August
This month tends to be a time when nothing much happens on the WI front. Most people used to be on holiday but nowadays a high proportion of WI members wait until September. This makes booking for autumn events a dodgy operation and necessitates early opening dates.
There have been several mentions of the WI in the media. A Bucks member had a very good letter about the Foot and Mouth crisis published in the Daily Telegraph:100% practical criticism of the carting of the culled livestock across the country from Surrey to Somerset. Well done, Kathleen!
Then there was the announcement of the publication of the final WI Calendar. It was also proclaimed that there were chocolates being traded by Waitrose with pictures of the Calendar Girls on the wrappers. Profits once more in aid of Leukemia Research. However, the local branches of Waitrose haven't any in stock yet. Let's hope the store gets its act together for the Christmas market.
August 14th
The annual get-together for all the volunteer members of Bucks WI sub-Committees was held at Milton Keynes.This is a pleasant evening when there can be a bit of fraternization or cross-pollination between the committee members outside the confines of meetings.I hasten to add that this is not a financial perk as everyone must pay for her meal and travel! Central Milton Keynes WI catered for the first time and made an excellent job of it.Thanks to its members!
August 22nd
The local WI held an extra and rather special evening event. This meeting is for the members only and is financed by the money which is allocated every year for an educational bursary. Originally this bursary was for one member to visit Denman College, our own WI residential college near Abingdon. We used to ballot for the chance to attend but some years the winner prefered to use the bursary locally. It has been used for a driving course and for swimming lessons. Then it was suggested that all the members could benefit from a purely educational meeting. The decision for next year should come up for discussion at the November annual meeting.
If a WI decides to award a bursary, then every member, no matter how long or how short a time she has been a member, has the right to win: the unlucky should not be heard to grumble and certainly not have their complaints minuted in the record book. What sort of a friendly welcome is that?
Our members thoroughly enjoyed learning how to start work researching their personal family tree.There were many notes taken, loads of questions and a lot of comparisons of family legends. One thing that became very obvious was that there were only two out of 40plus present who had been in Bucks for more than one generation.
August 27th
Ideal weather conditions for Winslow Show today in comparison to some previous years. Once a neighbouring stall's tent became airborne and landed on top of the WI's gazebo which was very exciting. This year there was a gentle cross-breeze and warm sunshine.
I don't know the official figures for the gate yet but the absence of the cattle show classes because of Foot and Mouth restrictions did not seem to have affected the numbers at all and there were definitely more stalls.We had many visitors to our tent, members from local WIs as well as others from as far afield as Yorkshire, Somerset and Wales. It was most enjoyable to afford a base for pleasant talk and promotion of our own WI in which we take great pride. We were one of the few sites not out to make money or sell raffle tickets but just to advertise the WI. When one saw displayed all the events and occasions in which our members had participated both locally, countywise and nationally it was easy to be enthusiastic when people made enquiries about joining. We are reasonably confident in having attracted several new members but will not know for sure until after the next couple of meetings.
Wednesday 29 August 2007
Thursday 2 August 2007
WI Promotion:past and present
23 July
My local WI's reading group met today.We have been reading "The Colour" by Rose Tremain which is about the gold rush in New Zealand. There are marvellous descriptions of the rugged countryside which I am told are very accurately pictured. What amazes me is the way in which women coped with the hardships and inconveniences of life under those conditions and the complete breakdown of the moral codes of the groups once away from normal society.Perhaps the most interesting part was the insight into the Maori culture and superstitions which made one wonder whether our beliefs were all that superior. Well worth reading as we all thought.
It has been a quiet week WI-wise but it was good to read in the Bucks Herald that one of our Bucks members was the winner at the Beaujolais Day at Denman College. Well done, Hazel. She is obviously diversifying as I seem to remember her studying chianti when on holiday in Florence!
I was pleased to hear that the BFWI will be manning a promotion stand in the NFU tent at the County Show.I was disappointed that the presence at the Winslow Show is not going to be the official promotion display. Winslow WI will promote itself rather than all the county WIs as in previous years.Every opportunity for promotion should be grabbed with both hands for the common good rather than used parochially. Winslow WI will do well, as it always does but still...
Without good promotion in years past one wouldn't have spotted this clue in a Daily Telegraph crossword.
"Jam makers live north of church in market town". Got it?
WISBECH
1st August
A gorgeous sunny day for the local WI to visit the BBC garden in Wendover. The rain had damaged the delphiniums but we were shown photos of what they had looked like and the rest of the garden was a delight.We enjoyed very informative advice on the identification of plants and on how to make successful cuttings.Before arriving in the garden we enjoyed tea with another Bucks WI where the food was excellent.We had also done some retail therapy at the Worlds End Garden Centre.
A newcomer to the town phoned last night. Someone is going to call for her to attend the September meeting so that she doesn't feel too strange walking in to the meeting on her own.She said that she had seen one of the press reports in the parish magazine and wondered if she could come along and give the WI a try. As I said above, promotion is important and the WI needs all it can get.
My local WI's reading group met today.We have been reading "The Colour" by Rose Tremain which is about the gold rush in New Zealand. There are marvellous descriptions of the rugged countryside which I am told are very accurately pictured. What amazes me is the way in which women coped with the hardships and inconveniences of life under those conditions and the complete breakdown of the moral codes of the groups once away from normal society.Perhaps the most interesting part was the insight into the Maori culture and superstitions which made one wonder whether our beliefs were all that superior. Well worth reading as we all thought.
It has been a quiet week WI-wise but it was good to read in the Bucks Herald that one of our Bucks members was the winner at the Beaujolais Day at Denman College. Well done, Hazel. She is obviously diversifying as I seem to remember her studying chianti when on holiday in Florence!
I was pleased to hear that the BFWI will be manning a promotion stand in the NFU tent at the County Show.I was disappointed that the presence at the Winslow Show is not going to be the official promotion display. Winslow WI will promote itself rather than all the county WIs as in previous years.Every opportunity for promotion should be grabbed with both hands for the common good rather than used parochially. Winslow WI will do well, as it always does but still...
Without good promotion in years past one wouldn't have spotted this clue in a Daily Telegraph crossword.
"Jam makers live north of church in market town". Got it?
WISBECH
1st August
A gorgeous sunny day for the local WI to visit the BBC garden in Wendover. The rain had damaged the delphiniums but we were shown photos of what they had looked like and the rest of the garden was a delight.We enjoyed very informative advice on the identification of plants and on how to make successful cuttings.Before arriving in the garden we enjoyed tea with another Bucks WI where the food was excellent.We had also done some retail therapy at the Worlds End Garden Centre.
A newcomer to the town phoned last night. Someone is going to call for her to attend the September meeting so that she doesn't feel too strange walking in to the meeting on her own.She said that she had seen one of the press reports in the parish magazine and wondered if she could come along and give the WI a try. As I said above, promotion is important and the WI needs all it can get.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
