Northwood W.I. Report

Posted by Admin on 11 July 2016, 1:15 am

Minutes of the Members Meeting held on Thursday 7th July 2016 in the W.I. hall.
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Welcome – Mrs Fay Bunday welcomed members and visitors to the meeting.
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Visitors – Valerie Andrew, from Medham WI. Anne Misarka, Viv Kearney, Susan Whittle and Anne Cousins.
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An update on Joan Furnell was given by Denise Hunter. Denise said that her Mum is going into Blackwater Nursing Home sometime next week.
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Birthday Ladies this month are: – Judy Medway Gash and Joyce Mace. In August we have Helen Davis, Colleen Debenham and Joyce Knight.
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Speakers for today – Mr Kingsbury and Mr Manser giving a talk on the History of Parkhurst Prison.
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Last Meeting – on 2nd June – Members enjoyed the seated exercises by Paul Fyfield.
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Ramble – The next one will be on the 14th July. Walk along the old Railway track at Yarmouth to the End of the Line Café. There will be 7 walkers, with non-walkers meeting them at the café for lunch.
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Art & Craft – The next one will be on 21st July at 2pm in the hall.
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Summer Jumble – 25th June was quite well attended but everyone had gone by 3pm. We made just over £144, half of which will be going to ACWW project, The Fish Vending Women of Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu, India to train the women in fish processing (drying and packaging) so that they have something to sell when fresh fish in not available. They will also have ice boxes, containers and tools. The Isle of Wight County of W.I have pledged to raise £1000 out of the £11,084 needed.
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Valerie Andrew – Gave a very interesting report on the National Annual Meeting held in Brighton. There were almost 4000 women there from various parts of the Country including Jersey and Guernsey.
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The Secretary – Anne Jonas read out the relevant post. An invitation from Cowes WI to their 6th Birthday celebrations. Open Studios, who are holding various demonstrations around the Island, including our hall on 15/16/17th July. 10am – 5pm. Also various items from National, including voting slips for the Board of Trustees for 2017/2019 and Resolution form.
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The Treasurer – Elisabeth Hamilton gave her report and the breakdown of the Jumble Sale. All bills have been paid.
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Hall Bookings – Mary Chick reported that bookings were coming in quite steadily.
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Programme Meeting for 2017 – Will be held on Thursday 28th July at 2pm in the hall ending with a Cream Tea.
Bestival – In September – A list went round for cake donations. Members were asked to contact the Bestival committee when their cakes are ready.
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Lunch & Games – Thursday 22nd September. The menu is – various Quiche with salad, potatoes etc. and an assortment of sweets. Cost is £7.50p. The time is 12 for 12.30pm. We could offer Cheese or Ham for those who don’t eat Quiche. A list was sent round for ladies to put their choice of menu.
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Christmas Meeting – 1st December. This will be an American Lunch followed by a short meeting. Then we have some entertainment.
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We then had a break for tea. The raffle was drawn and competition results were as follows: – Best Garden Bloom – There were 5 entries. 1st June Thistlewood, 2nd Judeth Baker. Chocolate Chip Cookies, there were 6 entries. 1st Helen Davis, joint 2nd Morag Cook and Anne Jonas.
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Speakers – Unfortunately Mr Kingsbury couldn’t make the meeting with various artefacts but Mr Manser gave us a very interesting talk on Parkhurst Prison. It was first opened in the 1700s. Then in 1838 it became a Young Juvenile Prison, the first ever juvenile prison in the country. The offenders were aged between 7 and 14. The Governor was a Mr Robert Waltham who was a very hard man. The only food the youngsters had were bread, water and gruel. Then in 1843 a George Hall took as Governor and he was there for 20 years. He created a better regime, giving them basic education i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic, he also introduced meat into their diet. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately for some of these lads, they were sent to the New Land (Australia and New Zealand). Some of the Bricks still in C wing are bricks that the boys had made. In 1845, Queen Victoria visited the prison and gave two boys a Queens Pardon. By the time Queen Victoria made her next visit, the prison had been turned into a Women’s prison. The prisoners were lined up to greet the Queen. They refused to sing the National Anthem and turned their backs on the Queen. The Queen then declared that no other Royal would visit the prison. That was until 1988 when the present Queen visited but before she could come she had to get the declaration overturned. Jacqui Pearce gave the vote of thanks.
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With no other business the meeting closed at 4pm.

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