all been enjoying the glorious sunshine. Not quite in time for our July Meeting.
July is our Birthday Month and we celebrated with a garden meeting where we enjoyed tea with some delicious cakes.
The weather was a challenge but it managed to stay dry long enough for us to meet together in the beautiful garden of one of our members
We are hoping to start using the Community Centre from September onwards and weather permitting we shall have another informal outside get together in August.
Walking Netball has restarted on Wednesdays in the hall at Sturfit. Information regarding this and any other information regarding our group can be found on our web site or by contacting Liz our Secretary.
I hope you are all looking forward to the start of the school holidays, with Grandmother Duties and Family Holidays on the Calendar I wish you all peaceful and happy month of August, and hope that you will come and say hello and browse on our stall at Hey Day.
Pam Morris (President)
June 2021
We were very fortunate to be able to meet face to face for our June meeting. We met at the playing field, each bringing a chair and a drink. We are hoping we shall be able to organise a similar event in July although the
delay to the Government’s planned Covid actions have made it difficult to be sure of our options at this moment.
We are planning another outside event in August and imagine that by September the Community Centre will be available, our programme for the following year has a great deal of room for flexibility so we shall take one month at a time and optimistically keep everyone updated with our plans.
Back to the June meeting, we offered a Treasure Hunt/Quiz around the village for those who took the challenge, a great deal of debate took place as we discussed the answers upon our return. Lynne, Sammy and Jackie were eventually declared the winners – first back and having found all three required items and most correct answers to the quiz.
Some members chose to stay at the playing field and natter. It felt really good for all of us to meet up after so long.
The Walking Netball Group have also met for Cake and Prosecco to celebrate our second anniversary. We had plans for the first anniversary but that had to be abandoned so it was good to be able to get together this year. We are starting to play at Stur Fit on a Wednesday Evenings, starting on Wednesday 23rd June. There are lots of new protocols to follow, we are all interested to know how the ‘keep four feet apart’ rule will work and how stopping to sanitise the ball every fifteen minutes will effect our play.
We are looking forward to our future monthly meetings and if you would like to join us or visit to check us out you would be very welcome. Please contact Liz our Secretary for further information, or have a look at our web site.
We look forward to welcoming new members and making new friendships.
May Report 2021
As we move along the path to ‘new normal’ I reflect on the unusual year we have all experienced.
We are hoping WI members will be meeting face to face soon and are looking forward to that time. We also hope other clubs within the community will start to meet again.
Meanwhile I will report on our May Zoom Meeting. We were treated to a talk on the history of Poole Pottery by Howard Nichols. Howard’s illustrated presentation gave us a great deal of information about the early years of the pottery and then introduced us to some of the artists who decorated the pottery in later years.
Several members showed pieces of pottery, many of which were treasured family heirlooms and Howard was able to give them details of the origin of many of these articles.
We are hoping our June meeting on Monday 14th June will be an outdoor meeting, we plan to meet at the Community Centre Field at 2pm. We will update members closer to the time, dependant on weather and other factors and if there is anyone who would like to join us please contact Liz our Secretary who will be pleased to answer any questions you may have.
MAY 2021
Optimistic! I think I can finally say I am hopeful that we shall be able to meet, face to face before the end of the summer.
We held our Annual Meeting via Zoom in April and were amazed to recall exactly how much we had been able to achieve during the past year. The business part of the meeting went well and the Committee were re-elected. We would like to invite new members to the Committee and hope that we will be able to achieve this once we are permitted to start face to face meetings.
We also shared a video of past meetings that Kim had collated for us, it was good to reminisce. Then Vanessa arranged a Quiz that revealed how little some of us new about food. We did of course have some high scorers as well and three people tied for first place.
Our next meeting will be via Zoom, we are going to watch to a presentation about Poole Pottery, in June we plan to meet for an outside gathering at the Community Centre and then for July we are hopeful we shall hold a meeting inside the Community Centre. Our full Programme for the coming year is available for you to see on our web site, members have already received details via email, and we shall be distributing paper copies to Members soon.
Some members of our Walking Netball Team have been meeting via Zoom and it is hoped we shall be able to restart our indoor sessions at Stur Fit towards the end of June.
I am cautiously hopeful that we are making progress towards face to face meetings and events and would welcome new members. If you would like details of our membership fees for the coming year or any further information please contact our Secretary Liz. You would also be welcome to join the next Zoom Meeting as a guest, again for further details contact Liz.
That about concludes my May report and we would like to wish you all a healthy and happy return to ‘normal’. Long may the sun shine.
Pam Morris (President Child Okeford WI
March 2021
21st March, Spring Equinox, for the next few months the days will get longer, and hopefully sunnier. The WI has now spent a whole year without an indoor meeting. Thankfully we have kept in touch with Monthly Zoom Meetings and Committee Meetings and have now reached the date for our Annual Meeting. This will be another landmark occasion as new WI legislation will allow us to hold the Annual Meeting Via Zoom.
We have prepared the programme for the coming year which we will be sharing with members soon. We are desperate to get back to face to face contact but have arranged many speakers and activities that give us options with regard to the way they deliver our meetings.
As we start our new Membership Year we would be very happy to welcome new members. Please contact our Secretary Liz who would be very pleased to send you details of Membership Fees for the coming year and would also send you a copy of our new Programme when it is published.
We had great fun at our March meeting, Jo attempted to teach us to play the spoons. She was a very talented musician and showed great patience encouraging us to try different notes and rhythms. The fact that no one could see what others were doing encouraged many of us to join in and we finished the session with two verses of ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor?’ Both playing and singing!
I do believe everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience, it was good to ‘do’ something rather than just listen to a speaker. I think it is the practical sessions that we have all missed so much over the following year.
As I have previously mentioned we will be holding our Annual Meeting on 12th April, besides the ‘business’ side of the meeting we shall have an activity with a chance for members to relax and enjoy each other’s company.
I shall end my report by wishing everyone a Happy Easter time and trust that you may all be able to catch up with family members if the Government Covid Restrictions allow.
Pam Morris (President)
If you would like to know more about our WI and our plans for the future please contact me. presidentchokwi@gmail.com
Liz our Secretary childokefordwi@dorsetwi.org
FEBRUARY 2021
It is a cold and blustery morning as I sit down to write this report. However the daffodils are beginning to bloom and there are other signs of Spring in the garden and around the village.
With this in mind our Zoom Meeting speaker this month was Ben Atkinson from the Dorset Wild Life Trust. He is the warden for North Dorset so he was able to give us a very interesting insight in to the Nature Reserves within a short distance of Child Okeford. He spent time showing us the individual locations and some very useful information about the wildlife and fauna that could be found in each of them.
Ben has definitely inspired many of us to get out and explore once the weather improves.
We were joined at our Zoom Meeting by members of other local WI’s and we shall continue to extend the invitation whilst we are using this method of communication.
March 8th Meeting will hopefully give us yet another interesting and hopefully amusing experience. Jo May will be joining us to demonstrate the skill of making music with spoons. We each need to have a set of spoons to hand in order that we may try the skill for ourselves. Should you be interested in joining this event you would be very welcome, you just need to contact our Secretary Liz who will be pleased to give you further information.
Some members have also continued to join in weekly Zoom Walking Netball sessions organised by England Netball. These is a free sessions for all WI members, just contact one of us for further information.
Talking of membership, we are coming to the end of an extended WI year and memberships need to be renewed on 1st April, this would be the perfect time for ladies to join our Group. If this suggestion appeals to you please contact myself or Liz T for details of subscription charges for the coming year.
We are in the final stages of producing our Programme for the coming year, taking in to account the continuing uncertainty of the rules with regard to face to face meetings we have built a great deal of flexibility in to our plans.
I do hope you are all well and are receiving your Covid vaccinations at the correct time. I think we are all waiting for the moment we can move forward in a safer world. If you would like more information about Child Okeford WI, how we have survived Covid and our future plans please contact one of us as follows :Pam (Pam Morris President Child Okeford WI) Liz Thompson Secretary. childokefordwi@dorsetwi.org
March Speaker Booked
In March, we will be joined by Jo May,
| In March Jo May will be joining us. Jo trained as an orchestral percussionist at the Royal College of Music, and began her career working with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and English National Ballet, performing at venues around the UK including the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. A trip to Sidmouth Folk Festival sparked an enthusiasm for traditional music and led to Jo’s involvement in various folk lineups, as well as study trips to Senegal (exploring drumming and balafon playing) and her participation in many Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban courses run by One Voice Music. http://www.jomaypercussion.co.uk/ |
January 2021 Meeting
We are now settling in to a New Year and I cannot wait for the days to get longer and warmer and the ground to get drier. Not to mention receiving the Covid Vaccine and hopefully bringing better health and social prospects to everyone.
Meanwhile we continue with our WI Zoom Programme. We have speakers booked for the next couple of months and this gives members something to look forward to on the second Monday of each month.
Our January Speaker was Allan Peters, a retired Royal Protection Officer, who gave us an insight in to the history of his career and talked of some of the protection duties he performed in order to keep high profile members of the Royal Family Safe.
Our speaker in February will be a warden from the Dorset Wildlife Trust. He will be talking about the many beautiful nature reserves close by to Child Okeford and telling us about some of the variety of wildlife to be found. We hope his talk will encourage us to plan outings locally which will give us the inspiration to meet up and explore as soon as government regulations allow. If anyone would like to join our Zoom Meeting on 8th February they would be very welcome, please contact Liz our Secretary for further information.
Gaynor, our Walking Netball organiser has been joining in Zoom netball skills sessions organised by England Netball throughout the Covid time and has recently reminded as that this option is available to all WI Walking Netball Members and some of us joined in a session last week. The experience was very much enjoyed and members are intending to make this a regular session.
We are beginning to plan our programme for the coming year and are desperate to be able to meet face to face but the meetings will be arranged with both face to face and Zoom options.
Looking forward to more social times. Meanwhile I send our best wishes to all and remind you that if you would like to know more about our lively, friendly WI you would be very welcome to make one of the following contacts.
Pam
December 2020
UPDATES FOR JANUARY 202 & REPORT OF DECEMBER MEETING
Hi Everyone
May I take this opportunity, on behalf of all Child Okeford WI Members, to wish you and your families a very Happy and Healthy New Year and share the hope that the scientists and medical teams will be able to guide us to a safer environment before too long.
The WI Christmas Zoom celebration, 14th December, seems such a long time ago. When planning the programme we had hoped that ‘by Christmas Covid would have been under control and we could have had our usual celebration’ but as a back up plan we would book a speaker that we hoped would be entertaining – so glad we did! We started the meeting with a very talented speaker, Sarah Slater, whose topic was “Sex secret, scandals and salacious gossip of the Royal Court” Sarah is a guide at Hampton Court Palace. She gave us a very interesting talk and I imagine her guided tour of the Palace would be equally amusing and informative.
We then announced the winners of the Bean Challenge a little scheme we created to keep our members busy during the first lock down. We awarded prizes to Jackie Chapman for the longest bean, Liv for the best photos, Annie for the best names and Gaynor Waring for the most informative. We had delivered Christmas Greeting Bags to all members on the week end before the meeting and the ladies mentioned above each received an envelope with instructions ‘not to open but to bring to the meeting on 14th’
The Christmas Bag also contained, along with other goodies, the materials and instructions for everyone to make a felt reindeer decoration.
On with the meeting report, our Christmas Celebrations would not have been complete without some special Christmas entertainment – with the help of Vanessa we managed to cobble together a Zoom version of A “Lockdown” Panto and a Covid version of the twelve days of Christmas. I would like to thank all the members who took part in this activity.
We ended the afternoon with the opportunity for people to make a cup of tea and take part in a chat.
I believe the past year has been very challenging for everyone and I would like to thank all of the Ladies who have joined us on our Zoom journey and especially the Committee who have worked endlessly to find ways of keeping in touch with members. I am aware that their are some members who have not accessed Zoom, I would just like to say that they are very much in our thoughts and we will do our best to keep them informed in other ways. We do so hope face to face meetings will be available soon.
Meanwhile we return to a Zoom Meeting in January, Allan Peters a former Royal Protection Officer will be talking about his career. The date Monday 11th January. 2pm.
We will be inviting members of other local WI’s to this event and if anyone reading would like to learn a bit more about how these sessions work, and about Child Okeford WI they would be very welcome to join us on that afternoon. Please contact our secretary Liz for more information.
I think that about concludes this report, best wishes
Pam Morris (President)
Remembering Christmas 2019
Looking forward to our December meeting, there is going to be so much happening.
We will be joined by Sarah Slater, Hampton Court Tour Guide, Guide Lecturer and Public Speaker. In a recent Crowdcast with Lucy Worsley & Dan Jackson, Lucy introduced Sarah explaining that she is one of Hampton Courts State Apartment Warders and a specialist tour leader. Lucy Worsley confided that Sarah has theatrical training and that “a really cool fact about her – she was in the Disney film Return to Oz and she was the body double for Dorothy.”
At our meeting there will be a Q&A with Sarah, followed by festive activities….now what could they be? Oh no it’s not…..oh yes it is….
November 202
REPORT OF NOVEMBER 2020 MEETING
At Orchard Cottage we are beginning to think about preparing for our Christmas Celebrations. The fruit for the cake is soaking in brandy as I write and tomorrow I intend to make the cake and the Christmas Puddings.
I am still pondering on how we shall deliver Advent Calendars to the grandchildren but I am sure we will find a way.
