Committee members can be illusive, or maybe just modest. For some time I have been trying to get them all together on our Committee page – and today I have finally succeeded – our latest committee member, Fleurie, has been added … so if you would like to see your committee and find out what makes them tick … click here.
Category: WI news
Walking Netball
Bognor Regis WI netball team continues to thrive, playing every Wednesday 6-7pm at the Arena sports hall. We’re really lucky to have the lovely Ann coaching, and attempting to teach us skills, tactics and rules.
Sarah has embroidered team polo shirts for us all.
You’re welcome to pop along anytime – Annie Smith is our organiser.
Dinah Barrand
County Craft Award 2019
Back in the spring, the West Sussex Federation Art & Craft Sub-Committee announced this year’s County Craft Competition. As 2019 is West Sussex Federation’s Centenary Year – the competition had a centenary theme.
Members were asked to use the county flower of Sussex the ‘Round-headed Rampion’ – a flower also known as the ‘Pride of Sussex’, as shown on the Federation’s centenary badge, as inspiration….. and produce an item of craft in any medium.
Three members of Bognor Regis WI took up the challenge and produced three completely different and beautiful entries.
All the items submitted by West Sussex members were pre-judged at North Lodge by an independent judge from outside our Federation. All the items were displayed at the WSFWI Annual Meeting in October and the results of the competition were announced.
Our members did exceptionally well…
Barbara F was awarded 1st Place with her 3d Textile Rampion, and she was presented with the Silver Plate at the Annual meeting, which she will have on loan for the year.
June S was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ for her curved glass picture
Jan A was awarded ‘Commended’ for her framed stitched picture of the Downs
Congratulations to all of them, your fellow Bognor Regis WI members are very proud of you!
Words and pictures: Lesley Guppy
West Sussex WI Federation visits
Some of our members joined in with other WI members from across West Sussex on three events run by our WI Federation Public Affairs and Environment sub-committee this summer.
Warnham Nature Reserve Outdoor Talk and Walk – pond-life and plant-life was described to members by the wardens at this nature reserve near Horsham with passion for conservation. What a gem – a public space hidden just off the A24 near Horsham – well worth a visit.
In a Spin …. on a July summer evening – was held at a delightful venue at Field Place in Durrington. WI members, friends and family, were able to reflect the impact micro plastics may have in our oceans, and consider ways of reducing the detrimental effect on wildlife and potentially human life. An informative and thought provoking evening, with speakers from National WI Federation, Southampton Oceanographic Centre and Southern Water.
Barfoots of Botley Farm Visit – Barfoots’ farmers treated a total of 80 members from WIs across West Sussex to tractor trailer tours of their local farm at Pagham. They explained the workings of the farm, from planting through packaging and marketing the vegetable produce. It was impressive: the way Botleys balance environmental challenges with the need to produce our food was remarkable. To be given such a close insight into modern farming practices was an honour.
Each event was rewarded by good weather, good company and good speakers – reminding us how we can expand the value of our WI membership by joining in events put on by our WI Federation, advertised each month in the West Sussex News.
Words and photos: Jan Marsden
100 Oak Trees planted!
West Sussex WI Federation help with The Rise of Northwood at Slindon
As part of West Sussex WI Federation 100 years’ celebrations, 100 oak tree saplings were planted by WI members from across West Sussex on Saturday 16 March at Northwood, Slindon.
A draw, earlier in the year, allocated the planting to WIs to represent all West Sussex WIs. Although Bognor Regis WI was not drawn out of the pot, our WI friends from BRAs, Bognor Regis Afternoon WI, and North Bersted Village were. Bognor Regis WI, however, is lucky, as the trees are near enough for us to visit often. In fact, our next Bognor Regis WI walk, in April, is planned to Northwood!
Rain, strong winds, and tough ground conditions made the tree planting challenge harder than had been hoped for, but the deed was done.
Northwood is a site the National Trust and Forestry Commission have been regenerating since 2013. The original wood was cut down in the first World War, as wood was in high demand, and used for pit props and trench reinforcements. The land then accommodated a Prisoner of War camp, and in the second World War was used to grow crops. West Sussex WI Federation is proud to have been part of the woodland regeneration, and Northwoods’ next step in the history books.
