REPORTS

MARCH 2022
The speaker was Lucy Lewis who gave a most entertaining talk called 'Lighting the Fuse'. She was the first woman to become a Bomb Disposal Officer and is now the University Marshall at Cambridge University. She gave a highly amusing account of her experiences at Sandhurst and later at Bomb Disposal training. Her life has certainly not been dull!

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JANUARY 2022
Boxford WI held their first meeting of 2022 at the beginning of January and it was very well attended. Colin Hooper, who is a member of the magic circle, gave a very entertaining talk on optical illusions and made the ladies doubt their own eyes. It was a very enjoyable talk to start the new year.

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DECEMBER 2021
December saw a fabulous Christmas Lunch for the ladies at the White Hart Pub in Boxford with a quiz so popular, the landlady and other customers joined in. Great fun was had by all.

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NOVEMBER 2021
The WI ladies were thoroughly entertained by the guest speaker, Pip Wright, who gave a fascinating talk on the amazing story of John Steggall - the Suffolk Gypsy. It was lovely to see so many members attend and everyone enjoyed the afternoon which was followed by tea and biscuits.

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OCTOBER 2021
The ladies enjoyed an entertaining and enjoyable afternoon with Linda Scoles who told a series of amusing stories about the time her and her family settled in Britain when her husband was posted at Lakenheath by the US Air Force.

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SEPTEMBER 2021
George Double the freelance drummer, arranger and teacher, who is active on the British jazz scene visited the WI in the Village Hall and got our Secretary Annie Phillips playing the drums for our members. Great fun was had by all. Members also took part in a village litter pick at the playing fields, playground and allotments followed by coffee and delicious cake at the Box River Cafe.

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AUGUST 2021
Members enjoyed a day out at the Beth Chatto garden, '7.5 acres of garden, based on ecological planting, and the right plant for the right place. Created by award-winning gardener, author and lecturer Beth Chatto OBE VMH, who won 10 gold medals at the Chelsea Flower Show, in the 70s and 80s'. It was a wonderful way to spend some time outdoors in the sunshine and meet up with members again after lockdown.

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JULY 2021
A socially distanced Annual Meeting was held at the Village Hall with the new Committee agreed. The Box River Cafe supplied a sumptuos boxed high tea for all those present which was much appreciated.

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JUNE 2021
The ladies met at the Pavillion and played socially distanced outdoor games and had a cup of tea. As usual it was a fun event and good to be back after lockdown.

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MAY 2021
Members met in each others gardens in groups of 6 following the lifting of lockdown. It was lovely for members to catch up and see each other again. The WI resolutions were also discussed.

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APRIL 2021
The ladies were treated to an afternoon with David and Jane Corby who gave a wonderful talk on their hobby as Ballroom Dancers, dancing in competitions all the way to the Tower Ballroom. The talk was illustrated with beautiful photographs of David and Jane dancing with lots of detail about Jane’s dresses, hair and makeup. An extremely popular 'Strictly Come Dancing' afternoon!

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MARCH 2021
Louise Quarmby gave the ladies of the Boxford WI an insight into the life of a TV gameshow researcher through her work on Tipping Point and Pointless. She gave the group hints about 'good' questions and 'bad' questions and explained how each fact is verified from at least two reliable sources. It was very novel topic and enjoyed by all.

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FEBRUARY 2021
The members had a most interesting talk and slide show given by Tim and Matthew Fairbairn about the Fulibroch Herd, based in Bures. Tim explained how the goat herd had come about and how it had been developed over the years, breeding pedigree dairy goats for showing, commercial sale, milk, meat and hides. He also told us about the the gorgeous and popular Fulibroch Dairy soap which all members received as a gift during lockdown.

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JANUARY 2021
A chair yoga session was held with Marianne Marshall BWY Dip to ease us back into the new year. This was greatly enjoyed by all. Yoga is a traditional discipline which includes a number of postures with movement, posture and breathing techniques which, and with regular practice can contribute to ones feeling of wellbeing.

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APRIL - DECEMBER 2020
Once Lockdown began in March 2020, the physical meetings ceased. Since that time a fortnightly Federation newsletter called The Hive has been distributed to all members. Telephone calls by committee members helped the WI to keep in touch with each other and once we mastered the technical challenges of Zoom, we had a weekly catch up chat each Wednesday afternoon for several months. In July each member received a gift bag to try to lift spirits.

When some of the restrictions were relaxed in the late spring and summer, a socially distanced catch up took place outside the Boxford Playing Fields pavilion when we met face to face for the first time! In July a garden party took place across several members' gardens as we were allowed to meet in groups of 6.

In September there was great excitement as we were allowed to meet in the Village Hall for the first time. We were socially distanced and had a catch up which included a Bingo session.

Sadly, we returned to stricter Lockdown for the rest of the year, but held a catch up on Zoom in October, followed by our first meeting with a speaker on Zoom in November when we had a wonderful demonstration of how to create Christmas decorations with Jayne Foster. This proved very successful and the meeting was able to be viewed by members unable to attend through an online link.

We were disappointed not to be able to hold our regular Christmas Celebrations, but a Zoom meeting was held where we took part in a Christmas Quiz and 3 names were drawn from a pot, with the lucky recipients receiving a Christmas Hamper each. It was wonderful to see members wearing Christmas jumpers, earrings and headdresses.

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