President, Elaine, welcomed everyone to the March meeting, including the speaker, Jo Laurie, accompanied by her husband, Graham, who acted as her technical assistant for the evening!

Congratulations were given to the Jigsaw Challenge team of Pam Ruff, Anne Underwood and Mary Collins, who came 2nd out of about twelve teams and just 3 mins behind the winners! The jigsaw is available for members to borrow.

The WI Bulb Scheme brochures were available to take home.

The team of Avril, Christine and Anne Underwood are awaiting confirmation of a place in the BFWI Inter-County Quiz to be held on 23 March.

The Beechwood Group Spring meeting will be at Wendover at 7 for 7.30pm on 25 April at St Anne’s Hall, Wendover, cost £5. A board was circulated for those wishing to attend to sign.

A Guided Walk/Outing has been arranged by Elaine for 3 May 1 – 4pm meeting at Jordans Village & Visitor Centre. The cost is £5 plus £1 to our funds.

Volunteers were asked for to help with the teas and provision of cakes in the Cricket Pavilion at the Hyde Heath Fete on 13 May. A £3 refund will be available to cake makers.

The Hyde Heath Evening WI will be celebrating their 60th Diamond Anniversary in January 2024 and members were asked to give any ideas they may have for a suitable celebration to a member of the Committee.

It has been suggested that we bring forward the start time of the meetings by half an hour to 7.30pm to enable all members to join in the social and refreshment part of the meetings as the present finish time was felt to be rather late, particularly on dark evenings. This will be discussed and voted on by members in due course.

“Clean Rivers for People & Wildlife” is the Resolution which has been selected for the NFWI Annual Meeting in Cardiff on 25 May.

The subsidised Annual Subscription of £38 was agreed by members at the February meeting and will be due by the end of March.

Elaine then introduced Jo Laurie, who described the life of her Mother, an amazing woman who trained at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge to become a State Registered Nurse. After working at Charing Cross Hospital for a while, she travelled by sea to China to work in Shanghai.

As a young woman she travelled and worked in the Far East and Africa keeping diaries and photos of her experiences which Jo used to create her talk .

Next month’s meeting will be at 8pm on 13 April when Kate Lillie will give a talk on “Medic to Medic”.

President, Elaine, welcomed everyone to the meeting. Thanks were given to Lydia for the intriguing LEGO flower arrangements, beautifully constructed by her granddaughter.

Elaine thanked everyone for their support in providing cakes and helping at the Hyde Heath Village Fete teas. She thanked Sylvia and Lyndsay for offering to do a flower arrangement, but there was not a Flower Festival at St Andrew’s this year. 

Christine reported on the Beechwood Group Spring Meeting held at Wendover on 25 April which was much enjoyed by the 5 members who attended. It was a lovely atmosphere with excellent entertainment and refreshments.

The majority of members who signed a board agreed to the change in the start time of the meetings from 8pm to 7.30pm, which will start on 13 July.

Kate Lillie, the speaker last month from Medic to Medic Charity sent her thanks to everyone for their donations, which to date have raised £50 from the books/CD’s and DVD’s with another £200 for the jewellery, with more sales to come. Current information on the charity and recyclable items accepted was displayed on the Information Table.

The outing/walk around Jordans Village on 3 May was much enjoyed by 17 people in perfect weather, led by Nigel who told us about the history of the area. At the Meeting House, Nina gave more information and a video about the history and life of the Quakers, including the Penn family, which was followed by questions and refreshments. Elaine thanked Lyndsay for suggesting this very successful outing.

The NFWI Resolution for the Annual Meeting in Cardiff on 25 May “Clean Rivers for People & Wildlife” was discussed. No-one disagreed with its purpose, but there was some feeling that the focus was rather narrow and that a wider focus to improve river water quality could be more beneficial to the campaign. 16 Members voted in favour of the Resolution and gave our Link Delegate from Whelpley Hill WI discretion on voting after hearing the speakers.

The BWI has apologised for any inconvenience caused to members who had experienced difficulty downloading/printing the May Newsletter and hoped this would be resolved before the June issue.

A few subscriptions were still outstanding, and Members were reminded that the WI Annual fees for 2023/24 were due from 1 April at a reduced rate of £38.

The monthly board games group continues to meet but there were no walks planned at present.

Elaine then introduced our “WI Baby Picture” game and invited members to look at the photographs and guess who they were, which was followed by refreshments.

The next meeting will be at 8pm on 8 June when speaker, Beth Sawyers will talk about Carers Bucks.

Elaine, President, welcomed everyone to the meeting including Beth Sawyers, our speaker for the evening. She conveyed Di Coombes best wishes to everyone and hoped to return as soon as possible after her second cataract operation next week.

Elaine thanked everyone for the many ways they had helped with the teas at the Fete, which, after expenses had been deducted, raised £506.60. Cash refunds were available at the meeting, or they would go into the Institutes funds.