The WI has for several years focussed on a Christmas themed craft session for our November meeting and this year was no different. We were treated to a Christmas Wreath making class, Catherine from My Scented Home showed us the method needed to make a beautiful wreath using all natural products. We did not make a wreath ourselves but simply enjoyed watching Catherine via Zoom. Catherine was a very confident speaker and she explained every stage of the process very clearly. I have added a copy of the completed wreath to my report and I imagine similar items will be appearing all over the village as the festive season approaches.
We have started to invite guests from some of the other local WI groups to our Zoom Meetings and this is proving to be very much enjoyed. We shall continue to offer this opportunity in the New Year but we are keeping our December meeting on 14th December to members only. We are currently working on the finer details of the content of this celebration, as a starting point we have a very interesting speaker booked and hope all members will be able to Zoom with us for a little Christmas cheerfulness.
I hope that everyone is keeping busy and safe during this time of further lock down restrictions and by the time you read this report we shall all be about to return to the ‘new normal’
Pam Morris (President Child Okeford WI)
November 9th – Monthly meeting (Zoom)
A big ‘Thank You’ to Catherine @My Scented Home and all the lovely WI ladies who joined us this afternoon for a Christmas Wreath demonstration. Great feedback from our members – Excellent, well explained, I’m popping into the garden to pick… were some of the comments.
Some great tips & advice to help us and much needed in these times and so wonderful to see so many members.
(Photo shows wreath in progress….you know how it is, you get 30 plus ladies together and time flies!) and aPhoto of the finished product and an excellent photo – better than a screenshot.
We could not have our usual gathering of members at The Rememberance ceremony today when the WI wreath was placed on the memorial at The Cross.
Our President, Pam Morris, was there to represent us all and to lay the WI reath.
Many have visited throughout the day to pay our respects and to remember. #LestWeForget#RemembranceSunday
We welcome Catherine from My Scented Home.
On her website (https://myscentedhome.co.uk) Catherine explains how My Scented Home started and developed.
“My Scented Home is owned and run by me, Catherine. When I say owned and run I mean that I do everything from selecting and buying the materials, creating the product designs, planning events & workshops, making the products (my favourite bit), managing orders, packing and shipping and sweeping the floor. I’m a single mum and I work between my home and a very small workshop in Corfe Castle in Dorset.
My Scented Home started when in 2016 I started planning for Christmas in August. Have I mentioned I have four children, hence the need to plan early and within a budget. I needed some decorations for our home and thought I’d have a go at making some my self.
I made some wooden Letters strung together spelling ‘Joyeux Noel’ and some dried fruit based tree decorations and garlands. My friends and family really like them and asked me to make some for them and wanted to pay for them. So I made some more and sold them and also sold at the local Christmas market in Swanage.
From there My Scented Home has grown and I now make decorations with dried flowers, fruits, grasses herbs, and spices. Most of my designs have a natural scent and some have fragrance oils added but all bring a lovely and natural aroma to your home.
October 2020
A “facial spa” afternoon for the ladies of Child Okeford WI at their Zoom meeting. Here is Pam’s report.
I am sitting to write this report on a sunny October morning and I reflect on the many days of sunshine we have enjoyed since the children have returned to school. Now it is almost half term and we are all waiting to see how the next few months will unravel.
As President of the WI I am very grateful that members of the Committee made the decision to plan a programme of Zoom Meetings because sadly this appears to be the only form of contact we can achieve in groups of more than six people.
On 12th October we were treated to a Face Yoga Workshop, almost an hour of concentration whilst Polina patiently explained exercises and guided us through them. These exercises are designed to help to diminish wrinkles, lift facial contours and creat a healthy glow, if practised regularly. I certainly enjoyed the experience and I believe many other members did also. She made suggestions for the easiest ways to make time for some of these exercises in our daily beauty routines,and her glowing wrinkle free face was an amazing testament to encourage us to experiment a little, and maybe even join a regular on line group.
22 members joined the class and we also hosted three ladies from other local WI groups.
As I mentioned last month we have now published our Programme for the rest of the year, you can access it on our web site. We will be holding the Zoom Meetings on the second Monday of each month and if any of the topics appeal to you please contact our Secretary Liz for more information.
On 9th November, with The Christmas Season in mind we are looking forward to a wreath making demonstration.
Please take a look at our programme, we would love to invite you to join us.
I mentioned at the beginning of my report, that sadly, I believe we shall all have to make a great effort to stay healthy and physically and mentally aware through what is promising to be a long and challenging winter, I send you the best wishes of myself and members of WI to keep smiling and stay positive.
https://www.elementalpilates.co.uk/ or https://www.facebook.com/ElementalPilates/
Have you seen our latest programme?
If you are not going out or doing much, Child Okeford WI have a full calendar including socially distanced walks; a varity of talks:
Join us for Polina in October and a relaxing facial yoga workshop;
Catherine joins us in November demonstrating Christmas Wreaths;
In December, Sarah will give us the salacious gossip of the courts;
Allan opens the New Year with the inside story &
Ben in February is going to get us ready for those spring walks and adventures.
Plus by joining us it opens up so much more (see below) locally and nationally, and great support and friendship.
All for only £10.75.
October 12th
Join us as we welcome Polina, the founder of ElementalPilates to learn all about Face Yoga, a natural method of exercising your face to lift, tone and sculpt your facial muscles. After a short introduction, Polina will demonstrate and have you practice face exercises, face massage and acupressure techniques to diminish wrinkles, lift facial contours, create healthy glow and look rested and relaxed!
https://www.elementalpilates.co.uk/
SEPTEMBER MEETING REPORT
This month we hosted our first Zoom Speakers. Carrie and Steve Diamond recalled the journey taken by a team of members from Dorset and Guernsey NFAS when they competed at the Chelsea Flower show.
It was a fascinating story that told of the many hours spent in a cold barn near Corfe Castle, planning and gathering the necessary artefacts needed for the display to the nine day Marathon at Chelsea when they built the final presentation and spent time on the stand each day whilst the show was open to the public. There was far more involved than just flower arranging! It was indeed a very time consuming exercise and all team members had to commit for a whole year. However All was worthwhile as they were proud to show us the gold medal they were awarded.
All members present greatly enjoyed the talk and I am pleased to say that we now have produced our programme for the coming six months – all Zoom meetings as under current circumstances we do not believe we shall be able to meet as a group during this time. However the Community Centre is set up for the use of WI FI so if it were possible we could meet as a group and still Zoom.
You will find the programme on our Website so should you be interested in joining any of our meetings you would be most welcome, just contact Liz our secretary. On 12th October we are going to experiment with a Face Yoga Workshop, all in the comfort of our own homes.
If you would like more information about our lively and friendly WI you are welcome to contact one of the following.
Me Pam Morris presidentchokwigmail.com
Our Programe for 2020/21 has been sent out!!
September 2020
Carrie & Steve Diamond takes us on “A Walk through Time” and how they as part of Dorset & Guernsey NAFAS represented NAFAS to “Getting Gold at Chelsea”
August 2020
On 10th August, 20 members of Child Okeford WI got together yesterday afternoon for a fun, educational & socially distanced Treasure Hunt – we saw where Sooty, Sweep & Soo lived (with Harry Corbett), translated a bit of latin & learnt a bit more about how the WI had contributed to village life. All Notice Boards were read for information and answers to the clues. A big thanks to The Baker Arms patrons for their help.
After a walk around the village, with lots of talking along the way, catching up not only with fellow members, but also villagers it was back to the Community Center field for self provided refreshments, catching up and of course the answers. Lots of laughter.
It was so good to see so many members again and all agreed, it should be repeated and it will be on Tuesday 25th August – the get together not the Treasure Hunt. However if you didn’t make it yesterday come along and have a go at the Treasure Hunt – a great way to see some of the village.
Check out the SubGroups pages and catch up with the latest video from NFWI featuring our own Gaynor Waring, netball host. https://childokefordwi.wordpress.com/our-sub-groups/
REPORT JULY 2020
from Pam Morris
As I write this report the sun is shining and I cannot believe so long has passed since we were able to meet together at the Community CentreWe continue to keep in touch with members by Zoom Meetings and Committee Meetings and email and are fondly looking forward to finding new ways, following Government Guide Lines, of being able to have people meeting together.
Latest announcements give us some hope but there are many points to consider before these ideas can become possible.We held a Zoom Meeting on Monday 13th July.
July is Child Okeford Birthday Month so we celebrated our 82nd birthday by wearing hats!Very glamorous, in some cases. 16 members attended with one guest.We began the meeting by discussing the beans that everyone had received -there have been varying results some members were able show prize specimens, the tallest being some 34cm however others told tales of woe pigeons, mice and various other garden creatures were mentioned. Gill and Rita had written odes to their beans early in the process and those were also shared.
Liz Gave us a brief history of the Group, she informed us that the baker’s wife had been the first President. Jan Watson who is the resolutions coordinator for Dorset then spoke. The normal resolution process for this year has been amended slightly but it it hopedthe National Annual Meeting will take place in April next year and this year’s proposals will be voted on at that time. Jan then went on to talk about her aspirations for Dorset members to take a more active roll in creating local campaigns.
Members then told stories about some of their activities during the lock down time …….. painting, drawing, making a photographic book and pottery were some of the examples. Vanessa mentioned taking part in A Gareth Malone Zoom choir.
Some members and local residents have been knitting teddies for DCH we made a collection on 6th July and will make a final collection on 7th September. The hospital has been well supplied with masked teddies by many people in Dorset so this will be the last collection for a while.
Current methods of communication are helping to keep the group together but it is not the same as our lively monthly meetings. We hope that by the next report we will have some better news.
I wish you all a sunny and safe summer and wonder what the next few weeks will bring
We hope you are all enjoying our Zoom meetings and are looking forward to our socially distanced August Treasure Hunt (weather permitting but its looking good) in Child Okeford, with a socially distanced sit down (bring your own picnic), natter & catch up with friends and get the answers. Who will win?
Although we are coming out of lockdown, the future is still unclear and we are looking at events over the next few months, as always, for your interest and enjoyment. We would love to hear your feedback & comments.
If there are any particular speakers or talks you’d like to hear or any subjects you’d like covered please let us know. If you have any concerns about meeting, again, please let us know. You can email us at childokefordwi@dorsetwi.org or commschildokefordwi@dorsetwi.org
We’d love to hear your comments and feedback too on what we are doing so far. Happy weekend everyone! 😊
Some photos from previous meetings and hoping to see as many members who feel able, on 10th August. If you have any concerns at all please do let us know.
July
On July 13th we met for our second Zoom meeting, wearing our hats for Child Okefords 82nd Birthday. We were joined by Jan Watson , Resolutions Officer and WI Adviser from Dorset Federation; our mmebers also talked about how creative they have been during lockdown – wow such talented ladies.
Full report available soon….
Committee Meeting – 23rd July
The Committee had a socially distanced, external meeting on 23rd July to plan for the meeting on 10th August and look at events for the rest of the year. We have a speaker planned for our meeting on 14th September. The meeting arrangements have not been finalised until we know more about the availability and arrangements of the Community Center – but we will be meeting.
Do not forget to put the meeting dates in your diary – the second Monday of the month
JUNE
Hello everyone. As we continue down this strange Covid path I am sorry to say that we have now missed three face to face monthly meetings and so the Committee decided it was time to try the modern on line methods of communication and we have held our first ZOOM meeting.
We have chosen Monday afternoon on the same day of the month, the second Monday as our original Annual Programme had been planned.
So on Monday 8th June we held our first full WI ZOOM event. I am very new to this method of communication so we had a few little problems, however, Gaynor started the afternoon by conducting a scavenger hunt, a very lively few minutes! Followed by a quiz featuring questions about both Dorset and the WI with multiple choice answers complied by Vanessa, I think we all gained some knowledge and lots of laughter from that experience.
We continued with our ‘business’ meeting which we kept to the minimum, all members having received a detailed Agenda in advance. I am pleased to report the the whole experiment was deemed a success. We are planning our next meeting for Monday 13th July.
We are aware that not all members are happy or able to use this method of communication so we devised a challenge that everyone would be able to take part in if they so wished. Each member received a package containing three dwarf French beans and an instruction sheet. The idea is that we all grow our beans and make regular contributions to allow the progress of the beans to be monitored the more original method of recording the better. We will all harvest and weigh the produce from our best specimen, share recipes and there are rumours of a book or maybe a calendar. We may award prizes for various categories dependent on the success of the project.
Some members are still knitting bears for distribution by DCH. We are now making a monthly collection for anyone who would like to knit masked bears. Same collection point the wicker basket outside my house. The next collection date is Monday 6th July.
Regular readers will realise this report is in a slightly different format and this is because I will now be making the reports until life returns to ‘normal’.
Gaynor who has been making the reports and worked hard to help to develop our methods of Communication over the past four years has stepped down from the Committee along with two other of our long standing committee members and I would like to thank them for all their hard work. However we have new members of the Committee and we shall continue in these slightly unconventional methods until Government Rulings allow full meetings.
I will finish by wishing you all a safe and healthy summer. Kind regards
Pam Morris (President)
WI Membership Subscription Update:
see your email for full details.
The Bean Challenge
The Bean challenge has started! and three beans will be arriving in your postbox with a complimentary raffle ticket for the WI Raffle 2020 – drawn on 9th October (so keep it safe).
Members joining in the Child Okeford WI, Bean Challenge, go to The Bean Challenge Page and send in your photos, recipes updates etc for us to post.
8th JUNE 2020
Needless to say we ran out of time and we all had to dial back in.
We had some ideas for future Zoom meetings but would like more.
MAY 2020We made The Dorset Echo with our contribution to NHS scrub caps and headbands.