Jan Marsden
Sussex County Show at Ardingly June 2018
Sussex County Show at Ardingly June 2018
What a showcase for the WI. In brilliant sunshine thousands of people came to the Ardingly Show, and many of those came to the WI tent, where refreshments and the craft exhibition impressed the public, and me!
Our WI name was proudly upheld by Sheila Farmer. Her butterfly watercolour painting, partly crafted at our WI Art Group, stood out as a true inspiration for summertime and met the class criteria extremely well. It was displayed amongst some exceptional pictures and did our WI proud.
There was a noticeable gap of WI entries from our end of the Federation, however. I did not enter this year, and on the day missed the buzz of comparing notes, skills and creativity. Next year, maybe a different matter – and I will be encouraging others of you to come along with me for the creative journey.
Well done Sheila and thank you for representing Bognor Regis WI.
Jan Marsden
Here are some other of my favourite entries at the Show
- A knitted toyshop
- Something made from 2 old shirts
- An item with mosaic as part of its design
There were over 200 entries and it was difficult to select the best in each class. We know the WI judges scrutinize the work and compare items, within each class, for things like design, use of materials, relevance to class criteria and skill. Many at the Show were making their own assessment on which items they liked best – here are some of my favourites.
Jan Marsden
WI campaigning bears fruit
In 2016 the WI passed a resolution to call on supermarkets to reduce food waste. Our member Manuela Andami has pointed out an article in The Times (Tuesday 22nd May 2018) reporting that WI campaigning has persuaded Tesco to remove all ‘best before’ labels from their own brand fresh fruit and vegetables – click here for the full article. Here is an extract …
Tesco signalled the end of the “best before” date yesterday as it became the first big supermarket to remove the guidance from products in an effort to cut food waste.
From today shoppers will no longer find date labels on most of the supermarket’s own-brand fruit and vegetable packets, including apples, potatoes, tomatoes, lemons and onions. In total, almost 70 fresh product lines will no longer show a date.
The store said that it would review customer feedback on the change and, if it proved popular, it would expand the policy to other products, meaning that dates could disappear from tinned fruit and vegetables, packets of cereal, dried foods, biscuits and crisps……………
Tesco’s decision to move away from “best before” dates follows intense lobbying by the Women’s Institute. Polling by the group found that less than half of respondents understood the meaning of “best before” labels while more than 70 per cent understood “use by” dates……….
Sometimes we vote for a resolution but don’t always see the results – here is an example of the influence the WI at the national level.
To find out more about how the National Federation is progressing this campaign and how everyone can help click here.
South of England Show 7th, 8th, 9th June.
Calling all knitters and crocheters, artists, authors , seamstresses and crafters, it’s that time of year again – yes – The South of England Summer Show. A place for old handers to show off their talents and any new creatives to take up the challenge.
We had overwhelming success last year and it would be fantastic if we could do the same or even better this year. There’s a wide range of classes to enter. Click to see the Ardingly schedule 2018 containing details of all the classes. Contact the committee is you want to see the book ‘On with the Show = OWTS’ which gives more details of the rules for each class.
The deadline for entries is our March meeting (Tuesday 13th). There will be a sign up sheet at the February meeting or contact one of the Committee.
Dinah Barrand
New Look and other changes!
As mentioned in The Buzz, the look and style of the website has been changed to bring it in line with our fresh new look on the annual programme book mark, information cards and other documentation.
We’ve changed to a blue background, and a line of beach huts, to emphasise our seaside location, on each page. Hope you all like it – comments welcome.
Another important addition to the website is a full calendar (accessed via DIARY DATES). This will hold all the planned events for our WI (meetings, coffee mornings, group meetings etc), also West Sussex Federation and National Federation events that have been highlighted on the Buzz. In this way you have one place to go if you want to check what’s on. The annual programme, for the detail about our monthly meetings, is still available, again via DIARY DATES.
If anyone see’s that a date is missing, do let me know – it’s important that this is kept uptodate.
Enjoy!
Kate Claisse
What a Hoot!
Over the last few years we have become used to the antics of Tony Harris with his amusing, suitably dressed talks about Sherlock Holmes and Henry VIII.
It seems he surpassed himself at North Bersted WI when he entertained them in costume as a Pantomime Dame.
Thanks to Flo Page for sending me this photo – Flo writes that ‘He was very interesting and so funny’ – he looks it, it must have been a hoot!!
Kate Claisse
Bognor Regis Women's Institute 