As there were no objections to a change in the time of the monthly meetings, from July the start time would be 7.30pm. Irene will inform the speakers.

Up to date details and photographs for the work of “Medic to Medic” were available to peruse on the Information Table, along with a list of items which could be donated and the address to deliver them to.

Also on the Table were leaflets for a Charity Walk organised by Beaconsfield WI in the grounds of Hall Barn on 9th July in aid of Rennie Grove Hospice Care and Peace Hospice Care.

Members were asked to consider leading a walk for our WI.

Mary Rose will be forwarding a letter by email next week to members regarding the Denman Update.

Beth Sawyers, who is the only Community Fundraising Manager for Carers Bucks, gave us a very informative and moving account of the supportive work carried out by this Charity. When teachers realised that some pupils presented with problems regarding their ability to concentrate on their education and exam work or did not attend school, it was discovered that they were the main carers for their family. Some are as young as 5 up to 95 years.

A local independent Charity was registered in 2004 and is part of National Carers Trust and affiliated with Carers UK, providing advice and emotional support to unpaid adult and young carers plus workshops and training. A video was shown, acted by young and adult carers, depicting the experience that young carers may have. The stresses they suffered were quite shocking and sobering.

We were astounded to hear that there are 52,000 unpaid carers in Buckinghamshire, 1,300 of whom are aged between 5 and 16 and 100 aged 5. Numbers are increasing all the time. School hubs supporting young carers are led by a teacher or Ambassador at school, trained by Bucks Carers.

Once a month there is a club based mainly in Aylesbury or High Wycombe, which the young carers can attend to relax, enjoy games, cooking and have days out, with transport provided if required. There is a Carers Support Hub at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Beth is one of only thirty staff members in Bucks.

The next meeting will be at 7.30pm on 13 July when Jeremy Holmes will speak about “Shackleton’s Antarctica”. Christine will lead the meeting.

President, Elaine, welcomed everyone and explained the format of the evening’s meeting starting with Ordinary Business followed by the AGM.

She thanked everyone for contributing towards the Bring & Buy Table and confirmed that proceeds from sales would go towards our funds.

Seven members had a very enjoyable evening at Cholesbury/St Leonards for the Autumn Beechwood Group meeting when David Dennis had given a fascinating talk about “African Wildlife”.

The Christmas Meeting/Meal will be on 14 December in the Village Hall at 7 for 7.30pm. The cost is £18. Anne Tennant will provide a 2-course meal followed by tea/coffee, mince pies and chocolates, then entertainment by magician, Clive Peacock. There will also be a raffle at £1 per ticket for our own funds.

More volunteers were requested for the 2024 refreshments rota. As announced in September, Irene is stepping down as Programme Secretary and Elaine asked members to consider if one, two or more members would be prepared to take on these duties. Irene had already booked Speakers for 2024.

The next Board Games meeting will be held on 21 November at 2pm at Sylvia’s home.

Gillian and Mary Collins have planned a walk then lunch in Wendover Woods on 22 November leaving Hyde Heath at 10.30am in shared cars. If the weather is inclement, it is suggested that we enjoy lunch only in the Café to depart from the village at 11.15am. Anyone is welcome to go just for lunch.

The BFWI Jigsaw Challenge will be on 28 February 2024 with teams of 3 members.

To conclude the Ordinary Business, Elaine then offered Christmas greetings in advance to any members unable to attend the next meeting on 14 December.

The Annual Meeting then commenced with the approval of the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 November 2021, which had already been circulated to all members.

Approval of an independent financial examiner for the coming year was agreed. Avril, Treasurer, proposed the adoption of the Financial Statement, and the Committee’s Annual Report were presented and adopted by members.

As there were no nominations from members who wished to join the Committee, Elaine confirmed that the present 10 members, Elaine Barker, Mary Collins, Jayne Faversham, Janet Manson, Gillian O’Flynn, Christine Richfield Andrews, Margaret Ritter, Mary Rose, Avril Sherratt and Anne Underwood, were willing to stand and were re-elected. Elaine Barker was unanimously re-elected as President.

Elaine gave an eloquent President’s address thanking all the Committee for their support and help during the year and also non-Committee members Margaret Dunn and Irene Merredew, plus the help of all other members, to whom she gave a big thank you for the many practical ways in which they had given their time and talents for the good of all. She said when a member of the WI suffers loss, illness or has a difficult time, everyone unfailingly rallies round to support and help, which is exactly what the WI is about, true friendship.

On behalf of all members, Margaret Dunn thanked Elaine and the Committee for their work over the past year. We then enjoyed refreshments and chat!

The first meeting of the New Year will be held in the Village Hall at 7.30pm on 11 January, when we will be celebrating our Institute’s 60th Anniversary with cake and drinks! The Committee plan a bigger celebration in the Spring when the weather is likely to be better. The speaker for the evening will be David Dennis talking on the topic “Safari”.