4th July
Our WI had a very interesting speaker this month. He is a local gardener who won the BBC Make a Garden national competition. He told us about the selection process along the way to becoming one of the 5 finalists and the extra stress of being filmed and quizzed on his knowledge while putting up arches, laying a little path and planting his chosen flowers and shrubs.I've watched some of those programmes and had no idea of the time it all took and how the presenters try to set the competitors at odds with one another in order to create that mean streak which they seem to like to have in all their programmes.We are going to visit the speaker's garden for our August meeting and then have tea with another WI in the area.
9th July
I watched the BBC 4 programme about Denman College. Here was another example of how much filming is done and how little of it appears in the programme proper. It was interesting how little information was given on Denman because the producers concentrated on the members attending and on their reasons for being there rather than on what they were doing. I think what I call the social services side of the WI was thoroughly aired as it has been in each programme. Do you think it will have attracted new members or made people shy away in case their private lives were explored in such depth?
It will have made members realise the problems of the upkeep of the buildings etc but did I nod off or was no mention made of how the Federations support their own bedrooms or part of the gardens? I still don't like the chairs in the bar and I have a nasty feeling there are some very similar models now in the drawing-room. OK, OK I'll go and have a look!
10th July
Today was the day for the BFWI Literary Lunch with Sandra Howard as the speaker. The Cheddington Village Hall has one of the most helpful caretakers in the county and he looked after us very well.The hall looked nice when laid out for lunch and the members arrived all looking summery and smiling. The caterers performed wonders as usual, the waitresses were very efficient but even so we ran late but no one seemed to mind. Sandra Howard is a lovely person and we appreciated what she had to say and she signed all the 50 copies of her book we had on sale.
All but two members were happy with the day: there is always someone, isn't there! In this case two but they came together so they count as one. The trouble is that afterwards it is only the criticism that the organisers remember, not the happy comments and encouragement to repeat the pattern.
Sandra donated her fee to a charity which helps fight alcohol and drug addiction. The event should turn out to be a good fund-raising event.This event is run by Executive for the members but organised by a small working party. Working Parties provide a good way to achieve successful results without spending a lot of time nor money on travel expenses. Members of the group do not need to be on Executive nor attend other meetings: no minutes, just notes back to Executive. One plans, organises help and runs things on the day then one is fancyfree again.
Would anyone like to help at a future event on this footing? It could involve writing letters, doing sums, cooking, buying whatever is needed, printing menus, waitressing, selling raffle tickets---all the things which you happily undertake in your own WIs.THINK ABOUT IT.
11th July
I took various items back to Stuart Lodge today after yesterday's Literary Lunch and immediately began to receive phone calls and e-mails saying how much people had enjoyed themselves."It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it".We have made these lunches into special occasions and everyone makes an effort and comes expecting to have a pleasant day. I only wish we could accommodate a larger number.
Saturday 14 July 2007
Tuesday 3 July 2007
BBC4:the WI as others are viewing us
25th June
Another evening in the pub! This was the final meeting to plan our literary event. We have got down to the details now: where to find 30 cruets etc.We are also rather shell-shocked by the popularity of this meeting and hating turning people away but it is absolutely impossible to cater for more safely so we shall have to plan another similar get-together as soon as possible.
Of course being out of the house we all had to miss the BBC4 programme on the WI and I am told that you cannot video from this channel. Let's hope it is repeated.
27th June
Tonight was the local WI committee at which we discussed plans for the town show and for catering in the garden for a neighbouring WI and whether we could undertake some sort of basic cookery skills course for young mothers and children similar to the NFWI Let's Cook idea.
There was much talk of the Hissing of Summer Lawns programme. Everyone seemed to think it was a good programme which left much to discuss. Apparently it centred on a new WI on the Isle of Wight which was proving very successful but so divorced from the accepted norm for WIs that it was in danger of stepping beyond the constitution.The general opinion among the committee members was that it was a mini war between the federation and the new president and their money was on the establishment to win!
28th June
The meeting of the Education&Current Affairs sub-committee also chatted about the TV programme which I still haven't seen.Plans are being made for forthcoming events so this involves lots of letterwriting and phone calls to possible speakers and hall curators.I filled my car with equipment for the literary event and spent the evening at home practising with the Public Address system which must have given the neighbours quite a surprise! I think I have mastered it but these things are so sensitive that they need tender maintenance between events.It would also help if instructions were not written in Korean.
