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August 2020 August 2020

BERE REGIS WI
LOCKDOWN STORIES

Despite having to cancel the National Federation
Over the Hill of WI’s Annual Meeting where resolution selection
I use this heading in a completely different context to last months heading and I normally takes place, the mandate for the 2020
apologise for the quality of my last month’s article. This article relates to my life resolutions was overwhelmingly clear from voting
some seventy years ago and again talks of the countryside. How many times at the short listing stage. With over 70% of the
have you heard the phrase,“ Where have all the years gone?” Or the saying, votes between them, resolutions on stem cells and modern slavery have been
“Haven’t things changed?” This article refers to the past and it is up to you to adopted for this year’s campaigns.
decide if all the changes are for the good or not,
The specific resolutions are:
My memories of my boyhood are recalled with great joy, especially the summer  A call to increase
holidays back in the forties, when I spent my earlier years in the pretty little
potential stem cell donor
Hampshire village of Buriton, which nestles under the northern side of the South registration
Downs. near Butser Hill, the highest point of the downs. This was until the age of
nine when I moved to Blackmoor, some nine miles to the north,west. What a There is an urgent need to
difference moving from the light, hilly well drained soils, overlying chalk to the increase the number of people
heavy, damp, level clay soils of Lord Selbourne’s huge estate. What a difference registered on the aligned UK
there was to the woodlands, going from the predominant, beech woods with stem cell registry in order to
hazel underwood to predominantly oak woodland again with hazel coppice provide potentially life-saving
underneath. New species of trees, flowers, birds and butterflies became familiar treatment to people of all ages
to me. with certain blood cancers. We
call on all WI members to
Despite this I was only ten years old, in both places the majority of my time was
spent outdoors, in the company of other village boys. The “gangs” would consist promote registration to the
of up to perhaps ten youngsters of various ages, ranging from age eight to database to avoid people dying
whilst waiting for a match.
fourteen. Anybody older than that would spend their summer holidays working
on the farms locally.
 End Modern Slavery
These boys knew their countryside, they loved it and were rarely in trouble or
created any damage. The older members of the gang taught the juniors the There are tens of thousands of victims
names of plants, flowers, birds. butterflies and insects. If something rare and of modern slavery hiding in plain
unknown turned up they would be referred to our parents, relatives or as a last sight in the UK. Modern slavery has
resort our teachers. severe consequences for the health
and mental wellbeing of survivors.
We built camps, lit fires to fry pancakes
in an old disused frying pan, willingly The NFWI calls on the Government to
donated by one of the mothers. We protect victims of modern slavery in
baked potatoes, chestnuts and the first instance and deliver longer
apples, ate crab apples, wild term support to help them rebuild
strawberries, blackberries, acorns, their lives. We call on our members to
pignuts and the occasional russet from raise awareness of the prevalence of
the rectory’s orchard. We knew where modern slavery throughout society and to campaign to defeat it.
we could obtain drinking water so we The next step will be for the Public Affairs Department to develop a range of
would stay away all day. educational and discussion materials over the coming weeks and months to allow

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