Leonard Stanley WI with speaker Val Winder on the occupation of the Channel Islands in World War II

OUR March meeting started with sunshine coming through the windows of the village hall, making us feel spring was here.

A number of apologies were received and quite a few birthday posies were handed out, including two special ones to Pat Hearne and Brenda Hallett.

President Maureen went through the Matters Arising from last meeting and said that the visit to Rocco Gardens to see the snowdrops had been very enjoyable as had our monthly lunch at the Italian in Stonehouse which had been excellent and a venue we will certainly visit again.

Members were reminded that we now only had one ticket left for the group meeting on April 6, and not to forget to enter their photographs of a single flower mounted in the competition.

Our Lent Lunch held March 8, had been very successful, as had the raffle and bring and buy stall and after expenses, we are sending a cheque to The Willow Trust for £235.

Well done everyone – it was hard work but worth it!

We have been raising money for the Denman Appeal and so far have £68.30.

In order to bring our donation to £100, Mary Nash offered to hold a Coffee Morning at her home on April 1, together with a homemade cake and preserve stall.

Although Christmas seems some time away, Ann reported that The Village Safari Supper Committee had kindly donated sufficient money to pay for the postage of our Christmas boxes.

WI Group Quiz on April 11, will be held at our village hall, when there will be nine teams entering.

Leonard Stanley are entering two teams themselves and we wish them luck.

Maureen went through topics of interest in the newsletter and said that it had been decided that this would no longer be funded by our WI for every member, and in future people could purchase themselves or arrange to share with another members.

Secretary Chris went through the various notices, including request for help at the Three Counties Show, June 16 – 18.

She also had received 2017 WI National Raffle Tickets to sell and managed to sell some in the interval when people saw the great prizes.

Someone has to win!

The speaker today was Val Winder who talked about the occupation of the Channel Islands in World War II.

She started off by ‘turning’ into her grandmother, wearing clothes, hat etc relevant to that time and describing her life when they heard that Paris had fallen and that children were to be evacuated to the mainland.

One could imagine the actual evacuation mostly of 25,000 children and teachers through her eyes and arrival at Weymouth over a three day period.

It was interesting to hear more details from Val herself and look at the various photographs, notices and extracts from her grandmother’s diary.

She received many questions from members, some of whom could remember things that had happened at that time.

Our next meeting is on April 10, when Rich Lockyer, Station Manager will talk about Fire Safety in the Home.

Competition for that month is a small flower arrangement in a mug.

As always visitors are most welcome.