!st July
At last I have watched the Programme even though it meant sitting up until 12.30am. No wonder everyone is talking about it! I tried to look at it as a non-member and I could see how some of the views of young Amy would appear justified.And give her her due, she did pay her respects to what the WI had achieved and showed enthusiasm for current campaigns. What she didn't grasp was that much of what had been achieved had been done by people very like herself who had found the best way to tackle it.Amy thought she was breaking new ground by having controversial topics on the WI programme ("Look at me ruffling feathers" syndrome) when way back in the 1940s WIs were debating venereal diseases, divorced women, violence in the home etc.Every WI has always chosen its own programme and created itself to be what its members want.
I really felt for the girl when every president's nightmare came true and the speaker either doesn't turn up at all or is dreadfully late.
As a WI member who perhaps doesn't know what's what in the constitution, the programme might lead her to think it is OK not to keep accounts of the money, not to pay any notice of basic hygiene rules when preparing food and to fail to ask for nominations for the committee and president at the annual meeting.Also it came across that one needed to have a pretty substantial income to belong to the WI.Yarmouth may have the most members in the country but there was only 48 at the annual meeting. Are these members really members or just cherry pickers who pay their subs and don't attend ordinary WI meetings and therefore become an economic liability to the WI?
As an experienced WI member I was a bit surprised that the federation didn't ensure that the producer pointed out that Amy had been co-opted onto Executive ie invited to serve on the committee, not voted in. It will be up to the other WI members on the Island to elect her at the end of the next 2 year stint and she may well have upset a few people by then.
I don't know whether it was wise to invite the other three members of Yarmouth as well. Could have echoes of a Trojan horse there!
Actually like many other watchers of the programme I think that the relationship between the IOW Federation and the new president will be beneficial to both parties and that the establishment will be able to channel Amy's enthusiasm into a more traditional mode of operation and as her own member observed "She'll learn".
2nd July
The second programme was very different and highlighted another side to the WI. This was again someone thinking outside the norm in planning an outward bound event for a traditional WI with all the risks involved.It was very funny too.Did you notice the sparkle in everyone's eyes when they came in for lunch? They were really enjoying themselves.The main emphasis though was in the different personalities within the branch and the place of the WI within the village community.The social benefits afforded by a group helping each other recover from illness or trauma was acknowledged but we also saw the failure to consider the feelings of others which lost a member.
Here was another style of recruitment in the work of Mary, the WI Adviser.There was the fun element as well as the hard work and commitment at the Yorkshire Show and I bet there were many WI members who recognised the basic appeal of the WI from this piece of film.
Another evening in the pub! This was the final meeting to plan our literary event. We have got down to the details now: where to find 30 cruets etc.We are also rather shell-shocked by the popularity of this meeting and hating turning people away but it is absolutely impossible to cater for more safely so we shall have to plan another similar get-together as soon as possible.
Of course being out of the house we all had to miss the BBC4 programme on the WI and I am told that you cannot video from this channel. Let's hope it is repeated.
27th June
Tonight was the local WI committee at which we discussed plans for the town show and for catering in the garden for a neighbouring WI and whether we could undertake some sort of basic cookery skills course for young mothers and children similar to the NFWI Let's Cook idea.
There was much talk of the Hissing of Summer Lawns programme. Everyone seemed to think it was a good programme which left much to discuss. Apparently it centred on a new WI on the Isle of Wight which was proving very successful but so divorced from the accepted norm for WIs that it was in danger of stepping beyond the constitution.The general opinion among the committee members was that it was a mini war between the federation and the new president and their money was on the establishment to win!
28th June
The meeting of the Education&Current Affairs sub-committee also chatted about the TV programme which I still haven't seen.Plans are being made for forthcoming events so this involves lots of letterwriting and phone calls to possible speakers and hall curators.I filled my car with equipment for the literary event and spent the evening at home practising with the Public Address system which must have given the neighbours quite a surprise! I think I have mastered it but these things are so sensitive that they need tender maintenance between events.It would also help if instructions were not written in Korean.
