REPORT OF THE YEAR 2023/2024 OF BEARSTED & THURNHAM WI We started our year by celebrating the coronation of King Charles 111 with a tea and specially made cake and by decorating the bench on the Green. At our Annual Meeting we voted in two Presidents, Carole Moncur and Val Keeler who split the role. Bearsted Fayre in June was a great success as we emptied the dressing up cupboard and sold all the contents to various amateur dramatic societies as well as local people. A great deal of time and effort went into this by Lynda Firth, Gilly Tully, Cath McCaskell and other members of the WI. We received two donations during the year. One from Doris Britcher whose donation paid for the piano cover and another from a long-standing member Jean Corr whose donation will go to providing new curtains after the Hall has been decorated. We have continued to support the Salvation Army Food Bank with members kindly donating goodies at our monthly meetings and providing special boxes of goodies at Christmas. This year members collected 86 sweet tubs in aid of Macmillan Cancer Research via Greene King public houses. We have also continued our commitment to being “green” by having a Recycling Table where members can bring along items they do not want that can be used again for a small donation towards funds. Our activities continued with a visit to the Hazlitt Theatre to see Kinky Boots and the Lunch Club having two outings this year. There was an opportunity for members who do not manage to get to meetings to join in the Picnic on the Green in May & September to catch up with friends. As well as a Coffee Morning in the White Horse in February which was well attended. We enjoyed a Christmas Party with a three course meal with trimmings and a duo who entertained us with the 60s and 70s songs. Our book group continues to enjoy some interesting reads as well as lunches out. The walking group is well attended and this year we have been to Tenterden, Tankerton, Mote Park and a historic trip round Aylesford village very often with lunch. In October the Art & Craft groups displayed the pictures and craft items they had been working on during the year and the Craft Group held a craft sale in November for members to purchase items ready for Christmas. Our speakers that the Programme Planning group have engaged have covered a variety of topics some where we had no knowledge for instance Richborough the Secret Port. They also organised a fun Members Evening decorating jars and bottles with decoupage. We had an evening meeting where we re-visited our Memorabilia thanks to Margaret Morris who has now catalogued it all. Val Keeler keeps the community aware of our WI events through Facebook, Community Hub, Parish Magazine and the Noticeboards to engage with anyone who wishes to join WI. This year we have spent money on the Hall with a new heating system and brought ourselves up to 21[st] century with WiFi. All the activities, speakers and events would not be possible without the work of the committee, and organisers of the various activities and those members who volunteer to help by organising the lunch club etc. We say a big thank you to them. WlnJT¢ charftynumber1￿￿￿JI Fèdernlbjn 228182 W•$tK•nt Plèa5È ￿¥￿VIth￿}I￿I0g ID FknanthlsL4tè￿Vtho￿l bgfDN ￿$l￿ten￿nI. theWI FINANCNLSTATEMENT Ftsithep8rlDd from 1&03.23 1&03.24 Stttion A R£cwpts and Payments A1 R￿eipts Total La5tyear P•ym•nts Lastyfrar IID•tlng4XP#h*a 1.24e 220A3 Poolln9olfaY*&J•Ap*n 40ffj0 5aG.50 AG￿¥*￿5&•￿￿ts R.94T.1g InlD L￿￿onI IniuMnc• oo P* InlD d•pOE￿B￿￿￿t Or8nt•wd don4thn* tsn4tknnsrnad• 549.50 Olhnrpwr•nls J7DOk %knJn*d hau.t0￿ È3.170.8$ Tolal Rgcel*s Total Paym**tt4 Roslrtctodfuftdslndudéblft tolal 927A6 TotsiR*c•lpts 1*4* TuthEPayrnynts 18UrrAus￿eft￿tQr1hDYB•rj AJ Totyi re8h ￿Thd9 btyV9htfDrw&￿ frDmlEstyear(vqual%&Tk1yollr&to￿J16tI A6 T￿￿1 rashlundy carrl•d f