A good day for a walk; no rain, not too breezy, just good enough for a comfortable walk. Starting from the Eaterie at Beckford Silk, 5 of us enjoyed a slow stroll around the Nature Reserve, with a detour to Beckford Church to see the scale model Church (well worth the detour!). Finishing back at the Eaterie, we were joined by another 3 of our members and enjoyed some delicious cake and coffee.
A welcome return to the village with the Flower Festival and Open Garden weekend saw Eckington WI present a display 'English Country Garden' in the Church.
Active Herefordshire and Worcestershire were offering free exercise taster sessions with the aim of highlighting to participants what classes are on in their local area, and to try and remove any myths around being too old, unfit, or the wrong shape to keep active as you age. So we took advantage of this offer and with the support of our Parish Council (who funded the venue hire) we arranged for 2 free sessions. We had about 12 people at the first session and 22 at the second (plus apologies from about 6 who attended the 1st session) so there was clearly an appetite for this type of exercise.
Apparently there is funding available to offer a 12 week course of exercise (with costs of instructor and hire of venue paid for). Once we have checked availability of the village hall, we will be applying for this. Hopefully this may eventually lead into a self-funding regular exercise class for the older adult. So when you see a fitter older adult going round Eckington, you can thank WI! We were so pleased that we had a big turnout for our Annual Meeting. It was so nice to see the return of so many members. Prior to business, we welcomed DC Clerk from West Mercia Cyber Crime Unit; he enlightened members on how scams and scammers work, how to spot them and how to act with them. Useful talk in today's current climate.
Then onto business and discussion of this year's NFWI Resolution; quite a few of our members felt the resolution was not well worded. However, it is now down to our delegate to vote at the National AGM. As part of the normal procedure, all the Committee stood down with only 4 members willing to stand again. They were voted in unanimously by the members with Jenny Doyle re-elected as President. Wow - a great return for our annual fund-raiser. Having missed it for the last 2 years, we were pleased to have the garage sales back. This year we had 58 garages taking part; the village was buzzing with activity and WI members were kept busy baking cakes for refreshments as well as helping out with serving and clearing up.
April 29th: a group of Eckington WI members & alumnae celebrated ACWW Walk the World Day with a walk down to our local lock. A pleasant walk with light refreshments and £25 raised for ACWW. |
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