It’s a New Year

With ‘brain rot*’ being voted the 2024 word of the year perhaps it’s time to make a Resolution we can all keep? Let’s make 2025 amazing!  If you are looking to try something new, have a look at the WI.

Bransgore Evening WI  wishes you, your family and friends the best year yet, cheers to 2025.

 

 

*Brain rot’ is defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”.

We wish you a Merry Christmas

and a happy, healthy, peaceful New Year.

BEWI  Wine Club celebrated the Christmas season by comparing Prosecco, Cava and Champagne all recommended by a national magazine and purchased locally.  It was a great treat to sample the sparkling wines with the most expensive comparing well to the best value fizz.  It was another interesting evening.  Our thanks go to Celia for the delicious nibbles to compliment each bottle and for her excellent research, we are all wiser.

Best wishes to you all from BEWI Wine Club – Cheers!

WI Learning Hub

Be a part of our growth, celebrate our successes and let your friends and family know that The WI Learning Hub is open to all – members and non-members (although members have the added benefit of not having to pay for most of their courses!). Share a link to the website, encourage others to sign up to our newsletter and help us open more learning opportunities to all*.

WI Learning Hub (list-manage.com)

Live Courses – WI Learning Hub (thewi.org.uk)

Access Anytime – WI Learning Hub (thewi.org.uk)

Do you have a skill to share? Why not join our network of Hosts! Drop us an email wilearninghub@nfwi.org.uk to find out more.

*Please note that some courses offered are available to WI members only. Men are welcome to join our courses but there may be some, due to topic, that will be open to a women-only audience – these will be clearly identified in the course description.

Food Bank

A big thank you to all who contributed to the Trussell Trust Collection.

Bransgore Residents Association and BEWI

Our local residents association (BDRA) have asked for BEWI’s help in collecting for the Trussel Trust.  In previous years this has been a tremendous success and hopefully Bransgore will be able to donate lots of much needed items.  Details as follows:

CHRISTMAS FOOD BANK COLLECTION FOR
Trussel Trust   Ringwood
Food Items –  including
Christmas Puddings & other puddings
Tinned pies & vegetables, pasta & sauces etc
Cleaning materials
Cosmetics
Collecting until Wednesday 5th December
Bransgore & District Residents Association   & Bransgore WI     info@bransgoreresidents.org

Collection boxes will be at the following sites:

  • The Old Stores, West Road, (up at the Derritt Lane end
  • Spindles, Poplar Close
  • Poplar Lane – close to Burley Road
  • 1 Pear Tree Close, on the comer with Brookside
  • Corner Cottage, on the corner of Harrow Rd & Brook Lane, Neacroft
  • 30 Wiltshire Gardens
  • 11 Marrryat Way, Heatherstone Grange
  • Ty Gwyn, Lyndhurst Road, Godwinscroft
  • Longhope, Ringwood Rd, near Stouts Lane

We will not forget

BEWI has two flourishing history groups and in Remembrance week our local history group looked at heroines and some animals who deserve recognition.

  • Flora Sandes, the British woman who fought in both WW1 and WW11.  She joined the Serbian Army aged 38 after not being able to join the British Army and later fought again in WW11.
  • Welshwoman Mabel Wulff who went to live in Hamburg with her German husband and through brave deeds helped to save St Thomas a Becket Anglican Church there by hiding its artwork from fires. She also sheltered people to save lives.
  • Nurse Edith Cavell  helped around 200 Allied soldiers to escape from occupied Belgium but was executed  by the Germans in 1915.
  • The Canary Girls who worked bravely in munitions factories faced daily perils by handling explosives. Their skin and hair turned yellow through exposure to TNT and around 400 died in WW1 through liver disease.
  • Innumerable  horses and  dogs and pigeons who acted as messengers in wars.
  • More recently Flight-Lieutenant Sarah-Jayne Mulvihill was the first woman killed in action in Iraq, a stark reminder of the role females play in modern day warfare.
  • One of our members paid tribute to her mother who taught children throughout WW11 including being evacuated with them.

BEWI attended the Remembrance Day Service in the village where, as a community, we stood in silence remembering and honouring those who perished in both world wars and in more recent conflicts.

End Plastic Soup

Seven years ago, WI’s latest resolution and campaign was about reducing microplastic pollution in the world’s seas and oceans.  The campaign is still very much in our minds and last week, Alberto Costa MP introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill (and mentioned the WI) in the UK House of Commons advocating for mandatory filters in new washing machines—which would be a crucial first step in tackling microplastic pollution!

Last Sunday WI members had a great time supporting the March for Clean Water in London.   With over 15,000 people attending, we sent a powerful message to the government and to polluters.
Before joining the march, WI members heard from Dr. Sasha Woods at Earthwatch Europe about the findings of the Great UK Waterblitz, which we supported in September.  The WI is joining a coalition of charities and campaigners, led by River Action UK to demand that our new government takes urgent action to address the UK’s alarming and dangerous water pollution crisis.
NFWI cares about our environment.  Want to join the WI click here

Amber hues and gentling falling leaves

It was unseasonably warm for November which made it an easy decision to go walking on a Monday morning and the New Forest was perfect for this morning’s gentle walk along cycle paths near Standing Hat.  We learnt that ‘tree clumps, eminent because of their growth or because they stand on knolls, are called Hats’.  As is said, you learn something new every day.  On BEWI walks, members chat with each other, enjoying company, fresh air and the beautiful countryside.   It’s a good way to get to know people and invariably we complete our walks with a coffee at one of the many delightful cafes in the area.

Next month our regular walk will take place in Acres Wood.  If you are a new member, why not join us for wander in the countryside?  If you are considering joining BEWI this is just one of the regular monthly activities that members’ can enjoy.

WI Resolution 2024

Our Dental Health Matters campaign was voted for by members at the Annual Meeting in June 2024. Our members want to see a change in NHS dentist contracts, a strategy to retain NHS dental professionals, and more new NHS patient spaces.

More than 12 million people were unable to access NHS dental care in 2023 – more than 1 in 4 adults in England. And 90% of dental practices are no longer accepting new NHS adult patients. Tooth decay is the number one reason for children to be admitted to hospital. Recently in the House of Commons Alice Macdonald, MP for Norwich North, spoke about our findings with British Dental Association that 1.5 million appointments for pregnant women and new mums have been lost since the start of the pandemic.

That’s why we are delighted to have teamed up with British Dental Association, 38 Degrees, and The Mirror to call on the government to Save NHS Dentistry. We are aiming to hit 250,000 signatures before we take our petition to the doors of Number 10!

How can you help?

  • Sign the petition here.
  • Share the petition with your friends and family.

Donations for Ukraine

BEWI and other local WIs

please help if you can.

There will be a collection box at our meeting on Tuesday for your donations.  If you are not coming to the meeting you can drop items off with Ann at 84 Brookside Road.  You will note from the flyer that the deadline is this month so do help if you can.  .