Horsham Normandy W.I.

Linda, our President, kindly gave her time, energy and home to a coffee morning/afternoon in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. Assisted by some of our excellent bakers the display of cakes was impressive. There was Lemon Sponge, Coffee and Walnut, Parkin, Ginger Cake, cupcakes & traybakes. There were cakes still being assembled and then there was Death By Chocolate.

The wet morning weather was unable to prevent us from turning out and family, friends and neighbours arrived all happy to eat cake.

The sun arrived for the afternoon  and visitors were able to partake tea in the courtyard garden.

Many of us have reason to be grateful to the MacMillan nurses and this is a fun way to show our support. A total of nearly £400 was raised.

Sixteen of the regular craft group accepted the invitation extended by the Chesterton Court ladies to use their recreation lounge for a full day workshop. Encouraged by the federation day earlier in the year we recalled our tutor Freda to instruct us on the art of the Temari ball. Despite the frustrations along the way we all had an enjoyable day with a chance to get to know one another.With a choice of homemade cake for afternoon tea we were very happy ladies.

Ute kindly supplied the photo of some of our efforts.

It is hoped that a small selection of temari balls will be available at the November craft sale as they make terrific Christmas tree decorations.

Our W.I.branch was recently successful in gaining an award from Tanbridge House School Community & Charity Support Fund. In keeping with our fund application we have purchased supplies to support the Neonatal Unit at East Surrey Hospital. A couple of our members had fun choosing these lovely yarns for our ladies who knit cardigans, hats and blankets for the premature babies.

We also bought many metres of  wadding to make mattresses for the incubator units; this added comfort improves the  development of these early, vulnerable babies.

This grant was enhanced by the generosity of C&H Fabrics who gave a discount on this bulk buy, further extending our purchasing power.

The few remaining pounds bought yarn from the St Catherine’s Hospice shop with a view to knitting the twiddle muffs for dementia patients. We are most grateful for the support Tanbridge House School and C&H Fabrics have shown to us supporting local projects.

With encouragement and enthusiasm from some of our newer members we entered more classes than ever in this summer show. Our skills were tested and expanded in the production of our exhibits, and generally we were pleased with the results, and felt that the judges comments were fair and encouraging.

In the Alfresco Afternoon collective class we aimed to evoke the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady and were pleased that the judge picked up on this theme. The beautiful stitching of Clare & Gill, and tasty baking by Anita all earned good marks with a total collective score of 86.5/100.

Well done to all our exhibitors, we are proud of you.

A Spring day out was organised to Denbies Vineyard at Dorking. The Ladies joined a tour of the winemaking facility which ended with a wine tasting that was much enjoyed.

After the tour, the group stayed to take lunch in the restaurant. The warm spring weather encouraged some of the group to walk to the top of the ridge and admire the views across to Dorking.

Our thanks go to Lesley for all her hard work organising a successful and fun  day.

The Chichester Canal Walk & Talk was so popular that the event was run over 2 days in a total of four sessions. The talk was a new venture for the Canal Volunteers and they put together a presentation about the history, regeneration  and future of the canal. This was followed by the walk along part of the canal with another volunteer who was a wildlife specialist. This enthusiastic group have done much to revive this area of Chichester into a attractive amenity that is now an integral part of the leisure and transport facility in the city. With classic views, glorious weather and delicious biscuits made by Jan Marsden both days were enjoyable occasions.

Four of our members went to the recent temari ball workshop. Freda explained the history of these exquisite toys and set us to making a simple design. Technically these balls are easy to make with a few simple stitches but we soon realised that care and finesse is needed to create these colourful patterns. These are our efforts at the end of the day.

Following the many donations that have been given to provide these wash bags, we were able to deliver our first supply last month. The Nursing staff accepted these and have since confirmed that our contents are perfect and all will be put to good use. We shall continue to collect items for this cause and will take another delivery later in the year.

There is more information about the aims & purpose of this project under the Share menu on this site.

At a recent fundraising event members of our WI were introduced to Maureen from Rape & Crisis Surrey and Sussex Organisation based in Crawley. A request was made for cushions to be supplied for their centre and we were able to make them from fabric donations. Earlier this month these were delivered to the centre where we learnt more about their work.

This team of  women, both professional and volunteers, were keen to show us their facilities and explain the support they provide. They are able to offer an educational outreach programme, legal advocacy support and a counselling service.

They were interested to know about the WI and how they might contact women in the rural part of the county, so there was a useful exchange of information on both sides.

They were delighted with our visit & the cushions, and provided these pictures of them being used in their consultation rooms.

Further information can be found on http://www.rasasc.org.uk.

Last week Linda and several of our members delivered 202 knitted items to the Neonatal unit at East Surrey Hospital. As on previous occasions these were gratefully received by the staff.

However a visiting member of the public also expressed her appreciation of our work when she had been given a blanket on the early birth of her baby. The blanket was much used and later became the child’s security blanket.