The minutes of Cockpole Green’s previous meeting were read and approved. It was reported that Diana Bush, Jennie Bendal and Maureen Rothery attended a recent textile exhibition in Brighton. Among the many displays was one item which was Cockpole Green president’s table-cloth.

The speaker was Mr. Alan Copeland who showed slides with some music entitled Curiosities in the Chilterns. These were really excellent and many unusual and amusing slides were shown. Laughter and informed comment was encouraged and the entire show was delightful and most enjoyable.

Members brought family photos for a competition. The winning group photo was of Mary Roman’s family taken on her husband’s 80th birthday on the Isle of Oronsay.

The motto chosen for their year was ‘Never put off ‘till tomorrow what you can do today, submitted by Judi Rowlands.

An excellent tea was provided by June Profit and Mary Lowe.

Flower of the month was a mauve Hellebore entered by Nan McDonnell.

The President of Dunsden WI, Christine Bland, started the evening by thanking the members for all their various contributions towards the success of the Jubilee party on January 14th. Everyone agreed that the evening had been most enjoyable.

On display were many thank you cards received from the guests who had attended and all were especially delighted with the personal gift of potted tete-a-tete daffodils that had been lovingly planted and tended by three green-fingered members.

The general business having been attended to, the evening then progressed with the speaker, Mrs. Angela Spencer-Harper, giving an illustrated talk about local history.

She had very many photographs, dating from the late 19th until the early 20th century, carefully prepared to demonstrate her thoughts and knowledge about these characters that were again brought back to life through this black and white medium.

From schools with sombre children to local woodmen displaying their working tools, she showed the environments of these people of varying ages who lived and worked around the Highmoor, Stoke Row and Rotherfield Greys areas. How different their lives were from today was eloquently explained, together with observations of how their lives had gradually improved over the years by showing pictures of very poorly dressed children in the late 1800s progressing to rather happier and better dressed individuals a little after the Great War.

She painted a fascinating picture of local life, depicting how local wood was used for making rifle butts during the war and varied information on the individuals who played their part in that horrendous conflict. There were so many more intriguing tales about village life portraying a multitude of interesting tit-bits, though there is not enough space here to tell. Much curiosity was kindled and members afterwards enthusiastically viewed the books that she has written on local history, more than one going home with a copy tucked under her arm!

Members were welcomed to the February meeting in Greys and the president, Varina Clark, presented birthday flowers to Anne Dixon and Val Mundy.

Future events were discussed including music tasters being held in Benson and a concert at Birmingham City Hall.

The president then welcomed the speaker, Mr. Adrian Thornton, who gave a very interesting talk on National Parks: Not Ours but Ours to Look After. There are 12 parks at present and their protection and conservation need a great deal of management. The pictures of The Lake District, Snowdonia, the moors, dales, the Broads, fens and coast, depicted a rich variety of landscapes. These areas of outstanding natural beauty are for us and future generations to enjoy.

Forestry and agriculture are now more enlightened and birds, butterflies and wildlife are returning. The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers help with the maintenance of paths and dry-stone walling etc.

The competition for a pretty pill box was won by Margaret Bowles.

The afternoon closed with a good tea provided by Margaret Bowles and Joan Norman.

Hambleden WI members have just proved that there is such a thing as a ‘free meal’—a supper (sans men) was held in the village hall in celebration of St. Valentine! There were no oysters but a very fine coronation chicken was relished, made specially for members by Bernie Beevis, lots of delectable puddings made by ladies of the committee and as much wine as one could sensibly drink were enjoyed.

Sandra Rose was reliably bedecked in quantities of sparkle and performed her role as mistress of ceremonies with panache. Jeanne Keene arranged a quiz consisting of guess ‘ye olde worlde farming equipment’.

Liz Roach, president, introduced the head co-ordinator of Sue Ryder Care, Nettlebed to give the after dinner speech.

At the 2008 annual meeting of Mill Green WI, Mrs. Pat Jones agreed to serve another year as president. She thanked retiring committee members, Mrs. Brenda Whittingham and Mrs. Liz Barlow for their hard work and enthusiasm over many years. She welcomed one new committee member, Mrs. Ann Richmond.

The financial statement was read and adopted as was the secretary’s report and the president’s address. The meeting was attended by Mrs. Pam Morden WIA who helped us through the proceedings.

Looking back over the year members realised just what a varied and interesting programme they have had. Speakers subjects have included a trip around the world (in slides), talks on Alice Elgar, Shakespeare, growing up with deaf parents, flora and floriate and the restoration of Westminster Abbey.

In a more informal mood members played boules at their summer garden party, visited Avington Park for a tour and afternoon tea, dressed up as cowboys for the village cake stall and played Call My Bluff on a cold January evening. They then rounded off the year with a very successful wine tasting evening for members and husbands.

