New Barkby W.I.

President of New Barkby WI, Shirley Franklin welcomed members to the institute’s April meeting.
‘Jerusalem’ was sung followed by business matters.
Angela Montague gave her account to L.L. Rutland’s annual council meetings delegate for New Barkby.
Alma Wright had taken flowers to W.I. House for their display in the Foyer, so thank you to her for that gesture.
Shirley presented Louisa Chapman with New Barkby’s Trophy for gaining the most points in monthly competitions. The new year begins in April, so a new set of competitions will emerge over each month as the year progresses.
The speaker for the evening was Mr Ian Retson and his work with the Woodland Trust. The organisation is now 50 years of age and its objectives are to ‘Protect, Restore, Create and Inspire’ with power-point presentation to illustrate the talk.
Three trillion trees make our planet fit to live on and to provide suitable habitats for flora and fauna, but are in constant threat from new housing and roads and rail. One gem in the National Forest is the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Wood, covering 200 square miles over Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. This has been regenerated by the planting of trees. The U.K. has more oak trees than the rest of Europe but less woodland overall. There was a slide showing Sherwood Forest’s major oak taken in 1962. Nowadays the tree is shored up to try to preserve it as much as possible.
The vote on thanks was given by Dawn Haynes who also won the raffle prize.
The competition for Woodland inspired object or photo was won by Jan Oliver with a walking stock.
The refreshments were served by Jean Brutnall and Joy Goulder.
The next meeting will be on Wednesday 3rd May at Syston Community Centre at 7.30pm. This will be a resolutions evening before the National Federation’s AGM in June.
Visitors are always welcome.