Horsham Normandy W.I.

To coincide with COP 26 some of our members decided to highlight some of the effects of Climate Change by Making the fabulous toppers shown in the photo’s.

Pam posted images of the toppers on several media platforms and the many responses were truly heart warming and encouraging. So also was the response to a quickly made topper placed in Market Square to coincide with Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.

We also had coverage in the County Times who gave us a very positive review..

On a less positive note, unfortunately two of the toppers were removed by person or persons unknown.

However this is not deterring the members who are currently working on Christmas themed toppers which is something to look forward to.

Julia Keating, the daughter of a former member, kindly donated fabrics and trimmings from her late mothers’ incredible volume of craft items. The images show a flavour of the fabrics and trimmings donated.

Beryl Harrison was a member of Horsham Normandy from 1988-2004 and an avid crafter. I had the privilege of seeing some of her many pieces of work including quilting and patchwork in her craft room, which was like an Aladdin’s cave for crafters.

Beryl’s name was not on our members tablecloth so her daughter added her name, which has now been embroidered onto the cloth.

Our thanks to Kath, our President, for collecting and storing this fabulous stash of goodies. We have plans to give the card making bits to our birthday card maker and some suitable fabrics & trimmings have been passed on to the team that make fidget mats that we give to care homes in our community.

We have further ideas about the use of the fabrics to make comfort quilts as group projects and again, these will be given to suitable causes in this locality.

These little guys are lining up to be part of our Big Green Week events around Horsham in September…. where will you see them?

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Horsham Normandy WI hosted a meeting on Friday 26^th March 2021 with our MP Jeremy Quin. There were 23 WI members including those from Barns Green and Itchingfield, Horsham North Heath, Trafalgar Treasures, Manning’s Heath, Southwater, Warnham, Warnham Evening, and Horsham Normandy Women’s Institutes in the Zoom meeting.

We were there to commemorate the # Show the Love campaign and ask questions about how the government is planning to reduce our carbon footprint and protect the environment. Jeremy stayed for nearly an hour responding to our questions and has promised to get back to us with those he could not answer. We are hopeful this is the start of a positive dialogue about how we can further protect our planet.

We were approached in February 2021 by Broadbridge Park Care Home and asked if we could provide a talk for International Women’s Day. Two of our members rose to the challenge; Anne R would create a new presentation and Pam T would provide the technical facility.

Anne’s talk concentrated on women, both national and local, who have done remarkable things but are under represented in history.

In order to protect the residents Anne R was unable to see them gathered in the lounge but we understand that her talk was very well received. We hope that it will be added to our programme in the future.

Whilst we were organising this event with Katie Polloway, we became aware that the Care Home has a specialised dementia unit and we offered a supply of our fidget mats.

Kath and Hazel delivered these one Friday afternoon. Although we were unable to go further than the foyer due to current restrictions we were made welcome and met several members of the care team. Photos were taken of the hand over of 11 matts and we have been duly thanked on their Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/chbroadbridge

Thank you to all our ladies who provided the fabric, trims, bits & bobs that make these mats so successful. It’s good to have another local care facility that appreciates them.