About our meetings
We meet in Crosfield Hall usually on the fourth Wednesday in the month
Our next meeting is on April 24th Sarah Delves will talk about "Handbags: A historical journey.
Here is an update from our last meeting on Wednesday 27th March 7.30pm at Crosfield Hall Romsey
Romsey WI Meeting Report March 27th 2024
In the Presidents absence Diana Calcraft opened the meeting and welcomed all members and visitors. .
Diana introduced John Hughes who gave an interesting and varied talk on the birds of Ascension Island. He has spent many years visiting there …as an active member of the arms services and also as a member of the forces ornithological society. He also provided information on the development and use of Ascension Island as a military base.
The Island was first used as a base to prevent the French from freeing Napoleon from St Helena. It was used in the Second World War and also in the Falklands War as a valuable airbase.
All food and supplies are flown in and a desalination plant provides water.
It also acts as a communications point to transmit BBC broadcasts to South America and South Africa
John Hughes described the birds who live and nest there ,the challenges of reaching them for identification and the ringing of them.
He talked about the consequences of introduced birds to the island particularly the effect of Mynah birds on turtles eggs and nestlings.
He was thanked by Caroline G
Members were advised of a change to our programme. There will now be a meeting in June and our speaker will be Kevin Brunger, talking about life in Madeira and a book he has written about an amazing and interesting historical character there.
There will not be a meeting in August but members were asked to put ideas down for a get together .
The ladies providing refreshments were thanked and volunteers were sought for May and June meetings.
Sue V gave a financial report, informing members that subscriptions will be due in April.
She proposed that proceeds from our raffle in April go to purchase an entry to the 300 club. This was agreed by members.
Diana gave a brief report of the Spring Council Meeting. She announced to members that the new County chairperson is Katrina Kemp and that the County Treasurer is Gail Pussard.
The raffle was then drawn
The Competition was announced by Caroline with the winning entry being Ann N's picture of a Peacock. Diana came second for a cartoon of a Battenbird by Simon Drew. Judy A won third prize for her photo of a Kingfisher catching a fish from her garden pond.
Diana then thanked all for coming and noted that next months talk will be Sarah Delves, talking about Handbags.
The meeting closed at 9.15 pm
Our next meeting is on April 24th Sarah Delves will talk about "Handbags: A historical journey.
Here is an update from our last meeting on Wednesday 27th March 7.30pm at Crosfield Hall Romsey
Romsey WI Meeting Report March 27th 2024
In the Presidents absence Diana Calcraft opened the meeting and welcomed all members and visitors. .
Diana introduced John Hughes who gave an interesting and varied talk on the birds of Ascension Island. He has spent many years visiting there …as an active member of the arms services and also as a member of the forces ornithological society. He also provided information on the development and use of Ascension Island as a military base.
The Island was first used as a base to prevent the French from freeing Napoleon from St Helena. It was used in the Second World War and also in the Falklands War as a valuable airbase.
All food and supplies are flown in and a desalination plant provides water.
It also acts as a communications point to transmit BBC broadcasts to South America and South Africa
John Hughes described the birds who live and nest there ,the challenges of reaching them for identification and the ringing of them.
He talked about the consequences of introduced birds to the island particularly the effect of Mynah birds on turtles eggs and nestlings.
He was thanked by Caroline G
Members were advised of a change to our programme. There will now be a meeting in June and our speaker will be Kevin Brunger, talking about life in Madeira and a book he has written about an amazing and interesting historical character there.
There will not be a meeting in August but members were asked to put ideas down for a get together .
The ladies providing refreshments were thanked and volunteers were sought for May and June meetings.
Sue V gave a financial report, informing members that subscriptions will be due in April.
She proposed that proceeds from our raffle in April go to purchase an entry to the 300 club. This was agreed by members.
Diana gave a brief report of the Spring Council Meeting. She announced to members that the new County chairperson is Katrina Kemp and that the County Treasurer is Gail Pussard.
The raffle was then drawn
The Competition was announced by Caroline with the winning entry being Ann N's picture of a Peacock. Diana came second for a cartoon of a Battenbird by Simon Drew. Judy A won third prize for her photo of a Kingfisher catching a fish from her garden pond.