May 28
Women’s Institute makes 1,000 items of PPE for hospital
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/new/18479072.womens-institue-makes-1-000-items-ppe-hospitalWell done to Pam for doing the interview and getting us noticed! Jottings from Pam, our PresidentI had an email from a friend who lives in deepest Devon.The message read ‘My dustbin has been out more times than me this year’I think that’s a bit how we are all feeling right now, seven weeks of ‘lockdown’, cancelled holidays and events both within the village and nationwide plus the desire to meet with family and friends is leaving us all feeling a bit sorry for ourselves from time to time.However, there is much to be positive about, remember how lucky we are to live in the countryside in a village with2 shops, a post office, the doctors surgery and pharmacy plus so many people working for the good of all.Many WI members, people in this village and surrounding villages, have been sewing for the NHS. Thanks to the tremendous effort of so many who have contributed to this effort in more ways than I can mention. We have now completed the task.Our final totals are as follows:Scrub caps: 610Headbands: 418Crochet Gizmos: 280This is a finaltotal of 1308 items made by you and other villagers for NHS and Front line workers. This is well over the 1000 target set. Thank you.Rita made a few extra to send to her son and colleagues at Kings College Hospital in London where they were gratefully received.
Liz S, along with a few of our members is busy knitting teddies for Dorset County Hospital. They are small bears that wear a mask and are given out to children and some older patients who may be scared of a nurse in a mask and PPE ,they find the bear a comfort. 22 Bears have been made so far.
Gaynor has been taking part in WI Walking Netball weekly Zoom sessions where 90 WI Walking Netballers do an indoor workout, have a chat and do competitions. She also gave our WI Walking Netball members the challenge of each making a video of catching and throwing the ball. Kim edited the results into a video on You Tube which you can see by clicking on this link or typing to into Google:youtu.be/TraC-c5Fis0 Kim has also been busy growing vegetable seedlings and kindly sharing them around members.Bill and I have been gardening, undertaking many schemes we have neglectedover the last few years whilst we have been far too busy holidaying. We have been walking We are growing vegetables for the first time in years and the latest scheme is digging a wild life pond which we have chosen to put in the rockiest of part of the gardenBill thinks he has found an archaeological site there is so much stone and debris in the ground. More about that next month!!So what now?WI members have been keeping in touch by phone calls, FaceTime, WhatsApp , email and when walking the dogs or delivering items, for the NHS, to my wicker basket. Current Committee members are about hold a Zoom meeting to plan for activities for our WI so watch this space and your WI emails for further details.So I would just like to send best wishes to all to stay safe and healthy and to let us know of any interesting ways you have found of keeping busy.Pam
APRIL 2020
Coping in the current crisis…..
A Message from our President
Dear Ladies,
I hope you are all well and keeping safe. Here is an update on the activities of Child Okeford WI members at this challenging time.
Mrs T has kindly emailed everyone the crochet patterns for the face masks and matching underwear sets. Anyone who runs out of wool should message Mrs A who will leave fresh supplies in a vacuum-sealed sandwich bag on your doorstep. She will knock 3 times and shout ‘Geronimo’. You will have to take pot luck on colours, but I do know there’s a particularly lovely shade of luminous pink.
If any of our less-able members need provisions such as bread, milk, wine, gin or pickled walnuts please contact Mrs C who will pop to the village shop, although she is finding balancing the boxes of groceries on her handle bars a bit of a challenge.
Mrs F will go ahead with her useful and inspirational talk on creative uses of curling tongs, on FaceTime, at the allotted times.
Please take care when exercising. Mrs W was jogging on the spot whilst boiling the kettle and she had to hang on to certain parts of her anatomy so they didn’t damage her new work top.
Mrs L apologises for her enthusiasm for using her own knicker elastic to enforce social distancing whilst shopping at the farm shop. She is willing to provide and apply her home made mango chutney to those who incurred injuries whilst queuing,
Mrs D is organising ‘dress ups’ on Thursday nights. The next theme is ‘Grease’. Does any one have a leather all in one jump suit for her husband to wear ?
Mrs F is running a card school, contact her by email only, using ‘Bingo’ as the secret password. Minimum stake for entry to each game is 25 pasta bows
Mrs W has sanitised her balls and is shooting up against the wall. Her netball skills are really improving.
Mrs H is house bound but looking forward using her new drone so she can keep monitoring the traffic through the village. However, she can only get the shipping forecast at the moment. Can anyone help?
Mrs J is finishing off the template for making an emergency face mask from a spare bra. I know some members have raised concern that as Mrs J is a 46GG so she has more material to work with than most, but she assures me her template will be scalable from 32A upwards.
Mrs V wants to apologise for the mix-up with the medication run, but please rest assured that Mrs P suffered no side effects from taking Mrs G husband’s Viagra . Likewise Mrs G’s husband seems to have responded really well to Mrs P’s HRT and says they have even agreed on the colour scheme for their bedroom.
Sad news that, because of the Government’s non essential travel ban, our trip to Bristol and ‘The Underwater Macrame Club and Slip Stitch Spa’ has been postponed. We will reschedule. Please keep hold of your snorkels as they cant be returned.
Mrs S is also doing interesting things with beeswax. Mrs U and Mrs V love swinging with Gareth Malone ( sorry I meant singing )
If you are attempting to use various video platforms to contact friends, please make sure you (and your family members) are properly attired. Mrs J was chatting to Mrs U but hasn’t quite got over the shock of seeing Mr U, on screen, as he emerged from the bedroom wearing only a green feather boa
Right, ladies, keep busy, keep safe, keep your distance and me updated on your activities.
Next month, we will video conference, using ZOOM, to explore 50 creative ways with a turkey baster.
With thanks to Buckshaw WI for the original idea.
Names have been changed to protect the innocent
Contributed by Gaynor Waring – Communications Team:
March 19th 2020
Message to all Members
from
Pam Morris, President, Child Okeford WI
‘It is with great sadness that we have to confirm that the WI both locally and nationally has cancelled all meetings and fact to face activities.
This decision has been made in the light of government guidelines.
We wish everyone in the village good luck in staying safe and healthy and hope we will all be able to continue our usual activities soon.
Kindest regards to you all
Pam Morris
March Report:
It was wonderful to welcome so many members old and new to our March meeting. Until this meeting and the demonstration by Sue Brown, Chair of the Child Okeford Flower Arranging Club, my own arranging skills normally consisted of popping some supermarket purchase into a vase – but not anymore!
Sue expertly demonstrated not 1 but 4 separate arrangements (to me masterpieces) in addition to one she had already created which she explained to us. If that was not enough, throughout her demonstration, Sue gave us useful hints and tips such as popping cut flower stems of Hellebores, roses and some other flowers which wilt easily (not all flowers), before commencing a rehydrating drink of cold water; the sourcing of materials for arrangements especially from your own gardens – foraging for foliage, stems and bark and she also gave us alternative ideas. She demonstrated how quickly something can be put together and look very impressive for little cost.
Aware of The WI focus on sustainability and plastic free, Sue also addressed the flower arranger’s dilemma of using “oasis”. She explained the background and demonstrated the use of a diverse range of alternatives as well as traditional methods (building materials, chocolate mini eggs) as well as telling us of a practical way to use old oasis. She also gave us some cunning tips for maximising our floral arrangements.
This was more than just a demonstration with the “expert” producing a variety of impressive arrangements in quick succession, I came away understanding that you do not need to be an expert “if you love the flowers the flowers will love you back” and more importantly to give it a go.
At the end of the meeting, everyone was taking photos of Sues arrangements (for those that did not win one in the raffle) and going home, like me, to give it a go. Next steps, I am signing up to join the Child Okeford flower arranging club which (in normal times) meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at Child Okeford Village Hall https://childokeford.org/clubs-and-societies/child-okeford-flower-arranging-club/
‘HEY DAY’ – SATURDAY 20TH JUNE 2020
We are already planning for our ‘Hey Day’ stall. Our Eco friendly theme champions key WI themes of recycling and sustainability. We will be selling our popular Beeswax wraps alongside a ‘Pre Loved’ Clothes stall. Classy fashion items (including handbags, shoes, scarves and costume jewellery) that are in excellent condition, will be on sale. These are donated items that have been worn, maybe once, for special occasions and are ready for a new life! It is surprising what fashion delights we have found in the back of our wardrobes. We hope have a changing area so you can try things on. We are aiming to keep prices at or below £10 and under, so bring your cash!
MARCH
Craft Club meets again on Monday 2nd March at 10am. Usual place
FEBRUARY
Dorset Kurling Competiton
The Dorset Federation WI Kurling league first round took place at our village hall onTuesday 11th February with 11 WI teams, from across Dorset, competing for a place the semi finals.We provided home baked goodies and tea for all participants. There are more rounds taking place throughout February and we now have to wait to hear if our team scored enough points to make it to the semis!
Our February meeting took place at Okeford Fitzpaine village hall where members took part in a range of pub games and indoor sports including Darts, Short Mat Bowls and Indoor Kurling, Dominoes, and Backgammon. It was a lively and competitive session. We are very grateful to our WI members, from Okeford Fitzpaine, for organising this session and providing delicious refreshments. We also, once again, extend thanks to the members of Okeford Fitzpaine Short Mat bowls team for their help and coaching
JANUARY 2020
A LITERARY START TO 2020
Our January meeting, 29 members welcomed David Stocks, a former NT guide, who delivered a fascinating and informative illustrated talk on ‘ Beatrix Potter – dispelling myths and preconceptions’. David worked from 2009 to 2016 as an NT volunteer at Hill Top Farm in Cumbria, one of many properties belonging to Beatrix Potter. It was here that she wrote the bulk of her children’s stories, drawing upon the house and grounds for her illustrations. Across an engaging hour, using photos and illustrations, David dispelled 9 myths about Beatrix Potter and emphasised her contribution as an artist, author, naturalist, mycologist, farmer, conservationist and philanthropist. She led a busy, rich and varied life lasting 77 years. We learnt about her expertise in fungi and as a prizewinning breeder of Herdwick sheep. We delved into her complex family relationships that shaped her life. We explored how she developed the ‘Peter Rabbit’ tales and 22 other children stories that she wrote and illustrated. Her generous legacy to the National Trust shaped and preserved the Lake District National Park which we are all still enjoying today.
Look out for WI members in ‘Cinderella’ on Friday 21st February 7.30, Saturday 22nd February 2.30 and 7.30, at St Nicholas School.- some members are performing in the biennial COMPACT pantomime and others are providing delicious refreshments and beverages . We hope you will support this village event.
DECEMBER
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Christmas and Peaceful New Year
Our ‘Christmas Celebration’ was well attended, we enjoyed a tasty, sumptuous homemade buffet complemented by excellent wines, all kindly donated by our generous members. Throughout the afternoon, amidst much chat and laughter, we discovered our inner Elf name, tussled over Dingbats, tested our musical Christmas knowledge, found our beautiful singing voices, played games that bought back childhood memories and took home a specially crafted treat from Santas sack. It was a great end to a busy and successful year. Thanks to all who contributed to making this a memorable festive event.
Through our fund-raising we have now purchased our own Kurling set so we can get some much needed practice in before the DFWI Kurling starts in the New Year. Weekly practise sessions will be at Okeford Fitzpaine village hall on Thursdays at 10.30am. First session is on 9th January
Craft Club restarts on Monday February 3rd at 10am with a Crochet Masterclass . Details from the Secretary, Liz Thomson.
Our Skittles team had some much needed expert tuition from Alan Frampton from Okeford Fitzpaine and monthly practices will recommence in January on Tuesday 14th 12.30-2.30pm drop in anytime. Costs: £1
Our Festive Walking Netball friendly matches against Sturminster Marshall Evening Wi resulted in a close win for the visitors by one goal on count back. We are so well matched that we plan more matches in the future. Walking Netball restarts on Wednesday January 8th, from 5-6pm, at Sturfit.
We look forward to 2020 and our busy programme includes……..just to tempt you….talks from Wessex Water, Dorset Wildlife Trust, a visit from a Poole Pottery expert, and a Line Dancing session plus more surprise events as well as our current sub groups – Craft, Skittles, Kurling and Walking Netball .
Members are reminded that Annual subscriptions of £43 are due at this meeting.
Please bring payment with you.
We will also be voting on the 2020 NFWI Annual Resolutions Please find all details and the voting slip in Nov/Dec edition of WI Life. Do complete the slip and bring this with you to the meeting. It is going to be a busy start to the year!
NOVEMBER
THE FESTIVE SEASON HAS COME EARLY TO CHILD OKEFORD WI.
Our November meeting proved very popular with a good turn out of members for our ‘Which do you prefer?’ festive food event. We held a blind tasting of festive treats from three well-known supermarkets. Organised by Liz Thomson with help from Jackie Chapman, members blind tasted various foods and scored them in order of preference. Foods ranged from Christmas chocolate coins, mince pies and cheese straws. The tastings provoked much discussion and debate. Some food had to be tasted several times before decisions were made! Potato crisps proved to be the hardest to choose between. Votes were cast and the results were as follows :
✮ Shortbread: Lidl
✮ Chocolate Coins: Lidl
✮ Stollen: M&S
✮ Cheese: M&S
✮ Mince Pies: Lidl
✮ Cheese Straws: M&S
✮ Chocolate 70%: Tesco
✮ Crisps: Kettle own brand
✮ Sausage rolls: M&S
M&S were winners (only just) over Lidl in our taste test.
