The Queen’s Jubilee Celebration

June 19, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

Our May meeting was a meeting of 2 halves with May being traditionally the Resolutions meeting and our celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

We discussed and voted to support the proposed resolution “Women and girls presenting with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are going undiagnosed.”

Members were then served with prosecco and cake and President Sue led a toast to the Queen. The cake was baked and decorated by our catering wizard Jack. Members enjoyed the chocolate sponge, filled and decorated with fruit and topped with meringue.

Members enjoyed a game of Royal People Bingo with 3 teams tying for first place. A hastily produced tie break saw Gina and Bee coming nearest to the question “How many rooms in Buckingham Palace?”. They each won a Jubilee edition box of tea bags adorned by corgis.

A competition to make a crown or tiara saw many members wearing their creations, even our guest Chris and visitor Karen joined in the fun. Members had been promised an award winning judge to appraise their efforts. Sue introduced our very own Jack, winner of a number of our competitions last year. Jack had come complete with an amazing crown which fooled members as she secretly spent the evening considering everyone’s efforts. Members were invited to stand for a final inspection.

Jack announced Sarah G as the winner and she was presented with a prize of fizz and jubilee tea towels.

The evening showcased both sides of our WI – the serious and the fun – a perfect WI meeting.

All the photos of the evening are in our photo album – click here to view them.

Words: Sue Harris

Photos: Joyce Aird

Chichester Guided Walks

June 19, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

How many times have we walked around Chichester without realising what we were walking past or understanding the history behind the buildings?

Two groups of members were treated to engaging and very informative tours by Chichester Tour Guides.

Roman, religious and Georgian history were just part of the fascinating insight to our nearest city.

Sue Harris

Adventure Golf Morning at Hotham Park

May 24, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

Karen, Gina, Jan, Bee, Clare , Maggie P, Jean and Sue H split into two groups to tackle the Wildforest Falls Adventure Golf.

There was much fun, frustration, some amazing shots and even a bit of fishing for a ball in the water.

An individual competition was won by Sue. Karen (last year’s winner) presented the newly bought golf trophy to Sue (who had also bought the trophy).

Jean, Bee, Maggie, Karen, Gina, Jan, Clare, Sue

The morning ended with teas and coffees in the sunshine.

Sue Harris

Committee unveiled!

April 8, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

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.

Skin, eyebrows, eyes, lips = make up!!

April 8, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

Last week I spent a very pleasant afternoon learning a lot I didn’t know about makeup techniques, with expert guidance from Fleurie Llewelyn, one of our members who have a lot of experience. For the first time in my life I applied some colour to my eyebrows – what a surprise that I actually had eyebrows! I also tried applying two shades of colour to my eye lids – another first! I asked Fleurie to give me some photos and a few words about what we had covered, and here they are …

A wonderful time was had discovering make-up products and techniques, I was really impressed with everyone’s enthusiasm. Not only was it lovely to meet other members and chat about a full range of products but to impart tips and tricks to a willing audience is always good fun. We discussed and applied base, foundation, eyebrows using stencils, pencil or powder, blusher/bronzer, blending of eyeshadows, glitter eyeshadow, highlighters and lipsticks. Lots of members commented on how their confidence has improved regarding trying techniques and I’m looking forward to hearing about how they’ve got on!
Fleurie

And of course, in true WI style we enjoyed a slice of Fleurie’s delicious chocolate cake!

Kate

BRWI March Member’s Meeting

April 3, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

Our March meeting saw members wearing blue and yellow in support of Ukraine and a Ukrainian flag on display. Members made a donation for blue and yellow ribbons to support our Craft Queen Sarah G’s fundraising for Ukraine.

With our speaker unable to join us due to a bereavement, our March meeting was the opportunity to spend time updating members on plans for the coming months, a longer refreshment time and then time to give old and new members the opportunity to get to know something about each other with a Get to Know You session.

Members gave generously to our Ice Cream themed raffle (thank you Sarah G for organising) and donated generously to a collection for Bognor Regis Foodbank.

Following on from February’s President’s Awards, the Seaside Hospitality award was presented to Gina Fitch-Roy who, in true BAFTA style, was unable to make the February meeting.

Many thanks to Dinah for creating the excellent illustrations on all our awards!

Sue Harris

Walking Netball update

April 1, 2022May 24, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

As we come to our Easter break the walking netball group has again achieved so much. We have consistently had 12 players or more to each session. We do a warm up, usually something fun or silly!, followed by a drill of some sort to improve our skills, then into a game playing for about 40 minutes.

The players have no time to rest on their laurels! Players have greatly improved their awareness, tactics, and knowledge of the rules. We feel we are a force to be reckoned with now.

If you are interested in joining us, please contact either Ann McLean or Sue Gooch direct, or go to the Contact page and your enquiry will be forwarded to us. The group has now reached the optimum number of players and a waiting list is in place for anyone wishing to join the group.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve played netball before or not. We play on Wednesday’s between 6-7pm at the Arena Leisure Centre.

Everyone is now looking forward to playing outside after Easter.

Happy Easter everyone

Ann McLean (WN Host)

BRWI February Member’s Meeting

April 1, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

At our February meeting we welcomed Peter Hadyn Jones an ambassador for Sage House Dementia Hub for a Dementia Friends Awareness session.

Sage House is one of our 2 local charities we support. Members were invited to bring items for a sales table and all proceeds for the sales table were donated to Sage House. The donation bucket revealed an amazing total of £107.15 – well done to all who donated.

The evening ended with the President’s Awards, long overdue as a result of the pandemic.

The Walk This Way Award – Jan Marsden Editor Extraordinaire – Kathryn Good

Tenacity Award – Ann McLean Saving The Day Award – Jen Tompkins

Sue Harris

Fleurie’s Hairstylers and Beeswax Wraps

March 1, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

Our new committee member, Fleurie, welcomed members to her home three times in the same week for the first of her events.

Hairstylers – What Does What?

Members entered Fleurie’s kitchen to find it transformed into a hair salon, complete with a vast array of hair styling equipment.

Fleurie showed us how to use the equipment with an eye on safety, as most were very hot.

She gave some life to Sue’s very fine straight hair, and Dinah was fascinated by her natural fascinator.

In true WI fashion there was tea and cake and even the cakes were hair styler themed!

Beeswax Wraps

After 2 hair sessions Fleurie then turned the focus on to making Beeswax wraps.

Maggie P, Jakki and I arrived to find the kitchen morphed into “ironing” central.

I was interested to learn we would be melting the beeswax with irons rather than in the oven as I’d previously learned.

The process was simple, a sheet of greaseproof paper, add a square of cotton, sprinkle with beeswax , cover with another sheet of greaseproof and iron.

We made squares for ourselves and for the sales table for the next WI.

Once again there was tea and this time bee themed biscuits.

We look forward to the Make Up sessions in March.

Words: Sue Harris

Photos: Dinah Barrand and Sue Harris

December Mini Raffle

January 28, 2022 br_wi_adminLeave a comment

The cancellation of our December meeting left committee with a boxed and bagged mystery raffle most of which could be carried over to the January meeting.

However some of the items couldn’t wait until January so committee held a “mini” raffle and prizes were delivered to three lucky winners by a Christmas Elf.

Sue Harris