Sidlesham WI

This month was the resolution meeting and Sue, the president, started the proceedings with thanks to Zena for providing the beautiful flowers and asking for a volunteer for next month’s display.

Suzanne, one of the members, offered to provide the flowers.

Mary brought the WI Archives from 30, 20 and 10 years ago.

This went down well with people who were keen to point out old friends and occasions they remembered.

There was not a professional speaker for this month but a vote was taken on the national resolution that ‘Women and girls with ADHD and ASD are under identified, under diagnosed, misdiagnosed, and under supported’.

This resolution was passed by the Sidlesham WI and a number of those present voiced their opinions on the subject.

Following this, discussions took place about the Jubilee Garden Party.

Sue explained that the committee were organising the food and bunting and Zena had offered to host the occasion in her garden.

The dress code will be red, white and blue and if the weather is ghastly and it has to be cancelled members would be contacted.

As the June meeting is to be held a few days after, it was agreed that people would bring any memorabilia, such as cups, tea towels, plates and so on, which were linked to Queen Elizabeth’s reign for display.

The speaker for that afternoon will be Ian Everest and his talk is entitled ‘Tales of the Riverbank’, a glimpse at past life in the River Ouse valley.

Sue then informed those present that the Denman estate, which belonged to the WI and which many members had visited for courses, had been sold for £8.5million and that it was to be turned into a family home.

The passing of ownership of this lovely building was lamented by those who had previously stayed and studied an array of courses there.

The idea of reinstating the bursary that had, in the past, paid for such visits was agreed with the idea that people in receipt of such a bursary would now attend courses at West Dean or Weald and Downland, which members agreed were much closer and easier to access.

The summer outing was discussed and Sue was tasked with investigating a coach trip to Salisbury.

After the business was concluded a Beetle Drive took place.

This fast-paced game was the source of much fun and laughter and the overall winner was Ann who scored the highest number of points over three rounds.

She received a lovely box of chocolates.

The raffle was called and the ‘Bloom of the month’ was judged by Liz, who ran this competition for many years.

The winner this month was an iris from Suzanne, second a beauty pink from Phyllis, and third a clematis Marjorie from Ann.

A reminder was given that the next time we meet will be the garden party and that the official WI meeting is on June 8, in the Church Hall, at