Our WI now enters a busy festive season. We are hosting and organising the annual WI Beacon group Carol Service on Friday 6th December, at St Nicholas Church, at 2.30pm, followed by refreshments in our Community Centre. Two other Dorset Federation WI Carol Services are also scheduled across December at Wimborne Minster and Sherborne Abbey. Several of our members are singing in the choir at these events. Our Skittles and Walking Netball groups and Craft Club continue to thrive. Look out for our craft and produce stalls at various local Christmas fairs during December
OCTOBER
Our October meeting was a Poppy Making Craft session, led by two members of our Craft Club: Jackie Chapman and Liv Shonfield. They took the group through the process of creating and sewing felt poppies using a template and material. Members spent a busy, chatty session, in groups, creating both a large and small poppy to be worn on Remembrance Sunday. Donations to the Poppy Appeal were made.
Craft Club now meets on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Contact our Secretary for details
Walking Netball We are the Champions!
Child Okeford WI Walking Netball team (Child Okeford Roarers) are the new South West Region WI Walking Netball Champions! Organised by England Netball, we played 6 matches at a festival held at Paignton Academy on October 12th.
We won 5 out of 6 hard fought games against enthusiastic WI teams from across the South West Region and won by one point from our neighbours Sturminster Marshall Evening WI.
Dorset WI’s teams came first and second much to the delight of Karen Peaty,Dorset Netball Development Officer.
The Winners: L-R :Gaynor Waring (GK): Karen Peaty, Dorset Netball Development Officer: Kim Cowling (C): Rita Walder (GA): Vanessa Bastable (WA and Captain) Mel Fitzsimon (GD): Trisha Lawrence (WD):Pam Morris (WD and President): Gaynor Cox (GS): Sue Finklaire (GK)
Thanks to our two intrepid supporters, Liz Smith and Tina Anthony, who looked after ‘Blimey’ our mascot and cheered us on.
As one team member said ‘What a surprise win, this was more so because we never had any expectations other than getting to Paignton safely’!
OKETOBERFEST : Once again we ran the bar at this years event. We dressed up in our best dirndls and home made pigtails.We thoroughly enjoyed the evening pulling many pints of foaming ale and engaging in lots of banter. It was lovely to see so many from the village, across the ages, entering into the spirit of this important fundraiser and dancing well into the small hours…great stamina!
Our next WI meeting is on Monday 11th November at 2pm at the Community Centre. It will be a Christmas Food Tasting session led by our Secretary Liz Thomson.
Visitors Welcome : £3.50. Free to members
SEPTEMBER
Strictly came to Child Okeford WI in September. Clare Davis, instructor, dancer extraordinaire, brought (to quote Sammy) “hot latin footsteps and glamour” to Child Okeford WI on a miserable wet Monday afternoon not to mention that Clare quite literally kept us on our toes!
It was such a fun afternoon enjoyed by all of us including the spectators. The laughter and energy in the room was so infectious and everyone I spoke to said how much they had enjoyed it and they had learnt some new moves.
Have you wanted to be able to dance like the strictly stars? We understood very quickly, its not that easy, especially, if you are like me with two left feet. We started with a warm up in the form of a rumba, followed up with an American Smooth, leading into Tango. Then it was full on with a fusion dance combining footsteps and moves from the Viennese Waltz, Paso Doble and the cheeky Cha Cha Cha!
By this point, we were happy to sit down! However after giving us some background to the dance, demonstrating differences and responding to questions we were up once again with a foxtrot and finishing off with a Jive. Clare took all of our abilities into account and made the afternoon accessible for all by including moves that could be done sitting down.
This was a great taster session (and a physical workout) and a great chance to give dancing a go with no partner required! It’s never too late to start!
JULY
On Monday 8th July we had a lively, fascinating and informative talk by Deb Crutenden entitled ‘Tottys good life – Eco beekeeping’. She has been a beekeeper for twelve years and keeps over 100,000 bees near her Verwood home.
She used Albert Einstein quote :“If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, man would only have four years left to live” to warn us of the devastating impact of the drop in the number of bees on the planet and the things we can ( and are already doing) to encourage bees to populate our gardens as our plants and flowers are the bees ‘takeaway’.Using a series of video clips and humorous stories, Deb kept us highly entertained with tales of how she became a beekeeper, her life managing her 22 hives, how she tames swarms and how she encourages children in schools, through interactive workshops, to become knowledgable about bees and appreciate the impact of them on our daily lives.We also enjoyed buying from her broad range of Bee inspired goods and produce.The WI have already done much work on this issue with the SOS for Honeybees campaign that was launched after a resolution calling on the Government to increase funding for research into bee health was passed at the 2009 AGM so it was good to be reminded of past work and that there is still so much to do to improve the bee population.
We do not meet in August but we are having a Summer Gathering supporting the CORGI barbecue on Friday 16th August 6pm until late (Note change of date and times) at the Community Centre – bring family, friends and picnic gear including something to sit on, drinks and salads to share
Craft Club now meets on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Contact our Secretary for details
Walking Netball restarts on Wednesday 4th September with a taster session for other local WI’s to try out this increasingly popular sport. 5-6pm at Sturfit.
Save the date . By popular demand we return, in our dirndls and pigtails, to run the bar at the OKETOBERFEST on Saturday 28th September at The Community Centre.
We pull a mean glass of ale !
Our next meeting is on Monday 9th September at 2pm at The Community Centre : ‘Strictly Ballroom’ led by Claire Davis: get your dancing shoes on and be prepared to join in !
JUNE
HEY DAY SATURDAY 22nd JUNE
WI JARBOLA STALL
Come and visit our stall. Everyone is a winner
Rain stopped play……but, being the WI, we improvised !
We gathered for our June meeting in the hope of completing the planned event – our Village Treasure Hunt. This was cancelled last year due to rain.
Guess What…..It rained so our walk around the village was postponed yet again. Thanks to Liz Smith and Gaynor C for organising this yet again. We will do this…soon!
So we stayed in the warm and dry, and conducted our business meeting. This was followed by improvised group games led by Gaynor W where we lined up in different order of several categories such as height, first names (we did this one in silence – now that was challenging!) and our birthday months ! We even lined up in order of our ages and this caused much hilarity as well as admiration! The meeting concluded with a game of ’20 Questions’ exploring the lives of famous women past and present.
’20 Questions’ game
Several members attended the Annual Meeting of the National Federation Women Institutes at Bournemouth International Centre , as observers. It was a very well attended and lively meeting. Two new resolutions were adopted :
– 96% of delegates have voted to call on the government and local authorities to address the decline in local bus services.
– 97% of delegates have voted in favour of ‘don’t fear the smear’ calling on WI members to take action to raise awareness of the importance of cervical screening.
This is a very strong mandate from members and we will be looking at ways to support these resolutions in our area.
On Thursday 25th July we will be attempting to retain our Winners Trophy at the annual Beacon WI Group Skittles match at Tarrant GunvilleVillage hall at 7pm
Several members will be at Camp Bestival from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th July helping out in the popular Dorset Federation WI Tea Tent and then staying on to enjoy the bands !
Our next meeting is on Monday 8th July at 2pm at The Community Centre : We will be welcoming “Tottys Good Life – Eco Beekeeping”: This will be a talk by Deb Crutenden plus there will be sales of her bee themed goods and produce.
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We meet on Monday 10th June at 2pm for a Village Treasure Hunt led by Liz Smith and Gaynor Cox. Meet at The Community Centre and after the business meeting we will set off ins pairs. Bring a clip board, pen and wet weather gear. Those who don’t want to walk can stay on at the centre and do an activity that Liz has set. The hunt takes about an hour then its back for tea and the answers!
MAY
Two reports below from Kim on Dorset Waste Talk
DWP Report from Kim
Well I didn’t know that?
On 13 th May, we had a very informative illustrated talk from Marten Gregory, from
Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP – Dorset Council). Marten, a team leader with many
years experience in Waste Management demonstrated that despite having a recycle
and composting rate of 59.5% putting them in the top 3 Country wide they are not
being complacent. Even with just 7% of waste going to directly to landfill they are
looking to the future, to the challenges and further improving recycling.
However, this talk was more than DWP saying how good they (and we) are. It gave
a better understanding of all the different types of recycling, campaigns, many
interesting facts and figures and what happens to all the bins when they leave the
kerbside and how far our waste travels.
It was also an opportunity for us to ask those little questions, which we did for over
30 minutes! Everything from “do I need to separate” through to current waste
strategy consultations.
Did you know?
- Our food waste goes to an Anaerobic Digestion plant in Piddlehinton which produces electricity and the “left overs” are used on farmland as fertiliser.
- A third of our black bin waste should be in the recycling bins and over 50% of this is food waste
- Our black bin waste goes to Poole to a Mechanical Biological Treatment plant which diverts over 75% from landfill.
- Not sure if a plastic pot, tub or tray is recyclable, do the finger-nail test. If you press it with your finger nail and a mark is left, it is not recyclable eg expanded polythene
- DWP provide incentives for parents to change from disposable nappies. Why? Disposable nappies represents around 2% of the DWP budget costing about £600,000 and takes over 500 years to break down in landfill.
Want to know more (and there is a lot more)? See their web site or book a talk
yourself. https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-litter/reducing-and-
reusing/schools-events-and-talks/book-a-talk-with-the-team.aspxWell I didn’t know that?
KWIK FIT REPORT from Kim
Well I didn’t know that?
On May14th, 8 Child Okeford WI ladies had a fantastic “Ladies Night” at Kwik Fit Dorchester, where the aim was to learn more about our cars and generally to feel more comfortable when going to a garage. This was definitely a WI event with a difference!
Our group ranged in skill level from myself not even knowing how to lift the bonnet and relying on the annual service and MOT (within 10 minutes I understood this is a definite no-no) to the more accomplished ladies, who understood and can do most things. At the end of the evening everyone, without exception, said what a brilliant evening they had had and importantly had learnt something new. Why?
Not only did we learn more about our cars (some more than others!) but to understand and know how to carry out a few safety checks that should be carried out regularly to make sure the car is safe and roadworthy; we were given some good basic tips; what is looked for in an MOT and, yes (for those that wanted to) we got to wear overalls, tested our cars, and got underneath them on the ramps.
We were shown around the engine; the bits that needed and could be tested and topped up by us (screen wash, oil) and also how to test and understand the importance of brake fluid (what it could mean if the level is regularly falling) and coolant. We inspected seat belts, lights, wipers and tyres which we checked for pressure, filled with air (or removed it), wear, depth and holes and understood the age and model (my husband did not know this when I asked him!)
John Larty, Southern Division, Customer Liaison Manager and his team, went out of their way to make us feel welcome. They put us at ease, answering all of our questions, regardless of our level, offering advice and all served with drinks and cakes. Even when I had definitely been doing it wrong (by not doing anything) they explained why- simply; told me what I had to do; what could happen if I didn’t and John and his team delivered these messages with great style, professionalism and patience.
It was an excellent experience with a great team. By the end of the evening I was a lot more comfortable and confident. This was an evening well spent learning something not only practical and useful to me on a day to day basis but that also has given me more confidence when I go into a garage.
We also learnt about KwikFits mission to raise £1million this year for Children with Cancer UK and all the activities KwikFit team members are undertaking to raise this money including contributions from members of the public.
Thank you to John, Morgan, Kevin, Gabriel, Dan and Dan.
PS Men can be included!
Our next meeting is on Monday 13th May at 2pm with a talk from Marten Gregory from Dorset Waste Partnership entitled ‘ Recycling and where stuff goes ‘
Our new programme and rotas for 2019/20 will be available at this meeting plus we will have our Sales Table
Craft sub group meeting are also on on Monday 13th May at 10am … usual place!
APRIL
Our new programme and rotas for 2019/20 an be found on the Events Programme page
Our Annual Meeting took place on Monday 8th April, where we reviewed our busy and eventful year.Three reports were presented by our Treasurer, Secretary and our President, Pam Morris.
We also celebrated the work of those standing down from the Committee.
We said thank you to Liv Shonfield who is standing down after three years as treasurer. We welcomed Gill Fuglesang into this new role.
We also said thanked our Secretary, Gaynor Cox who is also standing down after 3 years this role and welcomed Liz Thomson as our new secretary.
We also thanked Sue Finklaire for her sterling efforts in getting us sporty and active over the last year.
Our President and all other Committee members agreed to serve another year and were voted in by the members.
Our committee for 2019/20 is:
President Pam Morris
Secretary Liz Thomson
Treasurer Gill Fuglesang
Hospitality Helen Harrison
Communications Kim Cowling & Gaynor Waring
Campaigns Ann Pearce
Beacon Group Liz Smith
We also watched a powerpoint presentation of all our activities over the year compiled by Kim Cowling and ended the meeting on a medical note with a very lively team quiz on naming various body parts that involved stickers, willing models, a lot of laughter and it all ended in a hard fought tie breaker!
We will also had our new WI Sales table and have started collecting jars and items for our ‘Jarbola’ stall at Heyday
We begin our new year of meetings on Monday May 13th at 2pm with ‘Recycling and where stuff goes’: a talk by Marten Gregory from Dorset Waste Partnership.
Plus on Tuesday 14th: Members are attending an evening visit to Kwikfit in Dorchester for a car care session led by John Larty.
On Thursday May 9th our Beacon Group are hosting a talk on Salisbury Cathedral with Mike Deeming at Iwerne Minster at 7.15pm This is to be followed by a tour of the cathedral on Friday 21st June at 2pm
Our Craft Group continue meet monthly with the next meeting on Monday 29th April 10am at Liv Shonfield’s home and the Walking Netball group continue to meet every Wednesday 5-6pm at Sturfit. (no session Weds 24th)
WALKING NETBALL…..WE HAVE STARTED !
A few action photos from our first full session on 20/3/19. Thanks to Vanessa Dawson
Team photo taken by Karen Peaty Dorset Netball Development Officer.
