of Europe and its rich heritage, but we will leave the EU, and it is unlikely that the US will have cause to regret its choice of President.


Bins protect


our verges Dear Editor – Follow- ing on from the letter and photo from Mr Whitby in January’s Village, I too have enclosed a photo of our grass verge. This damage was done less than 24 hours after we removed our bin from the verge at the request of the council. The reason we leave our bin there is to protect our verges from inconsiderate drivers who decide to drive or park along them, churning them up. As Mr Whitby said, some of the residents in Middle


Drive like to take care of our environment by keeping it tidy and respectable, so our bin is back out there on duty – and if the council remove it like they have said they will, then something else will be put in its place until they can provide us with a better solution to the problem.


WHERE’S VINNY?


SEVEN-YEAR-oldMatthew Holmes, of Barnt Green, was the latest winner of a Mini Vinny in our monthly competition! If you want to win one


for yourself, you’ll need to try to locate the little hedgehog hiding some- where in this magazine (the one shown above is just a guide!). Just tell us where he’s hiding via phone, email, post or Facebook – please include your contact details, espe- cially if leaving a voicemail message – and we’ll draw a winner at random. The closing date is midnight on the 18th of every


month. We’ll let you know if you’ve won and you can collect your Mini Vinny from our office – and pose for a photo with your prize!


Peter McHugh, Alvechurch


TheVillageView . . . A


lmost 80 women turned out for the inaugural meeting of Barnt Green Women’s Institute in January – quite a success for any new venture.


From memory, there used to be two WIs in Barnt Green, but they disappeared some time ago; perhaps because the perception of the organisation at that time was putting off younger women, maybe because women just didn’t have enough time as two incomes became a necessity to afford rocketing house prices, or perhaps because there had been an increase in other things for them to get involved with? They are back in Barnt Green now, and with a bang!


We wonder what has changed besides the fresh appeal of the WI since the Calendar Girls phenomenon and a long-revitalised, campaigning organisation that has recently celebrated its centenary. Is there a sense, a feeling out there, that women


are wanting to get organised in the face of decisions being made and changes being forced on society which could be detrimental to them and their children, as well as to the rights of many other people? The sight of gloating men in blazers telling


Mr & Mrs Partridge, Cofton Hackett


everyone to calm down and let them get on with dismantling structures that have been carefully and painfully put in place over the past 70 years to maintain as much peace as possible across our continent, as well as the whole of the world, might be enough on its own to bring women together. The sight of such a man, but supersized as only an


American can be, sworn in as President of the USA was enough to bring one million people to march in protest through the streets of Washington, DC. They were joined by more than one million other marchers in cities across America and hundreds of thousands more in 20 countries around the globe. This was a Women’s March, organised by and mainly populated by women, supported by their husbands, partners, fathers, brothers and sons. It was a near-spontaneous reaction by women to the fear that hard-won rights for them and for many minority groups are at risk of being rolled back. And it was far bigger than anyone expected. Are we pushing the boundaries of interpolation


to link a growing interest in village women’s groups with the global shudder running through people who care about the lives of everyone, not just their own, and are interested in the welfare of all people, not just their own little, or large, nation? Perhaps, but in these troubling times any glimmers


of light that may illuminate the dark corners of selfishness that threaten to spread shadows over the rest of the world are to be welcomed and nurtured.


The Village February 2017 19


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