Hampshire Federation of W.I.

Our talk this month was entitled, ‘Making people laugh and cry with verse’ by Mr David Bryant. Mr Bryant, a very smart gentleman dressed in a suit with his remembrance poppy nattily sported on his lapel, turned out to be a bit of a stand up comedian as well as a poet and raconteur. We were first treated to a few jokes, some slightly near the knuckle, before we heard the first poem. This was acknowledging the amount of medication we all seem to take in later life. We were all chuckling heartily by now. All the poems were written by Mr Bryant who proceeded to entertain us further by using dialects to match the poems. So we had ‘The Dragon’ in a Welsh lilt, followed by American and Northern accents for relevant ditties.

We next listened to some tongue in cheeks songs on Brexit, sung to well known tunes such as ‘bring in the clowns’ and Bobby shafto’.

After we had recovered ourselves Mr Bryant read some poignant and heart wrenching poems describing scenarios of war, especially the first and second world wars.

So sad and very personal to some of the W.I. ladies, who remembered their lost loved ones. The poem entitled ‘Warhorse’ detailing the comradeship, even in death, of a soldier and his horse reduced us all to tears.

Luckily we were not left in the doldrums as we were treated to ‘The NHS, The Musical’. Playing all the parts and singing as, a Nurse, Doctor, Matron, patients of various types and Consultants, he soon restored us to a giggly humour. All in all, a fabulous hour of entertainment.

Mr Bryant was warmly thanked by Ruth, after which we all enjoyed tea and biscuits and were able to purchase a poetry book or two to take home.

Next month is our Christmas lunch at the RBL Hall Herriard and on January 16th we have our social afternoon tea. If you would like to join us at 2.30 pm please do.

A very Happy Christmas and a Happy & healthy New Year to you all.

Diane Knight

[Please note that this message is not posted on behalf of Bentworth Parish Council and does not necessarily reflect the Parish Council’s policy]