Further session details on the Subgroups page. Anyone is welcome to join in. You do not need to have played Netball before just be enthusiastic and want to have fun through joining in a team sport! No skills required
MARCH MEETING REPORT : On Monday 11th March, members donned their craft aprons and ‘Got Creative with Clay’ with Deborah Clarke from ‘Creative Clay for all”. She has been a a practising ceramicist for over 20 years and works with a wide range of groups on making different clay based creations.We all made botanical square tiles using a variety of plants and flowers from our gardens as well as using pre cut stamps, cloth and patterned paper. Deborah gave us a demonstration of the different technique, from gently pressing plants into the prepared clay, to building them up into more complex 3 dimensional relief pictures. Everything was provided by Deborah in a very well organised session. he tiles have gone to be fired in Deborah’s workshop and will be returned to us in two weeks.
KURLING : Despite our best endeavours we failed to progress to the Indoor Kurling Finals. We were very good at getting stones onto the target only to be even better at knocking them off! It was a great fun afternoon and an excellent tea, provided by Child Okeford members, was enjoyed by visiting teams from across North Dorset and beyond. We have vowed to practise more in readiness for next years league. Congratulations to the final winners : Portesham WI.
CRAFT SUB GROUP On Sat 2nd March a new WI Craft group met for the first time and were kindly hosted by WI members helping with the Mud Pie Cafe at Okeford Fitzpaine. After a positive response, the group will continue and will focus on creating items for our ‘Jarbola’ stall at Hey Day on June 22nd. The next meeting is on March 30th at 10.30am .Please contact the Secretary for further details. The group would be grateful for any donations of clean glass jars, material and sewing items to help the get started.
Our Annual Meeting will take place on Monday 8th April at 2pm where we review our year, celebrate the work of those standing down from the Committee and vote in new Officers. We will also have our new WI Sales table and a fun activity to round off this important yearly event.
MARCH
HATS OFF ! …….Or in our case…HATS ON!
Its becoming our WI Theme…we love wearing hats and headgear to suit any occasion! Be it Panto time , Heyday, Oketoberfest or Kurling…….whats next ah yes Walking Netball. What will be wearing for that??
KURLING
We tried our best but did not progress beyond the group stages. Our group games were eventually won by Wool WI who beat Shillingstone 1 with the final stone. Congratulations and good luck in the finals on 13th March.
We were the best turned out team and the refreshments were top notch.!!
Thanks to all those who contributed to the event.
There is always next year and we need to get more practice before the matches!!
Craft Club
CHILD OKEFORD WI
Are you interested in crafts? Would you like to meet with like minded members on a regular basis? Would you like to learn a craft? Could you teach a craft?If this is you please come to a meeting at
Okeford Fitzpaine Village Hall Saturday 2nd March 10.30 – 12.30
Come along and bring any ideas that you might have with you.If you have any questions please ask any committee member.PS. Coffee, cakes and bacon rolls are available at OF Hall on a Saturday morning!
Our next meeting is on Monday 11th March where we will be ‘Getting Creative with Clay’ with Deborah Clarke from ‘ Creative Clay for all’. This is a Members Only session due to the nature of the practical activity. Please can members let the Secretary know if they are unable to attend and those attending please bring an apron as it might be messy!
The Dorset Federation WI Kurling league is about to begin We hope to get into the final again this year and on 26th February, DFWI will be hosting the quarter finals at the our village hall in Child Okeford with the semi finals and finals in March. We have a team!
“Feeling Sporty” Photos from Feb 11th Meeting
Our February meeting took place at Okeford Fitzpaine Village Hall where members took part in a range of pub games and indoor sports including Darts, Short Mat Bowls and Indoor Kurling, Dominoes, Table Top Skittles and Shove Ha’Penny. It was a lively and competitive session. We are very grateful to our WI member , Sue Finklaire , for organising this session and for our WI members, from Okeford Fitzpaine, for the delicious cakes and refreshments. We also extend thanks to the members of Okeford Fitzpaine Short Mat bowls team for their help and coaching ! They were very patient with us.!
FEBRUARY
Our next meeting is on Monday 11th February at Okeford Fitzpaine Village Hall at 2pm
The theme is’ Pub Games’ including Indoor Kurling. There will also be short mat bowls, Darts and table top games including skittles. So lots to try out and have fun with!
The Dorset WI Kurling league is about to begin so this is a chance to practice! We came second last year, at our first attempt, so we hope to improve on that in 2019. Short mat bowls, darts and other favourite pub games will also available to try. Come along and join in or just come and watch. It promises to be a lively and active meeting!
Please note the change of venue.
JANUARY …….HAPPY NEW YEAR
Our new year began with our Annual Resolutions meeting. This year there were 6 resolutions for members to vote on:
Improving Plant Biosecurity in the UK
Trees – Improving the Natural Landscape
Pelvic Floor Education
Suffering in silence; end the taboo around menstrual health
A Call Against the Decline in Local Bus Services
Don’t fear the smear
Members, in small groups, discussed all the resolutions on the shortlist and then voted individually. Our votes were counted, verified and the results will be forwarded on to Dorset Federation. Our votes will then be added to those from other Dorset WI’s for further discussion Final voting will be at the NFWI Annual Meeting in June 2019 at BIC, Bournemouth. Thanks to Ann Pearce and Kim Cowling for leading us through this process with informative videos and support material.
On Wednesdays 16th January, 50 WI members led by Child Okeford WI with colleagues from Shillingstone, Tarrant Gunville, Sutton Waldron and Iwerne Minster WI’s plus friends and partners attended the matinee performance of ‘Calendar Girls -The Musical at The Mayflower in Southampton. A good time was had by all at this award winning musical. The sale of this famous WI calendar has raised over £5 million pounds for Bloodwise, the blood cancer charity since 1998!
DECEMBER
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OUR READERS
We concluded a busy year with several festive events including selling our homemade chutneys and other festive treats at the Child Okeford Christmas Fair to raise funds for our chosen charities.
A Beacon Carol Service was attended by several members at Margaret Marsh on 7th December. Vanessa Dawson gave a reading on our behalf . The church bells were rung by Beacon members including our own Gaynor Cox and Lynne Crighton.
Our WI Skittles team have done well in their first season in the Dorset league but lost a final nail biting match against hot favourites, Shillingstone WI. Thanks to Sue Finklaire for organising our games. We shall aim to do even better next year.
We ended our year with a ‘Christmas Celebration’.The Committee, led by Pam Morris, decorated he Community Centre in the morning. We all got together to share a glass of fizz organised by Kim Cowling and shared a generous homemade buffet kindly donated by members. We all took part in some lively team games led by Gaynor Waring and quizzes led by Vanessa Dawson. There was ‘in house’ entertainment – a short and very modern version of ‘Cinderella’ where Liz Thompson Kim Cowling, Gaynor Waring and director,Vanessa Dawson, shared their many artistic talents !! We also sang a WI version of the ‘Twelve days of Christmas’ cleverly re-written by Liz Thompson that got us into the festive mood. Trish Samuels gave a very amusing vote of thanks to conclude a very happy celebration and got us all in the mood for Christmas.
WI Christmas Lunch on Monday 10 December 12.30 for 1pm
Child Okeford Village Fair – Sat 1st Dec
Thanks for your support . We made £81 rom our sale of Chutneys and other seasonal goodies. Thank you to all who helped and those who provided the goodies
Congratulations to Brenda Norris. who won the Xmas Pudding! She guessed 220 raisins. There were , in fact, 221 all carefully counted out by our President Pam!
NOVEMBER
At Monday’s meeting we thanked President Pam Morris for laying our WI Poppy Wreath at the Child Okeford War Memorial during Sunday’s Remembrance Day Service. The card read “The women of Child Okeford WI lay this wreath in proud and thankful remembrance”.
At this meeting we also took part in a Christmas Arts and Crafts session led by committee members. We made reindeer bunting, festive table decorations, delicate tissue paper flowers to decorate gifts, paper chains made from old editions of WI magazines and homemade Christmas Cards. This table was kindly led by Joan Nash and those who made cards with her, kindly donated the costs to Home Start-North Dorset.
Our WI has also been busy making pompoms for ‘Mosaic’, a charity helping bereaved children in Dorset. Thanks to all who have contributed.
Several members attended the Dorset Federation Annual WI meeting at The Lighthouse in Poole and enjoyed both speakers: Frances Benton, known colloquially as The Pearl Lady and a well-known to many as a tutor in Pearl Knotting at Denman College and Nancy Birtwhistle, winner of the Great British Bake-off 2014.
Our Beacon group, made up of WI’s from Child Okeford, East Orchard & Margaret Marsh, Sixpenny Handley, Sutton Waldron & Iwerne Minster and Tarrant Gunville have been busy over the summer and autumn months with Skittles matches, a visit to the RNLI College in Poole and a musical afternoon. They conclude a busy year with a carol service at Margaret Marsh on 7th December.
England Netball and NFWI have invited Child Okeford WI onto their Walking Netball project in 2019. After our recent taster session, with Karen Peaty, Dorset Netball Development Officer, we are delighted to be invited to take part and look forward to participating in this UK wide initiative.
Our WI Skittles team have been doing well in the Dorset league and a final nail biting match against hot favourites, Shillingstone WI saw them lose in a close fought contest. Congratulations to Shillingstone WI skittle team.
On Saturday 1st December our WI will have a table at the Child Okeford Christmas Fair at the Village Hall from 11am. We will have a selection of tasty homemade chutneys and enticing festive treats, including our beautiful homemade Christmas cards for you to purchase at very reasonable prices.
Our next meeting is on Monday 10th December where we will be hosting a home grown ‘Christmas Celebration’ – complete with a homemade buffet, team games, quizzes and in house entertainment, all donated by our generous members. We begin the festive frolics at 12.30pm for a 1pm start at The Community Centre.
Access to Community Centre : Mon 8th Oct
You can still access the Community Centre despite signs saying road closed. There are road works but drive carefully around them!
OKETOBERFEST
We ran the bar at the inaugural Oketoberfest Beer Festival, in Child Okeford …complete in dirndls, pulling steins to the sounds of an Oompah band. Great fun, a large crowd enjoyed the range of beers and we were complimented on our speedy bar skills!
Gaynor W, Dilys, Vanessa B, Jackie C, Sammy, Liv and Liz T …The WI bar team!
More photos from a busy night . Liz counting the profits….Liv pulling a stein of Pilgrim ale & Jackie sorting out a stein of Becks plus Sammy, Vanessa and Dilys adding to the atmosphere…… they even put a step in so Liv could reach the Becks tap!!
Walking Netball introductory session was a great success and we all survived despite a few aches and pains!
Email update :
all enquiries, requests, message as now to go to Gaynor Cox, our brilliant secretary at:
secretarychokwi@gmail.com
The old one childokefordwi@gmail.com has been deleted
SEPTEMBER
Alpacas charm the WI
We began the autumn programme with a visit from Hurricane and Lightening, two alpacas from Alpaca Adventure in Shaftesbury! Owner and handler,Wendy Williams, gave a highly informative and entertaining talk about her work with alpacas. She has taken her team of alpacas to over 205 Care homes this year as they interact particularly well with dementia patients. She recently featured on an edition of BBC Country File where she visited a local care home with two alpacas along with presenter Adam Henson.
Wendy described how she cares for the animals, their breeding patterns, the fleece shearing process and how to ensure the best conditions to create the finest fleece which she sells on to craft makers. Several members purchased the very soft alpaca wool socks bought along as examples.
Alpacas make excellent guard animals and, on her small holding, they protect the sheep from the foxes with great success! Wendy also breeds alpacas and she described how good the mothers are at caring for their babies, who are called Crias.
Wendy has won many prizes when showing her alpacas at local and national agricultural shows. Thunder and Lightening were impeccably behaved throughout the talk, they listened to every question from members and won over the audience with their grace and beauty! At the end of the talk, members had the chance to stroke the animals and many photos were taken!
For a fun and different way to spend a morning or afternoon, you can book a walk with
alpacas, and meet Wendy, at www.alpacaadventure.co.uk
Our next meeting is a change to our schedule:
We will welcome Jenny Kretz from ‘Home Start:North Dorset’ who will talk about the work of this local charity. She will be supported by a volunteer and a member of family who has benefitted from the help given by Home Start. This talk is part of our contribution to the current National Federation of Women’s Institutes resolution on ‘Make Time for Mental Health’. Home Start now have increasing demands for their work with families where mental health is a major issue.
We will meet on Monday 8th October at 2pm at The Community Centre.
Several WI members will be helping at Oketoberfest on Sat 6th October at 6.30pm……come, enjoy the beer but please don’t pull our pigtails!
AUGUST
Our Privacy statement has been published. Thank you Kim
Click on the Privacy Statement Tab on the opening web page for this information .
The August Report for The Hill and Fippenny News is below. As there was no meeting in August, Gaynor W wrote a piece about Campaigns…..and changing perceptions of the WI
Teapots and Chatter make Campaigns that matter ……
When family and friends, from afar, come to visit, they are somewhat surprised to find that have I joined our Village WI and now serve on the Committee. They have this fusty image of women in aprons, wearing bonnets, making tea in huge teapots, singing ‘Jerusalem’ whilst knitting blanket squares and generally ‘fussing’’ ! How wrong they are….
I joined because I knew that there was more to the WI than these outdated and old fashioned images. I joined to become part of a national organisation that has been instrumental in initiating major social change, through targeted campaigns, over the last 100 years.
On 24 October 1918, WI members passed their first resolution, calling for the provision of a sufficient supply of convenient and sanitary houses.