!st July
At last I have watched the Programme even though it meant sitting up until 12.30am. No wonder everyone is talking about it! I tried to look at it as a non-member and I could see how some of the views of young Amy would appear justified.And give her her due, she did pay her respects to what the WI had achieved and showed enthusiasm for current campaigns. What she didn't grasp was that much of what had been achieved had been done by people very like herself who had found the best way to tackle it.Amy thought she was breaking new ground by having controversial topics on the WI programme ("Look at me ruffling feathers" syndrome) when way back in the 1940s WIs were debating venereal diseases, divorced women, violence in the home etc.Every WI has always chosen its own programme and created itself to be what its members want.
I really felt for the girl when every president's nightmare came true and the speaker either doesn't turn up at all or is dreadfully late.
As a WI member who perhaps doesn't know what's what in the constitution, the programme might lead her to think it is OK not to keep accounts of the money, not to pay any notice of basic hygiene rules when preparing food and to fail to ask for nominations for the committee and president at the annual meeting.Also it came across that one needed to have a pretty substantial income to belong to the WI.Yarmouth may have the most members in the country but there was only 48 at the annual meeting. Are these members really members or just cherry pickers who pay their subs and don't attend ordinary WI meetings and therefore become an economic liability to the WI?
As an experienced WI member I was a bit surprised that the federation didn't ensure that the producer pointed out that Amy had been co-opted onto Executive ie invited to serve on the committee, not voted in. It will be up to the other WI members on the Island to elect her at the end of the next 2 year stint and she may well have upset a few people by then.
I don't know whether it was wise to invite the other three members of Yarmouth as well. Could have echoes of a Trojan horse there!
Actually like many other watchers of the programme I think that the relationship between the IOW Federation and the new president will be beneficial to both parties and that the establishment will be able to channel Amy's enthusiasm into a more traditional mode of operation and as her own member observed "She'll learn".
2nd July
The second programme was very different and highlighted another side to the WI. This was again someone thinking outside the norm in planning an outward bound event for a traditional WI with all the risks involved.It was very funny too.Did you notice the sparkle in everyone's eyes when they came in for lunch? They were really enjoying themselves.The main emphasis though was in the different personalities within the branch and the place of the WI within the village community.The social benefits afforded by a group helping each other recover from illness or trauma was acknowledged but we also saw the failure to consider the feelings of others which lost a member.
Here was another style of recruitment in the work of Mary, the WI Adviser.There was the fun element as well as the hard work and commitment at the Yorkshire Show and I bet there were many WI members who recognised the basic appeal of the WI from this piece of film.
Bucks WI look North
June 15th
En route to Scarborough with 38 other WI members and friends. We travelled happily up North through what used to be the industrial towns of the Midlands which is now reclaimed as green and pleasant land. We passed through rain but were quite oblivious of the torrential downpours the rest of Yorkshire was experiencing.
What a lot of cars on the motorways carry just one passenger! It was lovely to see the sea and to hear the seagulls and to discover that the hotel was welcoming. The food was good too.
June 16th
Today we were off to learn about the lovely city of York and to see the first evidence of the flooding overnight.The locals informed us that this was nothing out of the ordinary for them but it certainly impressed us.We had a very amusing and knowledgeable guide for the morning and then went our separate ways to explore whatever interested us.I was most impressed by the York Minster and the work done to underpin it.The embroidery on show is very fine and the modern work of stonemasons equals that of those who went before.It was wonderful to hear the service in progress with the choir singing in the midst of tourists from all over the world.
The party is beginning to jell as the travellers get to know each other which is an important part of these holidays.
June 17th
We travelled up the coast today visiting Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby and then home across the moors. It was very atmospheric on the moors as the mist came down bringing a shower of rain.Our guide gave us an historical account of life among the fishing fleets and the abbey communities. Lots of people just had to have fish and chips in Whitby and then sit and watch the clog dancing on the pier.We were there at the end of the festival and when the dancers finished with an eight group communal dance on the beach they up-skirts and rushed into the sea!
June 19th
We received a bit of reflected glory today with the publication of the article about the WI impact on Marks & Spenser in the Daily Telegraph. Some of the hotel staff knowing we were from Buckinghamshire wondered if they were harbouring members of the focus group.I wish they had been because that was wonderful publicity and such a well written piece. Some of us considered an invasion of the local branch to receive the grateful thanks of the shop staff for saving their stores but a sense of decorum prevailed and we went off to learn about Pickering and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway instead.
