The Nutfield branch of the WI was founded in 1929. We became the Nutfield Gals WI in 2017, we’re now coming up to the anniversary of our 7th full year since our relaunch.
Changes to the committee for 2023 – There are no changes to the committee and all have agreed to continue in situ for the coming year of 2024.
Our membership continues to flourish and we currently stand at 48 full members and two dual members with plenty of room for more.
Following the restrictions over the last two years, we have now fully embraced a busy programme of monthly meetings, outings and interest groups.
In December 2022, we celebrated Christmas with line dancing led by the wonderful Sue Bridges.
January 2023, our first speaker of the year was Jenny Nikolds who took us on a fascinating trip along the Inca Trail.
February brought us a fascinating talk by Alison Hoyland who is an Image Consultant. She gave us hints and tips on shape, line and balance of clothes to enhance our shape and appearance.
Our March meeting brought Louise Ryrie Smith who guided us in how to find and care for our pelvic floor. She is a dance and pilates teacher so used her experience to ensure we learned the best ways to stay healthy.
April gave us a fascinating talk from our local historian Bob Evans, he spoke to us about Anne of Cleves who lived in Bletchingley for a number of years.
In April we voted for the NFWI resolution which was Clean Rivers for People and Wildlife and this was passed unanimously.
In May our speaker, Dr Judy Hill, took us through the gruesome history of Victorian medicine. Judy made us laugh, squirm and gasp with her facts on scientists, doctors and public health development. At the start of this meeting we raised a glass to His Majesty as well as partaking in tea and cakes.
Our June meeting welcomed Donna Pariser from the charity Stripey Stork. This Reigate based registered charity collects pre-loved items for babies and children, they now support over 200 families with £8k worth of items every year.
For our July meeting we heard from Tony and Lizzie Gilkes who used a wide variety of objects to illustrate where many of the sayings we use daily actually originated.
On a warm August evening Sandra, our President, welcomed us into her lovely garden for our annual summer picnic. Good food and drink were enhanced by garden games and guess the member from their childhood photographs.
September brought us a fascinating talk from David Allen who took us on a well researched whistle stop journey through Agatha Christie’s life, loves, travel and adventures. Selling over 2 billion books, only the Bible and Shakespeare have sold more copies.
Our October meeting saw us revisiting our beloved craft evening, with activities including Macrame, Clay decorations, Cross Stitch, Quilling, Crochet and Spinning.
In addition to raising money for several different charities this year – Stripey Stork, Loveworks and the I Choose Freedom refuges - we have also had to increase our fundraising activities for our own Nutfield WI account. This is due to increased costs, primarily for the rental of the hall. The money for book sales, tea and coffee, egg sales, 100 Club and a proportion of the sales from the Christmas and Summer fairs at Nutfield School all go into our account for this purpose. Some members have very generously rounded up their WI yearly fee to £50 and some have made additional donations, thank you!
Our Interest Groups continue to keep us occupied on a monthly basis, with a lively Book Club meeting at the Queen’s Head monthly and discussing everything you can think of, including the current book. The Quizzers also meet monthly at the Queen’s Head for Simon Bull’s quiz – we often fill two tables. Movie Night members have seen lots of films this year – Oppenheimer, the Whitney Houston film, Indiana Jones’ latest and many others, while Food With Friends continues its popular bi-monthly meals at one of our lovely local pubs and restaurants. Crafternooners continues to meet monthly and the members were instrumental in organising last month’s Crafting meeting. Finally, the Rambling Roses have been on some fantastic walks this year with Ruth ringing the changes with a different route each month.
As ever, we continue to meet up weekly at either Priory Farm Café or Christ Church Sunflower Café for Tea n Tarts. This is a wonderful opportunity to really get to know each other and these sessions are increasingly popular.
Many members have taken part in the trips that we have organised this year. The list is as follows – Wisley Glow last November, indoor bowls at Donyngs, a snowdrop walk at Gatton Park and a trip to Behind the Seams to see the Strictly costumes in the early months of the year. Then ten members and some partners attended the Ashmount Leigh FC quiz in May whilst another ten went on a wine tasting session to Majestic Wine Warehouse. Members visited the Archway Theatre in July to see Litlle Shop of Horrors and another group went to see Sense & Sensibility at Reigate’s Castle Grounds on a lovely warm August evening. In September a group travelled to London to see an exhibition of Georgian fashions at the Queen’s Gallery followed by a guided tour around the Royal Mews which was stunning. Our final outing of the year was to the village Comedy Night in aid of Age Concern in October where a tableful of members had a great evening.
As you can see, we are a thriving group with all our members actively engaging in one or many of our events and meetings.
We look forward to the coming year when we have lots planned and hope to see as much of you as we have done this year.
Jan Cornwell Secretary
Sandra Fine President
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