This was just the beginning…..
Over the last 100 years, WI members have campaigned on a broad range of social policy, health, food and agriculture, education, environment and international causes. By exerting their individual and collective influence, WI members have increased public awareness of the issues and brought about important policy change
It was the WI who campaigned for ‘Action on Pollution in the Seas’ in 1927!We continue this environmental battle with the 2017 resolution on ‘Plastic soup’ : Keep Micro Plastic fibres out of our oceans.’ Did you see our Micro Plastics display on our Hey Day stand and noted that, where possible, we avoided use of single use plastic to serve our scones and sweets?
The WI first lobbied for women to serve on juries in 1927. In 1943 they passed a resolution calling for ‘equal pay for equal work’.
‘Keep Britain Tidy ‘campaign was another WI initiative that led to the 1958 Litter Act. Littering our roadsides is still a topical issue
The WI were one of the first organisations, in 1986, to openly talk about Aids, HIV and, more recently, FGM thus bringing greater awareness of these important health issues to a wider audience.
In 1975 the WI started informing members about the importance of breast examination and lobbied the government to set up screening clinics.This resulted in the introduction of the national screening programme in 1988.Many lives have been saved as a result.
The ‘More Midwives’ Campaign, launched in 2012, is an on-going campaign along with the ‘Alleviating Loneliness’ initiative, which our members are actively implementing across the villages.
At the most recent NFWI Annual Meeting in Cardiff on 6 June, 98% of delegates voted to pass a resolution which seeks to tackle the stigma associated with mental health problems. Our WI was proud to be part of this overwhelming vote and we look forward to working on this campaign.
I joined because the WI continues to play a unique role in providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, to take part in a wide variety of activities and to campaign on issues that matter to them and their communities.
So, you see…we don’t just make tea… or jam!
JULY
Skittles Success !!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US….80 YEARS OLD THIS MONTH
HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY TO CHILD OKEFORD WI
Child Okeford WI celebrated its 80th birthday at our July meeting. A home baked birthday cake, provided by Pam Morris, was cut with great style, by Brenda Martin, one of our past presidents and a long serving WI member. Members and invited guests enjoyed their celebratory refreshments despite the heat.
We were also entertained by Terry White, of The National Trust, who gave an illustrated talk on Brownsea Island. Terry is an NT volunteer with many years experience of working on the Island. He shared his great depth of knowledge and enthusiasm for this special place. He gave us an insight in the historical background of the island. It has a colourful historical story: From Vikings to a World War 2 decoy site to divert enemy bombers away from Poole: from a pottery factory to a place for Edwardian society to hold their summer soirees to the internationally renowned wild life sanctuary it is today. Many colourful character have shaped the islands past. Notably the recluse Mary Bonham-Christie whose actions led, eventually the island to be dedicated to wildlife and, of course, Lord Baden Powell and the growth of the world wide Scouting movement.
Terry also informed us about the rich variety of flora and fauna across the island including the famous red squirrel. Terry is a great story teller and was a throughly entertaining speaker.
There is no meeting in August
Our next meeting is on Monday 10th September where we will host “The Alpaca experience “ . 2pm at The Community Centre. Visitors welcome at £3.50 per head.
HEY DAY – THANK YOU ALL FOR A TREMENDOUS EFFORT ON THE WI STALL
Thanks to all members who contributed to our highly successful Hey Day stall. We sold out!! Final fund-raising figure to be announced at our July meeting but we exceeded last years Jambola total. A brilliant effort so thank you to the Scone makers, the Jam creators, the Sweet tasters, the Chutney bottlers : Thank you to those who helped tirelessly on the stall – doing deals with customers that ‘Del Boy’ would have been proud of! plus a big thank you to those who set the stall up and took it down, we are now experts in erecting and dismantling Gazebos.
Thanks to those who bought and enjoyed our foodstuffs. We hope you enjoy them
Some photos of the day
JULY
Our next meeting is on Monday 9th July at 2pm and this is our 80th birthday celebration. We would like to extend a very warm invitation to past WI members to join us at this meeting share in our celebrations.
Do call Gaynor Cox, 01258 861145 ,to let her know you are coming to join us so we can ensure we have plenty of cake!
We will also be having a talk from The National Trust entitled: ’Welcome to Brownsea Island.’ Visitors are most welcome
JUNE
Monday 11th June
‘SPICE ON YOUR DOORSTEP’ AT THE CAFE ON GOLDHILL
As part of a WI-wide special focus on ‘Healthy Living and Wellbeing’, we held our meeting at the Café at Goldhill in Child Okeford.“Spice on your doorstep” was a cooking demonstration and tasting led by Sharon Foxton who has run the café since November 2015. During her demonstration, she emphasised the medicinal, health and wellbeing benefits of a range of spices and locally sourced organic produce.
Members were treated to a spiced vitamin enriched shake using ginger, turmeric, carrots, organic apple juice from Gold Hill Farm and lemon juice. Every part of each ingredient was used. No waste! This was followed by mouth-watering baked vegetarian samosas, using filo pastry, and accompanied by a homemade coriander chutney. Members also enjoyed a ‘hands on’ samosa folding lesson. The event finished off with a Q&A accompanied by a “Chai” tea made with a range of spices with each ingredient having a beneficial effect.
Sharon encouraged members to use local seasonal vegetables and to experiment with spices, flavours and recipes. Members left the meeting with many recipe ideas, an increased understanding of the health and medicinal benefits of spices; emboldened to be more adventurous in their use of a range of spices and some even purchased Sharon’s famous takeaway frozen meals !
Here is a slide show of some photos of the event!
We have new social media contact details following on for our change of name:
Our website: http://www.childokefordwi.wordpress.com
Our WI Email address : childokefordwi@gmail.com
Our Twitter feed : @ChildOkShoWI
MAY
We are now ‘Child Okeford WI’
This month we had the pleasure of an entertaining and informative talk entitled ‘My life as an Auctioneer’ given by Amy Brenan of ‘Heirlooms of Wareham’. Her career began at Salisbury Livestock market. She expected to be helping with the auction of antiques but ended up working on the livestock auctions. This included the sale of 900 Christmas turkeys where, as the only auctioneer and using some ingenious bribery, she sold everything making it their most successful Turkey Auction ever. She then moved onto a highly successful 10 year career at Dukes Auction House in Dorchester, eventually specialising in Jewellery.
Amy regaled us with stories of her finds and triumphs including her involvement in the discovery, in an ordinary 1960’s semi in Oxfordshire, of two rare 15th Century panels of Dominican saints from Fra Angelico’s celebrated high altarpiece for the Church of San Marco in Florence. They were sold at Dukes for £1.7milion!
Amy’s real passion is jewellery and she bought along some items from her shop ‘Heirlooms of Wareham’. She gave us the social and historical context of each piece, and why they were so special and valuable. She also gave us tips of what to watch out for in the jewellery world and how to keep our jewels sparkling.
Amy kindly valued some members jewellery and several members rushed away to increase their household contents insurance!
Skittles : Social Evening
We have booked the skittle alley at The Royal Oak in Okeford Fitzpaine on Wednesday 11 July at 7pm for a social evening and practice session prior to the Beacon Group competition later in July and DFWI Skittles League in the autumn . There is no charge for alley but we are expected to order and pay for food.
A slide show of photos from our Annual Meeting 9.4.18
APRIL
Our Annual Meeting was a busy and significant event. We began a busy agenda with a ‘Special Meeting’ where we held a secret vote on changing the name of our Institute. The Committee asked members to consider a name change to reflect the current membership. The required 75% majority was achieved in favour of changing our name from Child Okeford and Shroton WI to “Child Okeford WI”. Our independent teller was Pauline Murphy of East Orchard and Margaret Marsh WI. The Dorset Federation Membership & Support Committee then met and agreed to the change of name.
So we are now ‘Child Okeford WI’
The Annual Meeting then took place and we reflected on a busy 12 months that saw us learning dress stylishly, fight cyber attacks and to make Christmas tree decorations and cards. We had entertaining talks and interesting local visits. in December gathered for our Christmas meal at The Cricketers in Shroton where we were entertained by several members including a mini pantomime “Aladdin and his Wonderful Limp”. We had successful fundraising events including our Jambola stall at Hey Day. Our Kurling team entered in the county Kurling Competition for the first time and got through to the finals at Moreton village hall where we were runners-up. We attended many celebration events to mark the Dorset WI Centenary .
We also celebrated the Presidency of Liz Smith who has led this WI for 6 years and was standing down. Her significant contribution to building this WI, that was once near closure to the lively group is it today, was celebrated in style with gifts, a Q&A on Liz and her WI life culminating in a delicious homemade cream tea.
Thank you Liz for all your hard work, inspirational leadership and dedication. Liz will continue on the Committee as WI Beacon Group Rep.
We welcomed Pam Morris as the New President. Sue Finklaire and Kim Cowling were voted onto to the Committee. Other committee members agreed to serve for another year .
Our next meeting is on Monday 9th April at 2pm at The Community Centre, Child Okeford.
This is the Annual Meeting where we will be saying ‘Farewell’ to Liz Smith who is stepping down as President. Elections for a new Committee will also take place at this meeting. We will also review our activities in 2017/18 and reveal our plans for 2018/19
KURLING TEAM SUCCESS CONTINUES……DFWI FINALS HERE WE COME!
Well Done to our WI Indoor Kurling team: Tina Anthony, Gaynor Cox Sue Finklaire and Joan Nash. They have won through to the finals of the Dorset Federation WI Kurling Competition. They face Broadstone WI in the final at Moreton Village Hall on 22nd March. Will it be silver or Gold for our fine team of Kurlers? Good Luck team!
The Child Okeford Bells
At our March meeting The WI were treated to an illustrated talk on ‘The Child Okeford Bells’ by Lynne and Bob Crighton. Lynne is also a member of our WI. Both Bob and Lynne are experienced bell ringers and are part of the ‘Band’ of bell ringers for St Nicholas Church, Child Okeford as well as supporting other churches in the area. We were also joined by other members of the Child Okeford ‘band’. We listened to an informative talk about the historical development of bell ringing. Lynne and Bob then showed us how the bells work and gave demonstrations of different bell ringing methods, emphasising that it is technique and not strength that is the pre-requisite of a successful bell ringer. Some WI members then joined in with hand bell ringing demonstrations to illustrate call changes and proved quite adept at this challenge!
YOUR COMMITTEE 2017/18
Back row – Liz T : Pam : Ann : Gaynor W
Front row – Helen : Liv : Liz S – Our President : Gaynor C
The new Committee will be elected at our Annual Meeting on Monday 9th April
KURLING TEAM SUCCESS
Well done to Kim, Tina, Liz T and Sue F for their superb win and this moves us into the DFWI Kurling semi finals on 13 March…all that training paid off!
MARCH
Our next meeting is on Monday 12th March at 2pm
We are having a talk on ‘The Child Okeford Bells’ plus a hand bell demonstration by Lynne and Bob Crighton. Lynne is also a member of our WI.
If you have booked a place on our January 2019 theatre trip to see ‘Calendar Girls : The Musical’ at The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton, please bring your payment. £40 for members and £46 for guests .This includes a premium seat in the Royal Circle and return coach travel. A treat not to be missed!
Watch this space to find out what some our WI has been up to in the Village Panto…heres a clue!
Heres what they got up to
Well done team on great fundraising effort
FEBRUARY
An audience of 23 WI members, including 2 guests from Shillingstone, listened intently to a highly informative talk by WI member Pam Crook on Medical Detection Dogs. She was accompanied by David Bradley – volunteer area coordinator for Dorset, Wilts, Somerset and Hampshire. This charity is in its 10th year. We learnt about the work of Medical Alert Assistance dogs that help individuals to manage day-to-day life threatening conditions by detecting minute changes in body odour. We also heard about the pioneering work of Bio-Detection dogs. In current research trials, these special dogs have shown 93% accuracy identifying unique odours associated with certain cancers notably Prostate, Kidney and Bladder. Work on the world’s first canine Breast cancer detection trial continues and this vital charity is in constant need of financial support for this life saving work. Members generously supported this life saving charity by purchasing items and giving personal donations to The Medical Detection Dogs charity
Also at this meeting, Members voted to donate WI funds, raised by our various fundraising activities across 2017/18, to Denman College which is the WI Centre for Learning and to CORGI – The Child Okeford Recreation Ground Improvements fund.
Annual subscriptions are due . This year the fee is £41.
JANUARY 2018
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS!
We began our year with a well attended meeting and engaged in lively group discussions, led by Committee members, that explored the 5 proposed WI Resolutions for 2018.
These are :
1.Positive body image in a digital age.
2.Stop female genital mutilation.
3.Raising awareness of modern slavery in the UK.
4.Mental health matters.
5.Healthier Mouth, Healthier Body.
Our discussions were informed by materials from NFWI, including a short quiz that provided some surprising and thought provoking facts and figures on each proposal.
Members then completed their individual voting forms and these are sent off to Dorset Federation who tally all the WI votes for the County. .They send the final Dorset WI total to NFWI for further discussion and final voting at the Annual Meeting in Cardiff on 6th June 2018.
We also had a successful ‘Bring and Buy’ table. Lovely homemade jams and chutneys, made by members, added to the sales.
Annual subscriptions are due . This year the fee is £41.
DECEMBER 11th 2017
Our Annual Christmas Celebration took place on Monday 11th December.We concluded a busy and successful year with our annual Christmas lunch. This year we went at The Cricketers in Shroton where 30 members enjoyed a festive meal. Thanks to Liz Thomson for organising this event so efficiently and to the staff at The Cricketers who made us feel so welcome. We are, according to owners, Joe and Sally Grieves, “The most festive & fun group we have had in for lunch so far” !
