The Hampshire Chairman, Maureen Levenson started the meeting by remembering Jean Johnson a past chairman of Hampshire Federation of WIs who died recently, and then went on to welcome the mayor of Basingstoke and her escort who is her son, she told us about the planning for the centenary of Hampshire WIs in 2018 which has already started and various other events.
Next Gail Pussard presented the HFWI budget for 2016/17.
Julia Hender and Gina Ireland then told us of all the events being planned over the next few months by the various sub-committees.
The first speaker was Wendy Cope who read some of her poems, there were some funny ones, but others were very poignant, all were enjoyed by the audience.
To round off the morning Gill Knappett (member of Whitchurch WI) told us about Pitkin publishing and one of her books which she wrote for them 'The Queen at 90', it was most interesting.
In the afternoon the raffle was drawn and we were entertained by The New Jerseys, which was greatly appreciated, with members dancing to many of the tunes.