Sullington Windmills WI

27/10/2026

At our last meeting we had a fun time making cards with birds. Our tutor Jane showed us how to create a bird from a strip of paper, scissors and glue.

Here are some of the examples

27/10/2026

Sullington Windmills WI had a collection for the homeless charity Turning Tides.
We collected food stuffs for their Harvest appeal.

09/10/2026

Sullington Windmills book club outing to Dickens museum in Portsmouth

Today six of our group enjoyed a wonderful trip to Portsmouth in search of Charles Dickens’ birthplace.
We set off from Pulborough station in bright sunshine which was a relief after the heavy rains of Wednesday. Once at Portsmouth Harbour we quickly transferred to a bus and within minutes we were walking into the museum.
Dickens was born in February 1812 in a terraced Georgian house which was newly built when the family moved in. He only lived in the house for the first five months of his life as the family moved a lot because of his father’s job as a clerk for the Royal Navy and his father’s poor financial management. His father was the inspiration for the character Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield and spent time in the Marshalsea Debtor’s Prison when Charles Dickens was 12. We found out that when Dickens wrote about living in poverty, debtors prisons and child factory workers he was writing from personal experience.
Although quite modest the house was a comfortable family home and there would have been at least one maid probably employed from the local workhouse. The rooms were small and square and decorated and furnished in the style of the Georgian period.
A highlight of our visit was to find an actor in nineteenth century costume giving a reading from A Christmas Carol!

After visiting the house we travelled by bus to Gun Wharf Quays for lunch. Over lunch we discussed A Christmas Carol. Everyone enjoyed the book finding it easy to read with language that did not seem to be so very different to that used now. The various themes of the book relating to the need for compassion, kindness and recognition of other people’s hard work when dealing with human relationships, and the possibility of redemption through changing one’s behaviour, struck a chord with everyone.
The group also appreciated the details of Christmas traditions that in many ways are similar to traditions we still celebrate today. All members praised Dickens’ ability to describe people, places and relationships so evocatively.

22/09/2026

Our September monthly meeting was a fascinating and very informative evening, with an excellent talk from Andrew Gaunt, a Plant Health and Seeds Inspector with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), part of DEFRA.

Andrew has worked as a plant health inspector for over 25 years and is based in Chichester, covering plant health inspections, imports and exports. He has extensive experience in protecting the UK from harmful plants, pests and diseases, and is also a National Plant Collection holder specialising in Hedychium (flowering ginger).

His talk, “The Role of the Plant Quarantine Service,” gave us an insight into the work that goes on behind the scenes to protect our plants, gardens, agriculture and natural environment. Andrew explained what his day-to-day duties involve, including inspecting imported plants and plant products and helping to prevent potentially damaging pests and diseases from entering and becoming established in the UK.

He also talked about the growing challenges presented by climate change, global trade and invasive insects and plants, and highlighted some of the pests and diseases we should be aware of. His experience brought the subject to life, giving us a much greater appreciation of just how important plant health and biosecurity are.

It was an engaging and thought-provoking talk, packed with information, with examples from Andrew's many years of experience helping to illustrate and support the points he discussed.

17/09/2026

Sullington Windmills celebrating WI Day and 111 years of the WI. Dressed in purple to acknowledge our suffrage roots.

15/09/2026

On a lovely sunny morning, the Sullington Windmills WI book group gathered in the garden of a member’s neighbour to discuss Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence.

There was a fairly strong consensus that The Age of Innocence was not an easy read. For the majority of us it proved something of a slog, with the descriptions of New York’s 1870s society, its endless rules and its intricate social etiquette sometimes feeling rather hard going. A number of members admitted they had struggled to finish it, while one resourceful reader eventually resorted to watching the film instead! Others, however, enjoyed the novel considerably more, and interestingly, even some of those who found it a tiring read were glad that they had persevered.

The most interesting discussion centred on the characters, particularly May Welland. At first, May seems to be a rather insipid, conventional young woman. Yet, as the story progresses, another May emerges. Beneath the apparently innocent exterior is someone remarkably astute, who understands both Newland and the society in which they live far better than he realises. Her manipulation of events, bringing forward the wedding and, later, announcing her pregnancy at precisely the right moment, makes her much more complex than she first appears.