Following the meal and a short business meeting, members joined in festive entertainment provided by Vanessa Dawson, Sammy Upton, Liz Thomson and Gaynor Waring. This included a performance of ‘Aladdin and his wonderful limp’ ( yes, limp!), complete with outrageous headgear, as well as renditions of alternative carols, readings and communal singing. We certainly enjoyed ourselves and left feeling very festive.
Here are some photos of our lunch!
NOVEMBER MEETING
MONDAY 13th NOVEMBER 2017
A slide show of our ‘CHRISTMAS CRAFT MAKING SESSION ‘
The WI gets ‘crafty’
A practical ‘hands on’ session, creating seasonal decorations and cards, led by our own WI members. Thanks to Joan Nash for her Christmas card session. Thanks also to Liv Shonfield for her Christmas tree decorations for holding sweeties and to Pam Morris for her Christmas bauble decorations.They showed great patience as they guided members through the practical activities with liberal use of glue, glitter, ribbon and scissors It was an afternoon of quiet concentrated endeavour interspersed with chatter, laughter and tea!
BEACON GROUP MEETING 26.10.17
The WI Beacon Group were hosted by Child Okeford and Shroton WI at Shroton village hall. Over 50 members from 6 local WI groups enjoyed our refreshments along with an illustrated talk by Brian Petit on ‘The Jurassic Coast ‘
DFWI Annual Meeting Poole 19.10.17
Nine members from Child Okeford and Shroton WI attended the meeting at The Lighthouse. It was a dull, wet day and we were pleased to be indoors listening to an array of speakers.
We were welcomed by Poole’s new Mayor Lindsay Wilson and Marilyn Holehouse, the Dorset Federation Chairman. After the business and reports, Janet Street-Porter spoke to us about her life and career in journalism. The afternoon session started with a parade of banners – there were around 70 banners from a total of 102 Dorset institutes – Liz Smith carried the Child Okeford banner and Hazel Ward Shroton’s. This was followed by entertainment from the Dorset Federation Choir and an address by the new National Federation Chairman Lynne Stubbings. Our final speaker was Paul Connery, a clinical chiropractor, giving excellent advice on Diet, Wellbeing and Keeping Fit.
(Write up contributed by Gaynor Cox)
Here are some photos of the DFWI Banner Parade from Gaynor Cox and Liv Shonfield : Thank You!
Liz Smith with the Child Okeford banner and Hazel Ward with the Shroton banner
OCTOBER 2017
An audience of 28 WI members and 5 visitors enjoyed the illustrated talk on ‘Cyber Crime’ delivered by Jake Moore: Cyber Crime Prevention Officer for Dorset Police. Jake leads on Cyber Security for Dorset Police and works with a range of community and business groups. He has given over 170 presentations in a year! His talk, which was cleverly illustrated, gave us sensible hints and tips on keeping safe online. These included: remembering to back up our data: having a long and unique password for all our accounts: having a separate email address for online shopping: the risks of using public wifi: how to spot phishing emails and keeping software up to date. It was a highly informative and enjoyable talk. Members were also able to ask questions as well as share their own experiences of online issues. We came away more aware of how to stay safe and secure when we are online and the value of the current national ‘Take Five’ advertising campaign.
Jake did tweet after the meeting : “ a superb audience today in Child Okeford” Thanks, we enjoyed it to!
CHILD OKEFORD WELCOME DAY 8.10.17
The WI had a stall at tis annual event and meet many interesting village folk and visitors. Our cake and biscuit treats lured visitors to our stand . Hopefully we will have some new members when the visitors finally move into the village.
Here are some photos of our stand….
SEPTEMBER 2017
The Village Treasure Hunt, that was to be our first gathering since the summer break, was scuppered by the rain. Inclement weather never stops the WI so we held an impromptu meeting which gave members an opportunity to discover more about the workings of our WI.
Members explored the role of Secretary : got an update on the recent WI Resolutions on ‘Alleviating Loneliness’ and ‘Plastic Soup’ ( both of which are top of national and international news agendas) and planned our Christmas Celebration as well as organised future events where our skills (and excellent refreshments) are required.
Members also reflected on our varied past through our excellent collection of WI Scrapbooks and looked to the future with the developing Digital Record of our activities. We also looked at our contribution to the Dorset Centenary Celebration book — a page from each WI is to be made into a book to reflect the value and activities of the Dorset WI in 2017.
These busy activities were accompanied by a fiercely fought Anagram Quiz – no yellow cards were given, nor was anyone was sent to the ‘Sin Bin’ but a Stewards Enquiry finally found a winning group who were rewarded with a suitable prize.
Members expressed their enjoyment at these impromptu activities and proposed that the Treasure Hunt be held on a future date.
Our next meeting is on Monday 9th October .The theme is ‘Cyber Crime’ and the talk will be delivered by Jake Moore: Cyber Crime Prevention Officer for Dorset Police. Jake has already spoken to several groups in the Village but he has yet to meet the WI! Please meet at the Community Centre at 2pm.
STOP PRESS
The WI Beacon group, drawn from WI groups in the North Dorset area, are to host a special meeting at Shroton Village Hall on Thursday 26th October at 7.15pm. The event is an illustrated talk on ‘The Jurassic Coast’ by renowned photographer Brian Pettit. Refreshments will be available. Entry fee is £3. If anyone ,from Shroton, is interested in joining or finding out about Child Okeford & Shroton WI then you will be warmly welcomed at this event. Please check if you offered refreshments with Liz S.
OTHER IMPORTANT DATES
There is an opportunity to attend the Dorset WI Speakers’ Auditions at West Parley Village Hall on Tuesday 19 September from 10am to 4pm.
The cost of the ticket will be paid by the Institute. A ploughman’s lunch is available at a cost of £5 or you can take your own picnic lunch.
Pam Morris is going and would welcome your company. If you think you would like to attend, please contact our president Liz Smith (both Pam and I are away for the rest of the week) on 01258 860432 or by email nickliz43@gmail.com. Liz has been to these auditions before and can answer any questions you may have about the event.
Deadline for replies is close of play Wed 13 Sept – sorry for the short notice.
Sunday 8th October – Welcome Day: 11am – 1pm : Child Okeford Village Hall . Committee members will staff a stall to encourage new members and share in our activities.We need ‘small bitesize snacks’ to entice visitors to our stall. Food contributions to Gaynor Waring 01258 861171 on Sat 7th Oct. please
Another date for your diary is Friday 24 November 2017 – Shortlisted Resolutions Meeting at Sixpenny Handley Village Hall 2-4pm. If you want to get a flavor of the WI resolutions system and to be briefed on the resolutions that we will be voting on in January, this is for you. Ann and Dilys are going and would welcome your company. This will be mentioned again at our October meeting.
There is no meeting in August.
Our skittles team came 5th at the annual Beacon group skittles match at Melbury Abbas. They faced fierce competition so well played Ladies !
The Dorset Federation of Women’s Institute is celebrating its centenary this year and several events have taken place including a special exhibition at the Dorset Arts & Crafts Summer Exhibition, held over 5 days, at Purbeck School, Wareham. Several members went together to see this exhibition and the WI area was busy with visitors.
We had our Centenary Card on display, a special thanks to Denise Jakeman for her Scrabble inspired design. Our WI Pennant was also on show plus four members had their individual craft work exhibited – Thanks to Tricia Samuel, Liz Thomson, Sammy Upton and Gaynor Waring for sharing their artistic creations with a wider audience
There are over 100 WI groups across Dorset and the majority were represented .The whole WI exhibition was a riot of colour, design, skill and creativity showing the wealth of talent and expertise we have amongst our Dorset WI members.
Beacon Group Centenary Picnic Photos
Melbury Abbas on 22nd June 2017
Our next meeting is on Monday 11th September…..
TREASURE HUNT TIME..….
It is a treasure hunt around Child Okeford to support Dorset’s WI Centenary initiative to ‘ Walk a hundred miles,yards & steps’. Please meet at the Community Centre at 2pm. The treasure hunt will take about an hour. Those not wishing to join in the walk are invited to stay at the Community Centre for a chat and join the returning treasure hunters for tea !
Scroll down for photos of HEY DAY & our ‘JAMBOLA’ stall
JULY
Our next meeting is on Monday 10th July when we will learn more about The Association of Country Women of the World (ACWW) The session will be led by Esme Isaacs who is the Dorset Federation ACWW rep.
ACWW is the international charity supported by the WI movement.
It is the largest international organisation for rural women and has a uniquely down-to-earth approach,offering mutual support, friendship and practical help to its members. It funds group projects on literacy, health education,nutrition, home economics, agriculture, income generation, water and sanitation, leadership end entrepreneurship.
The meeting starts at 2pm at The Community Centre. Non members welcome
HEY DAY : WI JAMBOLA STALL
A GREAT EFFORT WAS REWARDED WITH A SELLOUT!
Saturday 17th June 2017
It was a magnificent effort to create and sell raffle tickets for 327 jars of prizes for adults and juniors plus varied jams, chutneys and bags of coconut ice. We sold out of everything with 45 mins of the event to run thanks to two members who took the final jars around the fete to do ‘face to face’ selling!
Thank you to all members who contributed jars, prizes, jam jar covers, gazebo erecting , table cloth making, hat decorating, donating preserves as well as giving up time and effort before, during and after the event. A great team effort
It was well worth it despite the heat. The Child Okeford & Shroton WI were a real hit with punters returning for several turns! Our success has been shared across Twitter and Facebook with many WI’s hoping to emulate our success with this simple “Everyone is a Winner ‘ idea . We await to see how much we made with bated breath!
PHOTOS OF THE DAY !
From start to finish!
Note how the number of jars decreases !
JAMBOLA MAKING SESSION
5th June 2017
Preparations for our WI stall at Hey Day on 17th June are well underway.
A team of 10 WI members spent the afternoon , out of the stormy rain, filling over 330 jars with goodies. Some are for children and the rest for adults. They have been generously filled. They all have pretty handmade jam covers. The team worked hard to create a stunning stall. These along with our traditional jams and chutneys will be available on Hey Day. Do come and join us and try our JAMBOLA! Everyone wins a prize!
Thanks to everyone for their contributions of jars, prizes, cloth for covers , jams, chutneys and invaluable help. Here are a few photos of the team at work!
JUNE
Our next meeting is on Monday June 12th with a trip to Blandford Fashion Museum. To reserve your place,please contact Pam Morris 863791. Meet at 2pm at the Museum
We will have a WI ‘stall at Hey Day on Saturday 17th June. Do drop by and take part in our ‘Jambola’ ( & Junior Jambola) Everyone is a winner !
MAY
Our May meeting “Looking Good,Feeling Fab’ was led by Nicola Whitmarsh,a former Jaeger fashion trainer.She was ably assisted by Maria.They showed us, though the use of various fashion items and accessories, how to be stylish and how to dress to suit our shapes.They used a range of high street clothes to demonstrate their tips on how to adapt items with simple tricks using scarves and different clothing styles.We were told how women over 50 make up 50% of spending in the UK so we need to make sure we buy wisely and advocated the use of ‘Previously Loved’ shops and Dress Agencies to be frugal yet fashionable.Several WI members had the chance to participate,trying on clothes and scarves that flattered their shape.
Nicola promotes the ‘Rule of 3’ for an item of clothing : Wear it for 3 years: wear it on 3 different occasions and use it for 3 different looks-that way you get value for money as well as always looking stylish!
Nicola’s fashion motto is ‘Never wear anything that scares the cat”!
Nicola is also the President of Sturminster Marshall Evening WI.
Photos of our fashion meeting below:
APRIL
ANNUAL MEETING 2017
At our Annual Meeting we reviewed and reflected on the past year and shared our achievements. We began the year with 22 members and have since grown to 34 ! We have enjoyed a range of demonstrations, walks, trips and festive celebrations.We even won a silver medal at a WI skittles tournament, raised funds,through various activities for local charities at Heyday and made vast amounts of tea and cake for a large group of very hungry Dorset ramblers.
It’s been a busy, entertaining, challenging and lively year!
We welcomed two new committee members this year – Ann Pearce (Campaigns) and Liz Thomson (Events). We also said farewell to two long standing members who are stepping down from the Committee after many years loyal service :Brenda Martin and Kate St George. They have guided us through challenging times and supported us with their invaluable expertise as we evolved into a new WI group.Thank You Ladies – your experience,wise counsel and extensive WI knowledge has helped us to become a healthy and lively WI group with a bright future.Proceedings concluded with a Logo Quiz – challenging members on their knowledge of well known brands and products.It was a competitive session where the winners, after a tense tie break question,were rewarded with chocolate treats!
This WI is now in a healthy position to look to the future, to welcome new members and take on new challenges!
We will be meeting on Monday 8th May at 2pm at The Community Centre. Nicola Whitmarsh, a Fashion Consultant, will be giving a talk and demonstrating entitle ‘Feeling Good and Looking Fab’.The session will explore how to look great by using simple fashion tips and accessories to dress up or dress down! Scarves will be on sale.
Non members are most welcome .
Members are also reminded to bring along empty jars and prizes, to this meeting, for our Heyday ‘Jambola’ stall.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to 3 WI members who won awards at Child Okeford Gardeners Club Spring Show.
Tricia Samuel and Pam Crooks both won first prize in different classes. Congratulations !
