Category: activities

THIRD WALKING NETBALL FESTIVAL

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On Saturday 1st April the Walking Netball group played in their third netball festival. This was held at Chichester University again in the sports dome, such a fantastic facility. This time there were 14 teams entered, this is the most ever for a walking netball tournament which shows the strength of interest in the sport.

We played seven games in total winning 2, drawing 1 and losing 4. On the day our shooting was rather inconsistent, which was a shame as our overall play has improved tremendously in terms of accurate and consistent passing. Our confidence has also grown and we were not so panicked in our first game as last time. We are beginning to react more quickly to situations and control the game more successfully.

In between games I had offered to do some umpiring so was running from umpiring to playing on a couple of occasions. The team/squad consisted of 9 players: Sue, Sarah, Jo, Jackie, Barbara, Mary, Dinah, Jen (our new president and her first tournament) and myself. Also accompanying us were Jan and Elaine who came along to support and be on standby, but ended up being our scorers, team organisers and giving us feedback; they provided much needed help and support. Thank you both.

At the end of the tournament one player from each team was awarded a medal for playing “in the spirit of walking netball”. This went to Barbara.

 I have to say the games were really fast and the standard was extremely high so we have much to be proud of. Thank you so much to all those who played. Everyone had moments of brilliance on court. Thanks again to Elaine and Jan for their much needed support.

Ann McLean

Walking Netball Host

Arundel Treasure Trail

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We met in Arundel on a gloriously sunny Saturday afternoon and attempted the Murder Mystery challenge from the Treasure Trail company. Members donned their best detective outfits, broke into 3 small groups, and set off following directions to solve clues all around the town of Arundel.

It’s a bit like Cluedo where you have to eliminate suspects and weapons until you’re left with just one of each. Solving number problems using dates, anagrams from plaques and signs and all sorts of things you would never normally notice. We did get a lot of comments and looks, not surprising as we were a group of women dressed as Miss Marples, Sherlock Holmes and Vera running up and down the pavement shouting ‘I’ve found it!’

Once finished we gathered at The Swan and had a well deserved drink whilst we entered our special barcode from the booklet online to receive the answers for each question and ultimately who was the murderer and the weapon used. It really was a fantastic afternoon with some members enjoying their time at The Swan on through to the evening!

We will most definitely be doing another one in Chichester this summer and I for one can’t wait!

Fleurie x

Christmassy Walking Netball!

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The walking netball group had our final session before Christmas on 14th December. The session was fun with Christmas hats in abundance and they were actually needed as the sports hall was really cold! However, this did not ‘freeze’ our spirits.

The game was fast and fun and every time a goal was scored the shooter had to change with another player in her team. This meant that everyone played a variety of positions. We all enjoyed the frenzy of changing position and the shooting was really impressive as everyone played shooter at least twice. 

If anyone would like to join us in the New Year and be part of this amazing group please contact us.

We resume again on the 11th January.

Merry Christmas to all in the Bognor Regis Walking Netball Group.🎄

Ann McLean

Netball Host

Christmas Lunch

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Twelve members of the eating out group made an early start to the festive season.  We went to the Chichester college 64 Restaurant at the end of November, where we enjoyed the Xmas lunch menu.  It was very festive and lively at the restaurant with at least 3 other big parties.  There was also time for Xmas shopping in Chichester before and after the meal.

Lorraine Stonelake

Christmas Netball Festival

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On Sunday 4th December the Walking Netball group took part in a Christmas Netball Festival held at Chichester University. The response to the call of ‘who would like to play?’ was brilliant and we had eleven players on the day, ready to show their skills. We had 9 in our playing squad and had chosen a team name of The Bognor Baubles. Our 2 extra players were, in the end, used by another team as they were short of a player and therefore everyone got a good amount of netball.

We played 4 games overall and embraced the Christmas theme and the ‘let’s have a good time’ ethos. Of the 4 games we won one, but I sincerely felt we were on a par with every team we played. Nerves did get to us in the first game, but after that our improvement was immense.

At the end of each game we had to elect a player from the opposition who ‘embraced the spirit of the day’ and at the end of the morning each team was awarded a medal for their player who embodied that. Jan was our winner! Well done Jan, but the whole team was fantastic.

The team was: Sheila, Jan, Jo, Jack, Jackie, Barbara (our captain), Flo, Sarah and Elaine. Dinah and Mary played for the other team. Players to mention were Sarah who just got better and better throughout the tournament and displayed some fantastic defending skills, Sheila who enjoyed a great game at Wing Attack position, Barbara who was such an encouraging captain, and Jo who worked so hard in every position she played.

Thank you all for playing and making it such an enjoyable Sunday morning.

