After the success of our Competition Cup in 2015, BRWI members fully supported the committee’s decision to organise the Competition Cup in 2016. The rules remained the same; at every monthly meeting we would have a competition linked to our speaker or theme for the evening. With the aim of offering everyone an opportunity to showcase their talents, the brief would take the form of an item crafted at home, something grown, found, or an in

-house quiz to take part in on the night. Every entrant would receive one point, and members would select their favourite to win by placing a coin next to it. The
number of coins, not the total amount would indicate the top three and all the money raised would be donated to ACWW (Associated Country Women of the World). The top three entries as
selected by members would receive: 1^st – 5 points, 2^nd – 3 points, 3^rd – 1 point. The member who has accumulated the most points at the end of the year would be the winner and presented with the cup.

2016 saw a variety of competitions, linked (however loosely) to the theme of the speaker or meeting:

 

We started 2016 with ‘Design your own Femme Fatale’ in honour of our January speaker Ellen Cheshire who spoke to us about Film Noir and Femmes Fatale. This was the winning entry submitted by Katie.

 

 

 

 

February’s competition asked us to ‘Bring our own Boat’ to celebrate Trevor Sapey’s (The Mary Rose Trust), fascinating talk about the Life and Death of a Tudor Sailor. The entries were so inspiring, that three came joint first – Katie, Chris H and Karen.

Our March meeting ‘Over to You’ was a members meeting and WI members were asked to talk or demonstrate something of importance to them. The competition ‘Over to You’ asked members to scribe a story in 100 words or under; and Chris H was selected as the overall winner by members, with her humorous poem about housework…

I Hate Housework I really do hate housework I find it such a chore Just the thought of ironing Makes me want to snore My hoover gathers dust Not in the way it should The laundry basket it brims over Oh the trials of adulthood And on the rare occasion That the house has a shine The husband and grandkids arrive And ruin that hard work of mine Then I must start over It makes me want to cry I wish we got on better My hoover mop and I

April was an in-house competition where our members were asked to guess whose baby photo belonged to which committee member, celebrating the very popular
Eleanor Stewart-Richardson who talked to us about her life ‘From Nun to Midwife’. Only Gina correctly identified all the photos! And many did not recognise our president Lesley from this photo.

In May at our Resolution Meeting, we had our most popular competition of the year with 21 members entering. All members had been given two seeds at our April meeting – but where not told from what plant they came. Members were challenged to grow the seeds and then ‘Show us their Bloomers’. Betty was the worthy winner.

Our June meeting had a local theme, and when members returned from their ‘Quiz about Town’ they took part in the in-house competition of ‘Whose Blue?’ A picture based quiz based on the blue plaques around Bognor. Chris H identified the most blue plaques and was awarded 1^st place.

Our July speaker was our very own WSF Chairman Yvonne Price with her talk ‘Under the Microscope’. We had another in-house competition ‘animal, vegetable or mineral’; members were asked to identify the photos around the hall correctly. Sue R was incredibly surprised to discover she had correctly identified the most and took 1^st place.

In celebration of Tony Harris speaking at our September meeting as Sherlock Holmes, our competition was ‘Elementary!’ and saw members craft an item relating to the famous detective. June N won the coveted 1^st place.

At our Annual Meeting in October, we ‘squashed’ into the church hall with our decorated pumpkins to celebrate our 7^th birthday. Karen was selected the winner with her ‘Death Star’ from Star Wars.

 

 

 

 

Ian Everest joined us in November to talk about the Women’s Land Army and we remembered those who had served their country by making ‘a craft to remember.’ There were many beautiful and thought-provoking entries; Barbara was chosen as the winner.

 
Our meeting in December was enriched by Le Salon du Chocolat of Chichester who educated us on the History of Chocolate and brought samples for us to try. Our competition was festive with ‘Hang It’ and we had 11 very different hanging Christmas decorations adorning our winter tree. Sue A’s entry of the Beach Huts was a very popular choice with members and she was awarded 1^st place.

 

So as 2016 came to a close, it was time to add up all the points and award the 2016 Competition Cup. It was an extremely close race and only a few points separated the top three:

1st – Chris H – 26 points

2nd – Karen M – 24 points

3rd – Barbara F – 23 points

At our January 2017 meeting our president Lesley awarded the inscribed 2016 Competition Cup to the winner Chris:

Chris will have loan of the cup for a year and then will return it to the committee so it can be awarded to the winner of the 2017 Competition Cup – which has already got off to a great start!

And lastly, thanks to Karen and Katie, our Competition Cup co-ordinators for all their hard work.

Report written by committee members Katie and Lesley.