In the absence of Jayne, President, who was on holiday, Elaine Barker, Vice President, welcomed everyone to the September meeting, including a new member, Lindsay Duggan and to the evening’s speaker, Sheila Keatinge.

Elaine thanked Margaret Dunn for the table flowers, and Margaret together with Pam Ruff for providing refreshments.

We were then treated to a talk and slide show of a wonderful and fascinating holiday cruising around and visiting Iceland which Sheila Keatinge took in 2016.

Janet Manson reported on the BFWI  Centenary + 1 Garden Party held at Waddesdon Manor on 10 August which was very much enjoyed by 5 members in lovely warm weather..  There were a number of stalls and a Scarecrow competition with ingenious entries and a chance to have a walk around the gardens.

The BFWI Parade of Banners is being held on 16 September when Jayne, Elaine and Mary Collins will share parading our Banner around Aylesbury Market Square.

The Beechwood Group Autumn Meeting will be at 8pm on 30 September at Missenden Abbey when the speaker, Will Phillips, will talk about The Liberty Family.  The cost of £5 will include light refreshments.

Margaret Ritter is kindly organising the details of our Christmas meal which will be at The Plough in Hyde Heath in the evening of 9 December.

The Monthly Board Games Group will be starting next month. Interested members should contact Elaine for further details.

Please tell a committee member if you would be interested in organising a monthly walk.  Walkers donate £1 each towards our Charity for 2020-21, Lindengate, which supports health and well-being through nature and horticulture in their beautiful gardens near Wendover next to the Garden Centre.  There is a Collection box at each meeting on our Welcome Table for any loose change.

Gillian O’Flynn gave details and information about the Chalfont & District Flower Club which meets at 2pm on the 4^th Monday of each month at The British Legion Hall, Woodside Road, Amersham (opposite the Fire Station).  The Club would love to welcome new members to just sit back and relax to watch NAFAS demonstrators create the most wonderful flower arrangements, which are then the prizes in the monthly raffle.  It is a friendly group with a chance for a chat over a cup of tea and a biscuit afterwards.

The next meeting will be in the Village Hall at 8pm on 14 October when David Coulton will speak about “Gordon Bennett”.  All visitors are welcome.

Jayne Faversham, President, welcomed a large number of members to the October meeting and also David Coulton, husband of member Ruth, who gave us a memorable talk about the origins of the phrase “Gordon Bennett”.

James Gordon Bennett was publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his Father, who was a crofter from Scotland. He was born in New York on 10 May 1841 and died in France on 14 May 1914 having led a very colourful life.

The term “Gordon Bennett” is an expression of incredulity which alludes to the outrageous behaviour of this American sportsman, publisher and all-round hell raiser! He was seen at one stage of his life riding around New York with just a white silk hat on!

He did, however, start the trans-Atlantic yacht race, TT racing in the Isle of Man, road racing in Ireland and hot air balloon

 competitions,

Ruth and David own a Little Austin 7 Opal and had just returned from a rally of about 160 vintage cars on the Isle of Man. We were also shown slides of the rally tour they attended in the most beautiful scenery in Ireland.

Jayne informed members that the Committee had been coming in early to make sure the hall was hygienically cleaned in readiness for the meetings.

It was suggested that as the 50p charge was at present not being made for refreshments, members might like to make a donation in the collection box towards our charity which is Lindengate. It was agreed that savoury as well as sweet biscuits would be provided for refreshments.

The WI Banner Parade held in Aylesbury on 16 September was enjoyed by Jayne, Elaine Barker and Mary Collins who luckily had fine weather.

The Beechwood Group Meeting held in Missenden Abbey was attended by 11 members who were given a very interesting talk about the Liberty family. Hyde Heath will be hosting the Spring Group Meeting on 27 April 2022.

Our team of Mary Collins, Di Coombes and Anne Underwood will attend the BFWI Jigsaw Challenge on 19 October.

The Christmas Dinner is at 7 for 7.30pm on 9 December at The Plough. The cost of £14 is greatly subsidised and includes a glass of wine or soft drink with a 2 course meal. The raffle will be held at the New Year meeting as it was not possible to have one at the pub.

Elaine is organising the Board Game Meetings in the afternoons which is being hosted in turn by those taking part.

Next month will be the Annual Meeting held in the Village Hall at 8pm on 11 November.

Jayne, President, welcomed everyone to the Annual Meeting and said that a card had been sent to Pam Epps on behalf of the WI wishing her a speedy recovery from her hip operation. Cards had also been sent to three members for their birthdays, including Jayne whose birthday was today!

Irene and Ruth had completed the list of speakers for 2022 and volunteers were asked to fill in the gaps for the refreshment rota so that the programme could be completed and printed in readiness for the New Year.

With the new flexible Subscription guidelines from the NFWI from April 2021, it was agreed to continue the subsidised amount of £34 for the year 2021-22 for our 34 members but as we had 3 months grace during lockdown, they are not due until 1st April 2022.

The Jigsaw team of Mary Collins, Di Coombes and Anne Underwood thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Next month will be our Christmas meeting in the Plough village pub at 7 for 7.30pm on 9th December, and thanks were given to Margaret Ritter for organising the evening. Everyone will be offered a glass of wine or soft drink on arrival plus a 2 course meal. There will be a raffle costing £1 a ticket. Any Christmas cards should distributed personally to individuals as there will not be a table to set them out on.

We will be supporting Lindengate until next September and as we are not collecting 50p each for refreshments, members may wish to put a contribution into the blue collection box on the welcome table.

The Annual Meeting then commenced with Avril Sherratt, Treasurer, presenting the financial statement and Mary Rose, Secretary, presented the Annual Report, which were both adopted.

As there were no members who wished to join the Committee, Jayne confirmed that the present 10 Committee members were willing to stand and they were re-elected.

In the absence of anyone else volunteering, Jayne offered to break with tradition and continue as President for another year. She then gave her President’s address thanking all the Committee for their work and support, firstly through the Covid-19 lockdown and particularly whilst she was ill in hospital for several weeks at the beginning of the year. She also thanked Margaret Dunn for distributing birthday cards and Irene and Ruth for organising speakers.

Ruth Coulton thanked the Committee for all their hard work during the year. The members then enjoyed refreshments.

We will be welcoming two WI Advisors to our meeting on 13th January 2022 at 8pm as it will be the speaker, Jaimie Frow’s first presentation and will be an audition. The subject will be “Thoughtfully Organised Homes”.