Groups and Quilts

24 March
I spent lunchtime today at a local WI member's house where we shared soup and sandwiches in aid of WI funds.We needed to make a small amount to help to finance our Great Milk Debate event which is going to be free entrance.The array of food is always marvellous at these gatherings and they do provide a time for general chat which prove difficult to find at monthly meetings. Also members bring in friends who are not necessarily WI themselves so it is promotional as well.
26 March
This was a crafty day with a vengeance! In the afternoon the local WI Craft Group hosted a speaker from a neighbouring WI to talk about her patchwork and embroidery. She had picked up ideas from all around the world and showed us samples of her work. She said that craft work in Australia and America was of a higher standard than here in UK and that a higher percentage of women in those countries actually still carried out traditional hand sewing.I wonder whether that is what you other travellers believe?
In the evening it was our WI's Group Meeting. Nearly all the WIs in Bucks belong to a Group. These are made up of 4-6 WIs geographically close to each other who join together twice a year to have a large meeting.The beauty of this is that one can hear a more expensive speaker than is possible in some of the smaller WIs.Not that the higher price necessarily guarantees a better talk or demonstration but it does mean the hostess WI may be able to engage a big name to attend.
We listened and watched a marvellous speaker who had travelled up from Portsmouth to describe the Travels of a Nipper and Tucker! I think several people in the audience thought they were in for a session on cosmetic surgery but no: it was about quilting as you have never heard it described before.The work shown was breath-taking in its beauty and execution but the presentation was so amusing that everyone was exhausted by laughing before she finished.I am not going to tell you how she finished but it was completely unexpected and it involved a whip!
An evening to be remembered for a long, long time.
One of the things that many WIs do wrong in my opinion is to give too detailed a report of their speakers' talks in their press reports.Yes: it is important to tell everyone who spoke about what and how good it was etc. but I wish they wouldn't give a potted account of the whole address and especially I wish they wouldn't reveal the final surprise or climax to the talk.It must be so annoying to the speaker and spoils the talk for others who have read the paper.
28 March
Local WI committee night with lots of discussion about the summer programme and of course, this Great Milk Debate. Our finances are still satisfactory but the amount actually in the bank has fallen rather spectacularly this month as the Treasurer has paid out our part of the annual subscription to the County Federation and the National Federation. The local WI just gets to keep almost half of the subscription but the other part goes to support county and the national administration and now the new WI Life.Some WI members resent having to pay this money away but those who object are usually the members that do not appreciate the wider aspects of being a WI member.How could we manage without a county newsletter or the council meetings or sub-committees to organise events or a treasury department to steer us through the minefields of tax and charity commission and insurance? Who would be able to represent us in government petitions, organise the Annual General Meeting at the Albert Hall or Cardiff, produce the magazine and issue press reports? In other words how could the WI maintain its status as an important element in the nation's community without a national and regional presence? Hundreds of groups gathering in little village halls without an overall umbrella would have no voice at all.