The warmer weather & lighter evenings have finally arrived, & it was lovely to see so many members at this months meeting.
Our secretary commenced with the business side of the meeting by giving details of the Great Big Green Week being held on 7-15 June 2025 & Federation Bowls Tournament in September, members are encouraged to participate.
Our Vale Royal Group representative thanked all those who had attended & assisted at the recent Spring meeting & gave details of the Autumn meeting later in the year.
Members were reminded again of the categories for the Hartford Summer show. All photography entries need to be submitted at the May WI meeting at the latest. Volunteers are still needed to assist in showcasing exhibits at Arley.
Our speakers this month were Trish & Margaret from Days for Girls based in Cuddington. Trish commenced her talk outlining how Days for Girls UK was set up. Following a visit to Kenya in 2008, the founder, Celeste Mergens saw girls alienated to use rudimentary bunkbeds & sitting on cardboard when they were menstruating. This resulted in school days being missed. Her original idea was to provide a way of giving back girls the 5 days each month of missed education. Days for Girls is now a global movement dedicated to providing sustainable feminine hygiene solutions along with comprehensive education to girls & women in underserved communities.
Trish & Margaret demonstrated how washable & sustainable sanitary kits were sewn & made up to a gold standard. Since 2019, the Cuddington Days for Girls has provided circa 1,700 kits both domestically & worldwide. They provide supplies not only to underserved communities, but also in emergency situations, natural disasters & war zones.
As well as providing the kits, Days for Girls is able to provide health education to women & boys in communities with a programme delivered by a local community member i.e. social worker, teacher. This can cover topics of not only menstrual health but also female genital mutilation, trafficking & sex education.
Days for Girls are now working in conjunction with The Halo Trust & provide sanitary kits for women who work de-mining fields. They are also able to facilitate the need for enterprises in some countries to make the kits locally. There are currently 19 Days for Girls groups in the UK who in 2024 supplied 2,600 kits to 15 countries.
Hartford W.I. Cheshire 