The annual meeting ended with a brief demonstration on the benefits of pilates by Venessa Beresford. She showed members how they can exercise just sitting in a chair raising legs and arms. Members then put this into practice by raising a glass to the Queen on the anniversary of her accession to the throne. The champagne, kindly provided by Mrs. Shiela Carruthers, was most welcome.

Next year will be their 37th year and the programme promises to be just as interesting. They hope members will continue to support them and keep their WI going for many more years.

Peppard President, Irene Lindsay, welcomed members to their February meeting.This time all joined in singing to the new recording of Jerusalem, though there was a difference of opinion as to which was preferred.

Details of the menu was available for the birthday lunch at the New Inn at Kidmore End. The group meeting in April will be at Peppard. Plans are going ahead for the gala lunch in April next year.

Irene said she had planned another wine tasting in Peppard Hall on April 29th. Members were reminded to put their names down for the OFWI AGM at Oxford Town Hall in March and also she hoped that some would send photos to be considered for the 2010 calendar.

Peppard members were then treated to a most interesting talk by Judy Dewey on The history of Wallingford. She showed some excellent slides and members were particularly interested to learn about the ancient remains found under the site of the new Waitrose. She was warmly thanked by Pauline Lester.

Tea was served by Sally Longhurst and Joan Campbell. Flowers were by Cathhie Anderson and flower of the month was won by Ann Holt.

ACWW or the Associated Country Women of the World was the subject of the talk given by Sheila Price to Remenham WI at their January meeting.

The ACWW supports sustainable, suitable projects worldwide to improve the standard of living for women and their families. Since 1977 ACWW has backed more than 700 such projects. None are on a large scale with grants of around 3,000 euros, but by identifying urgent local necessities and the means of achieving them, varied and remarkable life-changing ventures have been launched and carried out. So it is good to know that the Pennies for Friendship collecting tin that is a part of WI meetings is a way of helping such a caring and important branch of Federation activities.

Sheila Price said that the latest project in south India was to give women from the lowest caste a buffalo and to show them how to feed and care for it, which would then repay its care with nutritious dairy food. After two years the general health of the community has improved dramatically. A warm vote of thanks was given to the speaker by Rosemary Pratt.

The meeting was taken by Sheila Constantinidi, who welcomed members to a new WI year and said that a new and exciting programme was being arranged for the coming 12 months, with the possibility of an outing to the Thames Barrier and Greenwich in the summer. So plenty to look forward to!

Merlin, a delightful Springer spaniel and his handler Ruth Dunkin came to Remenham W.I in February to illustrate the work of Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. Deafness is probably the least understood major disability, resulting in a feeling of isolation and loneliness. Hearing Dogs was launched at Crufts in 1982 to train dogs to alert deaf people to specific sounds at home, at work and in public buildings. At the present time there are 1,400 hearing dogs in Britain. In 1986 the first training centre was set up in Lewknor and ten years later this was replaced by The Grange in Buckinghamshire with larger and better facilities. The dogs vary from large mongrels to tiny pedigrees, but what they offer to their owners is increased independence, confidence and companionship. About 70 per cent of all hearing dogs are selected from rescue centres. Last year the association celebrated 25 years of their wonderful work. The president, Shirley Ballard, gave the vote of thanks to the speaker and some dog biscuits to Merlin!

Earlier the president had reminded members of the Spring council meeting at the Hexagon on April 16th, where the speaker Rosemary Hawthorne will talk about historical underwear.

The competition for a favourite dog photo had far more entries than usual and was won by Kay Hurley with a charming picture of her Scottish terrier, Jeannie. The raffle prize went to Judy Palmer. A delicious tea was served by Carol Wissett and her helpers. The next meeting is the AGM and starts at 1 p.m. with a light lunch.

Vice-chairm an Mrs. Pam Hutchings welcomed about 50 members, including four new members and a couple of guests, to the February meeting of Shiplake WI. This was followed as usual by the rousing singing of Jerusalem!

The recent Help for Heroes fund-raising morning at Shiplake Memorial Hall had been well supported by the village and WI members and had raised more than £1,200.

Pam Hutchings then mentioned all the exciting events and outings which were on offer during the next couple of months including the group meeting at Peppard WI when a retired vet would talk about his experiences on location, Denman competition to write a story about Ghosts, the Oxfordshire Federation AGM at Oxford Town Hall and local British Legion skittles evening in March to raise funds and forthcoming visits include the Tutankhamen Exhibition and Wickstead Park. Members were also invited to join a trip to Oxford for a guided walking tour, a joint excursion with Harpsden WI to Marble Hill House and Musical Museum in Richmond.

Other events included their monthly Shiplake WI February walk started and ended at a local pub for lunch, a Cancer Research UK coffee morning and Spring bring and buy fund-raising event for The Rosemary Club.