There is no doubt about it that the WI is constantly appearing in the media these days. Someone somewhere is working the system to good effect.
June 20th
We visited Castle Howard where two gentlemen on the staff made us very welcome because they had both spent time in Buckinghamshire schools either as pupils or staff. We had a lovely day with a guided tour of the house with all its treasures and there were guided tours of the marvellous Italian, rose and vegetable gardens. I have never seen such a good vegetable garden and the House boasts that the restaurant and cafe on the premises uses all its own local produce.There was a wonderful choice of honey and jams and cakes in the shop and soups all homemade in the restaurant. There was also a wonderful chocolate shop! Temptation!
We could not look around two of the rooms in the house because they are filming a remake of Brideshead Revisited.There were people milling around with cameras and stars reading their lines in secluded corners and every now and again everyone had to be absolutely silent while some tiny bit of film was made. The only thing that refused to keep quiet was the peacock! We are all going to have to see the film to see how it turns out.
Home tomorrow with new friends made and a nice break away enjoyed because the worries and concerns that many of the passengers have in their private lives are left behind for a few days.
En route to Scarborough with 38 other WI members and friends. We travelled happily up North through what used to be the industrial towns of the Midlands which is now reclaimed as green and pleasant land. We passed through rain but were quite oblivious of the torrential downpours the rest of Yorkshire was experiencing.
What a lot of cars on the motorways carry just one passenger! It was lovely to see the sea and to hear the seagulls and to discover that the hotel was welcoming. The food was good too.
June 16th
Today we were off to learn about the lovely city of York and to see the first evidence of the flooding overnight.The locals informed us that this was nothing out of the ordinary for them but it certainly impressed us.We had a very amusing and knowledgeable guide for the morning and then went our separate ways to explore whatever interested us.I was most impressed by the York Minster and the work done to underpin it.The embroidery on show is very fine and the modern work of stonemasons equals that of those who went before.It was wonderful to hear the service in progress with the choir singing in the midst of tourists from all over the world.
The party is beginning to jell as the travellers get to know each other which is an important part of these holidays.
June 17th
We travelled up the coast today visiting Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby and then home across the moors. It was very atmospheric on the moors as the mist came down bringing a shower of rain.Our guide gave us an historical account of life among the fishing fleets and the abbey communities. Lots of people just had to have fish and chips in Whitby and then sit and watch the clog dancing on the pier.We were there at the end of the festival and when the dancers finished with an eight group communal dance on the beach they up-skirts and rushed into the sea!
June 19th
We received a bit of reflected glory today with the publication of the article about the WI impact on Marks & Spenser in the Daily Telegraph. Some of the hotel staff knowing we were from Buckinghamshire wondered if they were harbouring members of the focus group.I wish they had been because that was wonderful publicity and such a well written piece. Some of us considered an invasion of the local branch to receive the grateful thanks of the shop staff for saving their stores but a sense of decorum prevailed and we went off to learn about Pickering and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway instead.
There is no doubt about it that the WI is constantly appearing in the media these days. Someone somewhere is working the system to good effect.
June 20th
We visited Castle Howard where two gentlemen on the staff made us very welcome because they had both spent time in Buckinghamshire schools either as pupils or staff. We had a lovely day with a guided tour of the house with all its treasures and there were guided tours of the marvellous Italian, rose and vegetable gardens. I have never seen such a good vegetable garden and the House boasts that the restaurant and cafe on the premises uses all its own local produce.There was a wonderful choice of honey and jams and cakes in the shop and soups all homemade in the restaurant. There was also a wonderful chocolate shop! Temptation!
We could not look around two of the rooms in the house because they are filming a remake of Brideshead Revisited.There were people milling around with cameras and stars reading their lines in secluded corners and every now and again everyone had to be absolutely silent while some tiny bit of film was made. The only thing that refused to keep quiet was the peacock! We are all going to have to see the film to see how it turns out.
Home tomorrow with new friends made and a nice break away enjoyed because the worries and concerns that many of the passengers have in their private lives are left behind for a few days.
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