Diana then thanked all for coming and noted that next months talk will be Sarah Delves, talking about Handbags.
The meeting closed at 9.15 pm
Pictures of our performance of "Malice in Wonderland " by Jill Fry
Here are some photos of our cream tea at Gilberts Nursery at Sherfield English
Romsey at 49!
Here are some photos of our 49th Birthday Meeting
Here are some of the Balloon sculptures made by Rob Driscoll at our Christmas meeting 2022 on December 14th
Here is our current Programme
About our activities
Our activity groups allow members to follow and share their own interests and give the opportunity to make new friends.We have the following groups and activities: walking,craft,darts, theatre,scrabble,lunch club and book club.
Every now and then we organise a walk.
Here is a photo of our Women Walk the World Event on April 29th in aid of ACWW
We walked around the Village of Braishfield
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Here is a photo of our Women Walk the World Event on April 29th in aid of ACWW
We walked around the Village of Braishfield
.
We had a cooling walk on a hot day along the Itchen Navigation
Our craft group meets monthly and attendees try a range of crafts....below are twiddle muffs ...knitted by members and donated to the Countess Mountbatten Hospice to provide distraction and comfort therapy.
Our darts group meets fortnightly in the Royal British Legion Club.
We took part in last years Darts Competition and came third.
In June 2019 we supported the Flags of thanks initiative, We made several flags which were expressions of gratitude to the Armed Forces Community.
After the exhibition, the flags were made into something meaningful or useful, such as a sleeping bag or quilt. These were gifted to residents of Alabare’s Homes for Veterans, who have previously been homeless, as a gesture of support and community. Lt. Col. Neil Stace, also known as the Sewing Soldier, has been spearheading the project, running workshops and transforming the flags into quilts, sleeping bags and ponchos.
Here are photos of some of our flags
We participate in the annual Romsey Show
Our craft group entered the craft competition in the Romsey show with this piece which followed the theme of Clean Rivers for People and Wildlife which is the National Federation of WIs campaign this year. Our theme was about making our rivers clean and we reminisced about Wind in the Willows and the joy of being on a river. We came 4th in the competition.
We also ran a photobooth in the show tent, which generated much interest from visitors who took photos of themselves in different headgear and disguises!
Hear is Romsey President and Secretary having a go!
We also displayed our bollard cover amongst those of other local WIs
Hear is Romsey President and Secretary having a go!
We also displayed our bollard cover amongst those of other local WIs
We belong to the Hampshire County Federation of WI's. In 2018 it was the countys Centennial Year . The craft group have made these pennants to celebrate our WI as part of the County Federation
WI Walking Netball
We have joined with North Baddesley and Chilworth WI to take part in the walking netball project!
Below are some photos of our members "getting a wiggle on!" |
Trips
From time to time we arrange outings....these are a chance to meet and spend time with other members,to experience new sights and learn new things!
In May 2019 we had a trip to the Bombay Sapphire Gin Distillery. as well as sampling the product we saw how the gin was made, saw inside the beautiful conservatory and smelled the various botanicals that flavour different gins.
In spite of the wild and wet weather we managed to miss most of the showers!
From time to time we arrange outings....these are a chance to meet and spend time with other members,to experience new sights and learn new things!
In May 2019 we had a trip to the Bombay Sapphire Gin Distillery. as well as sampling the product we saw how the gin was made, saw inside the beautiful conservatory and smelled the various botanicals that flavour different gins.
In spite of the wild and wet weather we managed to miss most of the showers!
In November 2018 we had a fascinating trip to DP world at Southampton docks. This huge dock facility unloads the worlds largest container ships. We had a behind the scenes look at how the unloading is managed by smart IT systems as well as having a tour round the dock and seeing the giant cranes that offload the containers.We saw the speed and efficiency at which containers are loaded onto lorries and organised in and out of the complex.
Taking some of the photos below was only possible through the minibus window!
Taking some of the photos below was only possible through the minibus window!
WI Tea and Tents
In true innovative WI fashion there was a lockdown Tea and Tents even.Everything was on line but this didn't stop us from decorating our camp,entering competitions, listening to brilliant speakers and learning new crafts. There was even some line dancing on offer!!
Two of our members joined the camping weekend and here are some pictures to tell their stories. Their craft entries won prizes too!