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June 2020 June 2020

BERE REGIS WI I missed going to church at Easter to do the flower
arranging as that is another good source of biscuits
when the arrangers stop for coffee. My owner took part
Although we’ve entered the first stage of with the Bere Regis Floral Group making blue and green
loosening of the lockdown, we’re a long way floral rings for the NHS. The resulting arrangements were
from the possibility of meeting face-to-face pictured on Facebook. One of ours was put on the
(although as I type this I’m looking forward to an church door and another was secured to the door
experimental Virtual WI Afternoon Tea via Zoom knocker on our house. There was a problem with this, as
this afternoon). As mentioned in last month’s article, instead of the usual report on every time the wind blew, it blew the arrangement and
our activities, I’m going to take the opportunity to expand on some of the recent banged the door knocker. I would leap to attention
WI campaigns, this month focussing on the 5 Minutes That Matter campaign, doing my guard dog duty barking and growling. My
which was launched in June 2019. owner would open the door and there would be no
one there. After a few false alarms my credibility as a
Cervical screening is a free guard dog was being severely questioned.
service offered by the NHS to
detect abnormal cells, which My owner depends on her zoom sessions and the Drax
may be the precursor to cervical virtual quiz for her social time. Last week the quiz subject was pirates. Participants
cancer, at an early stage had to dress up in fancy dress. A garden Hat was sprayed dark purple with flower
leading to more effective arranging spray paints. Thick Black Wool was fashioned into a sort of wig under
treatment. Women between the the hat along with some black cardboard for an eye patch. The effect, when
ages of 25 and 65 routinely assembled with heavy eye make up and black
receive invitations to have a test. news print wrapped round her teeth, was
The screening only takes five alarming. A selfie was taken and emailed to
minutes and it saves around 5,000 lives a year. Despite this, attendance is the quiz organizer and subsequently posted on
currently at its lowest for a decade. In response to this, the campaign seeks to the Drax Arms Quiz facebook page. Later that
raise awareness of the importance of attending routine cervical screening, and to evening she was wearing the whole outfit while
support more women to make an informed decision about whether or not to take captaining her team. She was so engrossed in
up their invitations. It also calls on WI members to help make cervical screening the competition she nearly missed the weekly
more accessible by tackling barriers to attendance. clap for the NHS. I heard everyone in the street
and had to bark at her to remind her it was
With this in mind, the WI will soon be launching a study to investigate these time to go. I like the weekly clap it’s very
barriers, along with other issues such as personal attitudes towards the strategies
exciting all the people in the street. I rush
designed to improve uptake. This survey will be completely anonymous and is
around and can muster a bark. At least she
open to all women over the age of 25, regardless of whether they have attended
found a few seconds to remove the hat and
cervical screening recently or at all. It is hoped that by gathering this valuable wig and eye patch before going out to clap.
data, the WI will be able to contribute to the effort to increase uptake of testing. It was a successful evening as her team, “The
To register your interest in taking part in the screening, go to: thewi.org.uk/s/ Six Notions,” came in second having good
cervicalscreeningresearch.
knowledge of pirates and airlines.
If you would like to know more about the campaign and discover ways to The larder and the dresser have been tidied and the bookshelves (for the zoom
participate, you can download a copy of the campaign action pack at: sessions). She has now acquired both yeast and red lentils. She has also bought
m y w i . t h e w i . o r g . u k / _ _ d a t a / a s s e t s / p d f _ f i l e / 0 0 0 3 / 3 7 9 7 4 0 / a book called the Tin Can Cook so she can use all the tins she has bought. She
WI_ActionPack_5Minutes.pdf. The pack includes information on cervical made this pasta dish with sweet corn, tuna, pasta and mushroom soup. It was
screening itself and some ideas for spreading awareness of the issue. It also has massive. She ate this concoction for two meals and I was left eating the left-
step-by-step instruction on how to make calming sachets filled with dried flowers overs. The tuna was ok but we could have done without the additional
such as lavender. Aimed at providing an awareness tool and a comforter for
mushrooms and red pepper. She has purchased tinned carrots and tinned

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