Ellen Olenska, meanwhile, seemed remarkably modern to us. She wants the freedom to divorce her husband and live independently, an astonishingly bold idea in the society into which she has returned. Her declaration, “I want to be free; I want to wipe out all the past,” could almost belong to a contemporary novel.

Her influence on Newland is enormous. Through Ellen, he begins to question the values of the world he has always accepted and to see that there are other ways of living beyond the narrow circle of New York society.

This is perhaps where the title of the novel becomes most ironic. There is very little real innocence in this novel. Everyone is watching everyone else, everyone knows the rules, and almost everyone is manipulating those rules while pretending not to. Wharton exposes a society where appearances matter more than truth and where scandal is often considered worse than unhappiness.

The book also made us wonder about Newland himself. Some members felt that he was weak. Is he genuinely a victim of society, or does he use society's rules as an excuse for not making difficult choices? He longs for Ellen and believes himself to be more enlightened than the people around him, yet when faced with the consequences of challenging convention, he ultimately falls back into the life expected of him.

The ending was described as disappointing by a few members. After all the anticipation surrounding Newland and Ellen, the final meeting, decades later, feels deliberately restrained. Some of us wanted more: more confrontation, more emotion, perhaps even a little more drama. It is a frustrating ending, but perhaps appropriate for a novel about the things society prevents us from saying and doing.

So, was The Age of Innocence worth the effort? The answer from our group was decidedly mixed. It was certainly not everyone's favourite read, and several members found it slow and difficult to get through. However, it generated plenty of conversation, particularly about marriage, freedom, social pressure and the deceptively complicated May Welland.

15/09/2026

10/09/2026


September Meeting - ‘The Role of the Plant Quarantine Service’ with Andrew Gaunt
Wednesday 16 September 2026� 19:30 to 21:30

Image Credit: GOV.UK
Andrew is a member of APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency) in DEFRA.
Andrew has now been an inspector for over 25 years and is based in Chichester. This year he became the first Plant Health and Seeds Inspector awarded the prestigious Veitch Memorial Medal (VMM); an international honour presented annually by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of horticultural science and practice.
His talk will look at the role and work of DEFRA’s Plant Quarantine service in protecting the food supply chain, agriculture, horticulture, forestry and the environment from alien pests and diseases.
The talk highlights the threats to the UK natural world from the insects and diseases brought in from outside the UK and the repercussions for our plants, trees and wildlife.
There will also be time for refreshments, socialising and the raffle.

22/08/2026

Our book club had a very mixed reaction to Broken Light by Joanne Harris, with the majority of the group not enjoying it. Those who disliked it found the story difficult to follow and, for some, rather depressing. The magical realism was not to everyone’s taste, and there was also criticism of the amount of discussion around menopause, as well as what some felt was an overly feminist or misandrist tone. Members who had read Joanne Harris before were particularly disappointed, as this was not the type of book they had expected from her.

Those who enjoyed the book appreciated its use of magical realism and its willingness to tackle some difficult and thought-provoking subjects, including menopause and the experience of ageing and becoming invisible, women’s anger and power, male violence and misogyny, abuse and the movement. They particularly liked the descriptions of the emotions and physical experiences of menopause, the insights into female friendships, and the similarities to Stephen King’s Carrie. For these readers, the fantastical elements provided an interesting way of exploring some very real and uncomfortable issues.

Despite the divided opinions, everyone agreed that the book was very well written.

Overall, Broken Light certainly gave us plenty to discuss, with opinions ranging from strong dislike to genuine enjoyment. It is clearly a book that tackles big subjects and is likely to provoke a strong reaction, whether positive or negative.

One quote from the protagonist, Bernie Moon, that captures the book’s mix of humour, self-doubt and its focus on women’s experiences is:

“Some women have an inner goddess: I have my inner critic instead, who sounds something like my mother.”

The next book to be read will be 'The Age of Innocence' by Edith Wharton.

This will be discussed on Friday 11th September 2026.