Sue Ryder had written to let members know of their forthcoming bridge drive and art exhibition asking if any of our WIs could help, and Helen and Douglas Houses (hospices in Oxford for children and teenagers) had informed them that they were opening a charity shop in Henley soon and would welcome volunteer helpers and donations. What a great variety of events and projects on offer to Shiplake WI members!

It was then the turn of the joint vice-chairman, Mrs. Russ Morgan, to let members know of the two resolutions that were to be debated and voted on at their May meeting in preparation for the National WI AGM —one resolution ‘Ban on Bottom Trawling’, and the other resolution ‘Inappropriate Imprisonment of the Non-criminal Severely Mentally ill’.

As Fair Trade Fortnight was to be celebrated during the next few weeks, Mrs. Barbara Mitchell had organised a Fair Trade Stall for the meeting and members were tempted with a table of goodies on sale and cookies to taste. It was then time to introduce their speaker, David Gilbert, who with the aid of slides, spoke enthusiastically about the city of Florence, A Gem of the Renaissance. He had fallen in love with Florence during his time there as a young student and members were left in no doubt that he was still in love with the city! Churches, buildings, monuments, Galileo’s finger now in a glass case, paintings, sculptures, Michelangelo, Medici, Botticelli, Leonardo —what an exciting, enthusiastic and comprehensive tour of Florence through the ages!

Hostesses Ursula Davies and Joan Brenton served up the usual delicious tea. The best flower bloom for ACWW was Marion Blundell’s Japonica, Pam Parrett’s Italian souvenir was winner of the monthly competition and Joan Breeton won the raffle.

Visitors and new members are always welcome at the monthly meetings. For more details contact Pam Hutchings on 0118 940 2252.

Stoke Row WI celebrated its 52nd birthday with entertainment from the Sainsbury Singers and a delicious supper.

Looking very smart in black and red, the singers performed old time music hall numbers which WI members had fun joining in.

Members enjoyed chatting to friends and visitors from local WIs who had been invited to the birthday celebration.

As well as the raffle and flower of the month competition, won by Marion Piper, there was a home-made mask competition, which was judged by the Sainsbury Singers and won by a visitor from Sonning Common WI.

Birthday posies were given out.

Members were told that money had been given to Tackley for a small Denman College course bursary in memory of late member Ruth Farey. The treasurer has sent off some old jewellery to raise money for the Alzheimer’s organisation.

Members have agreed to provide teas at Nuffield Place on May 11th and lunch for the Wargrave Pop-ins group in September.

A forthcoming trip includes greyhound racing on April 22nd.

Members were asked if they would like to be on the committee for the forthcoming year.

For more information please contact the president, Julia Ratcliffe on (01491) 642341.

Watlington WI’s president, Wendy Brown, welcomed two new members and a guest to their February meeting which was well attended. She began the business part of the evening by thanking all those who had helped to make the January party a success.

There was a fair amount of correspondence to be dealt with as various details had been received for visits, theatre trips and other opportunities in the coming year. Their own calendar for 2008-9 has already been arranged with a selection of speakers covering a wide variety of topics. They also plan to organise some coach trips with a suggested visit to Royal Ascot as well as to a National Trust property.

The speaker for the evening was Judy Crockett who was talking on the history of Watlington, specifically at the time of the 1871 census. The total population then was 1,617 and the sheets from the census that members examined provided a wealth of information with regard to families and employment at the time. Only ten per cent of the population was over 60 years of age, with just three people admitting to being retired.

Besides many public houses, Watlington also boasted 13 bakers, nine butchers and seven grocers. In those days one was able to obtain everything one needed without leaving the town which prompted discussion as to the reason for the dwindling number of retail shops over the past 50 years.

On Wednesday, April 9th Diane Greenwood will talk about community policing.

On February 6th the Woodcote WI Homes and Gardens group met up at the community centre to arrange days out through the year. This accomplished, members then went to the Ren Lion for lunch which was most enjoyable.

February 20th was Woodcote WI’s 64th birthday meeting and guests came from many of the neighbouring groups which was good to see. Members had a lovely party tea to celebrate. Edna Smith made the iced cake which Louise Norbury had the honour of cutting, being their eldest present member. Jean Taplin, Shirley Bryant and Jean Walker received birthday buttonholes.

Mel Rees then entertained members with hilarious tales of his own experiences through life and his ironic and amusing views of his family and offspring, bringing some memories of their own to light —definitely a laugh a minute!

Chance to Chat was at Audrey Hawthorne’s house.

A coffee morning in aid of the Meningitis Fund made a sum of £151. Thank you to everyone involved.

The lunch group went to the Bottle and Glass at Binfield Heath on February 27th where they had an excellent meal.

The next meeting is on April 16th. Kate Bradford is to entertain members with Fabulous 40s to Swinging 60s —more memories!