Ann McLean

Netball host

Nail Care

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Big thanks to everyone who came to learn some professional techniques when caring for your nails.

We covered Anatomy, Filing, Cuticle Care, Massage and Painting.

Really fun sessions as always, thanks also for the donations which go into the WI funds. 

Fleurie Llewellyn

Carry on Camping BRWI Style

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The end of June saw 13 WI members go camping for the weekend. 

The campsite had been tested the previous  year by a small advance party and found to be perfect for our needs.

Friday afternoon saw members arrive and pitch their tents, hang bunting, raise the flag and adorn their tents with fairy lights. 

The most welcome arrival was Jack who had organised the weekend and was also our cook and had brought enough food to keep us going for a week not just the weekend. She set about making salads to go with the already cooked veggie chilli in a slow cooker and jacket potatoes. She even brought a small fridge. 

The camp fire was lit by Sue G who then gave lessons on how to use a carbon steel firelighter to light a fire.

Shortly after we arrived there was a great noise from the woods as a tree fell, a bit scary as it was quite a large one. A tree falling in the woods does make a noise. 

We settled down around the fire to eat our delicious supper and have a drink or two but the rain gods had other ideas and it began to rain heavily.  Luckily there was a large wooden shelter we all could fit in, unfortunately the roof hadn’t been finished properly and the joints leaked.

June Member’s Meeting – Mrs Tompkin’s Art Class

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Our secretary Jen Tompkins is an Art Teacher and at our June meeting she led the group for an evening of art, using stencils, tracing, watercolours and pastels. 

Member’s benefited from Jen’s expert instruction and advice whilst also enjoying the opportunity to chat whilst being creative.

Some members came prepared with aprons to protect their clothes unlike myself who came in a white linen top!!

Manuela decided to come appropriately artistically dressed in a smock and beret.

In addition we had a Midsummer raffle and a recycling collection for 4Sight one of the local charities we support.

Sue Harris

Walk Group 2022

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Our Walk group has just completed its 2nd Day Walk of the year, 9 miles with a hill, picnic and a pub   Setting out from Sullington Church the flat level walk along the northside of the Downs turned into a climb up to the South Downs Way at Chanctonbury Ring, Washington.   The climb did not beat us:   some took it slowly, while the others waited at the top for the stragglers to arrive!    The views were amazing, out to sea and across the Weald to the North Downs.

On the Day walk earlier in the year, again we ventured up on to the South Downs Way. It was a good 7 mile walk passing a dell of snowdrops above Chilgrove, saw glimpses of West Dean Estate’s Monkton House, which has connections to Salvador Dali and surrealism décor, and the deserted medieval village of Monkton.

Our summer evening walks have been popular and taken us on some new walks and some familiar ones.  The walks round Goodwood Racecourse threw in one of those hills we are not so keen on, but Pagham Harbour across to Siddlesham left us with plenty of breath to chatter away and take in the scenery.  

The pub at Charlton, The Fox Goes Free, where the first WI in England met in 2015, featured again after a good walk over Levin Down and an encounter with some feisty cattle!   The Eartham Wood walk, lead by Mandy, explored paths new to many of us.

The summer walks are not over yet.  With plans to walk from Pulborough to Amberly through the Arun Valley, and a final evening walk along the beach at Elmer.

Jan Marsden

For these and more photos click here to see the Walks 2022 page

Walking Netball Festival 13th July 2022

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Eight players set off to Worthing for our very first walking netball festival on a very hot day!

It was classed as a fun event based around the countries of the Commonwealth Games. We were lucky enough to be England and dressed in red and white. Tutus were the order of the day plus face painting, red flags in tape on our shirts and some natty headbands. I have to say we looked pretty amazing.

The day was organised with fun in mind and we played three games and took part in the shooting and passing activities which gave us some new activities to take back to the group.

Although the game scores were not recorded you couldn’t stop teams from knowing whether they won or lost. Our first game was against ‘Malawi’, and although the organisers had said we should take it easy and slow the games down, this was not the case as everyone was competitive. They were a very good team and we were understandably nervous and only lost by the narrowest of margins. Our second game was against ‘New Zealand’ and we were starting to be more confident and managed to win by the narrowest of margins! Our third and final game was against ‘Scotland’ and it was this game where we came into our own displaying some great passing and shooting. In between the games we had fun activities. We became very adept at the passing activities but not so good on the shooting activities.

All in all we had an amazing day and Jan especially made one new friend! One of our players of the day has to go to Elaine who proved to be so good at shooting on the day. Having said that all the players played their hearts out and we worked so well together. The team was: Sheila, Dinah, Sue, Elaine, Jan, Jack, Mary and myself. We are certainly up for the next one! Thanks to everyone for a memorable day.

Ann McLean

Walking Netball Host