Liv Shonfield , with her 5 stems of spring flowers, was voted Best in Show and won the WI Centenary Cup. Well Done Liv
JAMBOLA
Please keep collecting jars. Do remove the labels and make sure they are clean inside. Keep them safe until asked to donate
We will be collecting the prizes at our April and May meetings so bring along items that will fit into a jar and that you would like to win! We also need cloth lids and elastic bands so bring along any pieces of material that might be useful. Thanks
2017
‘A WALK IN CHINA’
At our March meeting,we listened to an informative talk entitled ‘A Walk in China‘ by the well travelled Mike Spencer. In 2010 he joined a group of amateur trekkers on a 50 mile trek along the Great Wall of China – 10 miles in 5 days – to raise money for St Margaret’s Hospice in Taunton. Mike illustrated his talk with slides of his adventures that showed parts of the Great Wall rarely seen by tourists. It was a challenging and – at times – treacherous trek. Having trained on the flat Somerset landscape, the group were ill prepared for the many hundreds of steep steps they had to negotiate each day. However, they persevered and raised over £120K for the charity. Mike has not stopped trekking and is off to Iceland on his next charity challenge. We wish him luck. He generously donated his fee to the hospice.
We let Sammy and Joan loose in the kitchen for the teas !
Our past president Brenda was 21 again!
We made lots of home crafted Easter chicks for charity.
We event tweeted about them…..
Easter chicks knitted by @ChildOkShoWI & ready to raise funds for hospice care. Choc eggs will hidden inside! Had to tweet about the chicks!
February 2017
NEW DATES have just been added to our Events page
DORSET BUTTON MAKING WORKSHOP
We had a very informative February meeting with Brenda Skaife, President of Shaftesbury Morning WI . She gave a short talk on Dorset Button making. She explained the history of buttons and how valuable this cottage industry was to the families in Shaftesbury, Blandford and Sturminster Newton in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Nearly 1000 residents were employed in the industry including children, making buttons such as Wheels , Knobs and Top knots. ( Hence the term Dorset Knobs! )
In 1850 a button making machine shown at the Great Exhibition in London bought a tragic end to the industry – almost overnight the industry was ruined. Poverty and starvation came to the Dorset button makers; from the Shaftesbury district alone 350 families were shipped to the colonies at Government expense.
We were shown how to make a Blandford Cartwheel. Once provided with yarn, needles and patterns, 28 members plus 3 visitors made great attempts to recreate the wheel – some with more success than others! It was a very informative, practical session helping us to appreciate this heritage craft from our local area. Proceeds went to Brenda’s chosen charity – Dorset Air Ambulance.
JANUARY 2017
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE DUE THIS MONTH. £39
Cheques payable to:’Child Okeford and Shroton WI’ . Please pass payments on to our Treasurer, Liv Shonfield
RAMBLERS SPECIAL TEA PARTY – JANUARY 8TH 2017
To celebrate their 90th Centenary, 45 ramblers from Bournemouth and Poole Ramblers Club were served up a sumptuous tea of handmade sandwiches and cakes provided by members of the WI after two long walks in and around Child Okeford. After breaking into an impromptu rendition of ‘Jerusalem’ the walkers tucked in, consumed numerous cups of tea and had lively exchanges with WI team. Many compliments were fed back to the WI team and we hope they return again.
WI RESOLUTIONS MEETING Monday 9th January
We began the New Year by welcoming 5 new members swelling the current WI membership to 35. We also had thoughtful and lively discussions exploring the 6 proposed WI resolutions. Using materials supplied by WI Central office, members acquainted themselves with detailed information prior, asked questions and discussed the issues in small groups prior to casting their individual votes These will be carried forward to the WI National Conference in Liverpool in June where we are sending 2 members to represent 4 local WI groups.
Every resolution passed throughout the WI’s 101-year history has stemmed from a concern put forward by members. This uniquely democratic model offers the opportunity for members to combine their voice with 220,000 others to make a real difference on important issues..
The WI first campaigned 1921 urging the government to open up jury service to all. In 1943 the WI passed a resolution calling for ‘equal pay for equal work’ .In 1954 a resolution to ‘inaugurate a campaign to preserve the countryside against desecration by litter’ led to the formation of the ‘Keep Britain Tidy’ group. The WI were one of the first to propose a ban on smoking in public in 1964. In 1986 the NFWI was one of the first organisations to talk about AIDS and in the early 1990s the NFWI became a founding member of the Fairtrade Foundation.The ‘SOS for Honey Bees’ campaign was launched in 2009 and a call for ‘More Midwives’ was launched in 2012.
ACTION FOR MEMBERS
WI survey “Our WI, Our Future” deadline extended to 28/2/17
Click here for the link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/our-wi-our-future
DECEMBER
SEASONS GREETING TO ALL OUR READERS!
Our Christmas Celebration lunch took place at The Saxon Inn , Child Okeford at Monday 12th December . We had a tasty lunch followed by a lively entertainment from some of our members plus a raffle. Lots of festive fun, chatter, catching up with friends old and new plus sharing ideas for future events . Here are some photos of the event….
ACTION FOR MEMBERS
Have you completed your WI survey “Our WI, Our Future”survey?
Click here for the link https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/our-wi-our-future
Deadline is extended to 28/2/17
NOVEMBER NEWS
MONDAY 14th NOVEMBER AT 2pm
MAKING CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS
with
LINDA WHATMAN
We had a great time making our Xmas cones under the careful tutelage of Linda Whitman – Dorset Federation President. It was a lovely session , we all worked hard and enjoyed chatting to our neighbours. Thanks all who made this meeting such fun, active and festive.
CHANGE TO JANUARY 9th MEETING
WI RESOLUTIONS MEETING
The next National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) Annual Meeting is in the Echo Arena, Liverpool on Wed 7 Jun 2017.
It is our turn to send a delegate to represent four WIs in our area: Child Okeford & Shroton, Pims and Needles Sturminster Newton, Stalbridge and Shillingstone. We are going to send 2 of our Committee this time and share the costs of the additional delegate.
In order to ensure we are all fully aware of, and understand the fine detail of all the forthcoming Resolutions, we will use the next meeting to discuss the issues in detail as well make a few resolutions of our own. It will be a lively session as we aim to make the discussions fun and engaging plus we will have our usual raffle and tea.
Our Travel specialist speaker Mike Spencer will be rescheduled to later date .
MINUTES OF WI MEETINGS
The minutes of our meetings will be circulated to all members via email.
Those few members without email will receive a paper copy from a colleague.
A limited number of copies will also be available at meetings.
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DORSET COUNTY WI NEWS
DORSET FEDERATION OF WOMEN’S INSTITUTES (DFWI)
ANNUAL MEETING 2016 – A brief report
On Thursday 20th October, Dorset WI took over the concert hall at The Lighthouse, Poole for their AGM. It was a busy,lively and inspiring event celebrating the work ,across Dorset, of its 130 WI organisations and its 4000+ members.
8 members from Child Okeford and Shroton WI attended and had a busy yet throughly enjoyable day listening to speakers,collecting information, sharing ideas and shopping at the WI market stalls!
A song and dance routine from Absolutely WI Ferndown set a lively tone for the day. Reports from the different DFWI Committee Chairs showed how healthy the WI is across the county. There are always improvements to be made but the overwhelming tone was positive and looking to a positive future.
The DFWI President, Linda Whatman, supported this with news of the growth, nationally, in the number of WI’s. The first Dorset workplace WI at RNLI was welcomed. We were also reminded that 2017 is the Centenary year for Dorset WI and many events are planned to celebrate this momentous achievement. 3 of the first 4 WI’s to be formed came from Dorset.
Valerie Stevens, The European President of ACWW (The Associated Country Women of the World ) spoke with great passion about the WI contribution to largest international organization for both rural and urban women, with a membership of nine million in over 70 countries. Her words were inspiring and uplifting. It was, with some humility, that we learnt how our donated ‘pennies’ and other fundraising activities contribute to schemes across Europe to improve and enrich the lives of women
Keynote addresses came from Val Bugden-Cawsey – on her life in catering and her role as housekeeper to the Princess Royal. Her storytelling was highly engaging and very funny particularly her tale about Dundee cake and Gurkha guards plus a major malfunction in the kitchen over Chicken Liver pate, a wooden spatula, a blender, the dogs belonging to the Princess Royal and a Royal family dinner. She gave us quite an insight into her life as a chef and as a member of the Royal Household.
The second keynote speaker was Julie Summers, a biographer,historian and story teller.Her books include ‘Jambusters’, the stimuli for the ITV series ‘Home Fires’ that featured the WI and the impact of WW2 on the women in a small Cheshire village. Her stories are based on fact and the methods she uses to find a story, research and then retell were fascinating. Other books include ‘Stranger in The House, a collection of reminiscences of the experiences of women welcoming their menfolk back from war. Another book she has penned is ‘When The Children Came Home’,the stories of Wartime Evacuees.
We were also serenaded by Wyke Regis WI Choir.
The event ended with the presentation of cups and awards.
Here are some images of the day
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OUR NEXT MEETING IS ON
MONDAY 14th NOVEMBER AT 2pm
MAKING CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS
with
LINDA WHATMAN
2pm at The Community Centre
The meeting will cost £2 for members and £6 for non members to cover materials
All Welcome
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OCTOBER NEWS
Congratulations to Hazel Ward, one of our members, on winning the WI Centenary Cup at the Shroton Show for best preserve. News has only just made it through to Child Okeford !
The highlight of our October meeting was an interesting, illustrated talk about tea by Anne White. We learned how an ancient Chinese beverage, first imported into the UK 300 years ago, is now synonymous with our British way of life.
After being given a sachet of green tea to take home and try, we ended our meeting with a strong brew of English breakfast served with milk in traditional WI cups and saucers. We used tea bags but how do you make your tea
Thanks to Gaynor Cox, our WI Secretary for this contribution
OCTOBER..TIME FOR TEA
Sharp Eyes….In readiness for our next meeting an eagle eyed WI member,Hazel Ward, spotted a set of six WI cups and saucers in a local charity shop. She negotiated a great price,and they were duly collected by our President Liz smith and added to our stocks. They will come in useful on Monday 1oth October for our talk on tea!!
Our next meeting is on Monday 10th October at 2pm at The Community Centre where we will welcome Anne White. She will be talking about ‘The History of Tea’ so come along, have a cuppa, a chat and discover more about the nation’s favourite teatime tipple!
Contact Liz Smith, President on 01258 860432 or Gaynor Cox, Secretary, 01258 861145 for further details .
Nothing like a good cuppa tea…..come and join us…..
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SEPTEMBER NEWS 2016
Check out the WI noticeboard by The Village Stores…its had a makeover!
We have added new dates for 2017 to the Events Programme
At our meeting in September, members heard a talk by Rose Hatcher, Fabric Artist. Because she had evolved her own particular method of creating Fabric Pictures she first explained why, for her, the use of certain materials was important.
She achieved a Felted Picture using flimsy strands of wetted Merino wool, first with a background of white, followed by layers of coloured wool adroitly placed and highlighted by silk fibres. After being wetted each layer had to be pressed down under netting and rubbed repeatedly to make the wool fibres “felt” until she gauged that her picture was firm enough to dry and could be rolled in towel. Her skill showed in a dried and firm picture that ultimately she was able to show members. Contributed by Kate St George.
We hit the headlines in the WI Life magazine. This goes to all members across England. A photo of our fabulous stall at Heyday was featured in an article on the many varied ways the WI members celebrated the Queens 90th birthday!
The WI also featured in the BBC ‘Last Night of the Proms’ where the eventful story of the poem ‘Jerusalem’ and its music, composed by Sir Hubert Parry, was shared. After initial political issues, the song was eventually saved by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies and used until 1928, when they were wound up after women won the right to vote. During the 1920s, many WIs started singing it at meetings and this caught on nationally. This anthem has had a colourful journey and is still sung at many WI meetings and major WI events today.
AUGUST NEWS 2016
The Child Okeford and Shroton WI are having a busy summer.
We have taken up the call from our National Federation to become ‘more digital and use social media.’ So, we now have a new page on the Child Okeford village website. Have a look at:
http://www.ice-break.co.uk/village/community/clubs-and-societies
For general enquiries we have an email address:
childokefordshrotonwi@gmail.com
We also have a Twitter feed – you can follow us at:
@ChildOkShoWI
Of course we have not given up on more traditional means of communication, and the WI noticeboard at Cross Stores always has information about the next meeting. We also publish items in the following parish magazines : The Hill and Fippenny News.We are also found online in Shroton Lines.
NEXT MEETING IS... on Monday 12th September at 2pm. Artist Rose Hatcher from The Workhouse Chapel, Sturminster Newton will give a talk and demonstration on felt making. Employing only wet felting techniques, she creates pictures, vases, coats, cards, jewellery and much more.
Did you know:
The WI is now the largest voluntary women’s organisation in the UK and currently has almost 220,000 members in approximately 6,300 WIs.
Go to http://www.thew.org.uk for further details.
Child Okeford and Shroton Institute is also part of the Dorset WI Federation and locally we are linked to five other Institutes known as ‘The Beacon Group’: East Orchard & Margaret Marsh, Sixpenny Handley, Melbury Abbas & Cann, Sutton Waldron & Iwerne Minster and Tarrant Gunville.
We meet together regularly, and July was the Annual Skittles Match. It wasn’t quite the Olympics but we are very proud of our team who came away with a silver medal. The hosts, Tarrant Gunville, took the gold. One of our skittles squad also achieved top score for the evening. This is a now our new WI ‘games record’ that sets a high standard for future matches! The evening finished with a magnificent spread of sandwiches, savouries and cakes, courtesy of our hosts.
If you are interested in joining us, please complete the Contact Us page
Child Okeford Women's Institute 