At the June meeting of Oakley and Deane WI, Roger Grier gave an interesting talk on the subject of wild orchids. He showed some beautiful slides of many types of wild orchid, a lot of which can be found in and around this area, and accompanied each one with a poem which he had written in which he described the characteristics and habitat of each one. Reports were given on recent activities including a lovely day in the Chichester area on one of the rare fine days recently. Members first had a boat ride around the harbour with the captain giving a running commentary on all the interesting boats and places in and around the harbour. This was followed by a visit to the flower festival in the cathedral which was absolutely stunning. Many of the displays illustrated famous books and were really amazing, particularly The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the whole cathedral was decked with beautiful flower arrangements.

Another report was given on the WI’s annual general meeting which was held in the Albert Hall. It was reported that there were now just under 20,000 members of the WI and 35 new institutes had been formed. One of the speakers for the day was Lord Fellowes, who spoke about his career and the writing of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey and why he chose that period to write about.

There are many activities arranged by the federation in which members can participate in the next few months including an Elizabethans Day, an India day, a concert by the Royal Marines Band and sessions on water colour painting and photography and Oakley and Deane WI have arranged a visit to Buckingham Palace in September to see the Queen’s diamonds.

Although they usually hold their monthly meetings at the Andover Road Village Hall, Oakley and Deane are having their July meeting at The Fox pub where they are having a garden party and games evening – hopefully the weather will be kind!