Women's interests at heart

November 2008
Wow! A comment which I only found after I had posted the whole of October in one fell swoop.
I do believe that WI committees can become too large. It happens because one year there is one extra nominee for committee and no one wants to discourage just one extra from joining. The next year the committee is replaced and the extra place is passed on. The same thing happens later and like Topsy the whole thing grows. The WIs where this happens are lucky because it is a problem which those WIs that are struggling to get a committee at all wish they shared. The only answer would be to look up the original decisions taken by the WI when it was formed and have a skim through the records to see if the number of committee members had ever been formally altered at an annual meeting and then go from there. But if your committee becomes more than a quarter of the membership, I think it should be culled.Members should not be hurt but keen to deserve their place on the committee--after all lots of jobs can be done by non-committee members and sometimes one is safer on the committee than off!
Will that do,Aichzed? What do the rest of you think?

1st November
It was the week for the meeting of the Education&Current Affairs sub-committee. As usual this was extremely busy as there are plans in hand for events right through 2008.It becomes rather confusing because one has to pre-think timing schedules for the monthly newsletter and opening dates for applications so far ahead. However it is the only way to work--one cannot really do anything spontaneously in the WI as much as one would like to appear so.
This health day It's a Woman's Thing is going to be really good as we have some high powered medical people lined up to speak and how often is one able to be told of the latest scientific developments face to face? I hope everyone will make the effort to come along and show that the WI is interested and involved with the medical advances of today.
We are also planning sessions for members to update their Hygiene Certificates and heard more detailed reports of the success of the Let's Cook scheme in Bletchley which was featured at the Council Meeting. I have a feeling that the team will disappear beneath a heap of pots and pans after Jackie Moffat's appeal. It will be like the Burundi Bears all over again! WI members do enjoy a project where they can help or take an active part: there is always a marvellous response.
6th November
Local WI book group which was a rather thin showing this month so we will continue our discussions on A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler next time plus Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother. Thank Goodness we are all feeling positive about these titles after the disappointment of the sushi last month.We are thinking about another author for a literary event in 2008 and we have drawn up a short list.I wonder whether any of the reading groups in Bucks are going to take up the challenge to submit reviews which was issued in the latest WI Life magazine.It would be nice to read something about Bucks in the magazine.
Did you notice that the WI hit the headlines in the Daily Telegraph today. There was a report on a suggested resolution to back the licensing of brothels: "trust the WI to think the unthinkable" was the title.The writer was reporting on Hampshire Federation's move to make this a resolution for the AGM in 2008. Actually this idea came up on the short list for discussion several years ago. I remember many police forces were in favour but the membership preferred another subject and it never made the AGM. However it goes to prove we were even more ahead of the game--if you'll excuse the pun! If the WI has women's health and safety at heart, it would do well to support this issue.
But are we brave enough to see the headlines in June?

7th November
It was the local WI Annual Meeting tonight and we had a really good turn out. Actually it was a good opportunity to talk to each other and we attempted to alter the seating so as to break up those little fixed groups from which every WI suffers.I took along a potential new member and she described the meeting as highly amusing! Anyway she is going to join for sure so she must have meant it.
There were questions asked about the method of every member nominating the president from the elected committee before asking the nominees whether they are willing to stand. This is a time-honoured method which works.It means that every member has the chance to nominate her president or even herself for president. Then the nominees are asked whether they are willing to stand. In this way, someone who may never have considered that the membership would like her to stand is able to weigh up the idea and make a decision. She may say no the first time but who knows the next? A seed has been planted.
Our finances are in good order and our treasurer had worked out and presented to the members exactly how much money the WI needs to run throughout the year. Costs always rise but one good fund-raising event is usually enough to see us through. No one complained about the £1 subscription rise this year which shows that the WI Life has been winning friends during its initial year and it is only because of that that the rise has been so small.