11th February
Local WI craft group meeting this afternoon. We had booked a demonstrator to show us a new kind of knitting which doesn't seem to have a name.It is rather like making a patchwork of knitting, working in squares and triangles but not having to seam them--just build up with the knitting needles.It is quite fun to do as I hate sewing up.The lady who demonstrated works for a fashion designer and is asked to test patterns to see if they actually work.It will be interesting to see what we come up with for the next meeting after a little practice on our own.
15th February
I think I can count on one hand the times in 40 years membership of the WI when I have wondered why I am a member. The first time must have been about 30 years ago when at the AGM in the Royal Albert Hall the members voted against the provision of improved nursery care facilities and I listened to people saying that a mother's place was in the home etc. quite oblivious even then of the mothers who had to work to maintain their children.I remember feeling that the majority was actually voting against the support of family life.The second time was when at the resolution selection time I listened to members saying that prostate cancer was not a subject the WI should be heard to be discussing. This was about 20 years ago and again I thought that one of the aims and objects of the WI was the health and well-being of the whole family and that this topic surely encompassed that.
Today was the third time. The Education and Current Affairs Sub-Committee has been planning a day on women's health.Speakers and demonstrators had been booked for months to talk about the management of breast disease, recent advances in reproductive medicine and maintaining healthy lifestyles.Today I had to unravel all that knitting because there were not enough members willing to come to learn about such things."This is just for young people"."We don't discuss things like that".Really? Don't you read the papers? Don't you see the unhappiness of daughters and daughters-in-law who don't know where to turn for help and advice with their problems? Is it not part of family life to be able to know how to support your friends and relatives as they wrestle with the misery and fright of a diagnosis of breast cancer which can strike at any age. I hate the sentence --"So-and-so was always there for me" but I'll use it now because the Bucks WI member wont be there for anyone.
Membership of the WI is not to enjoy a non-stop entertainment :it is far more than that.It is educational and 100% supportive of family life and values. If we forget that, we might as well belong to a club --lower in stature than the working men's clubs which were originally formed to look after their own.
You will have gathered that I am a little annoyed and very disappointed. Also embarrassed because what will our speakers think of the WI when I tell them that we couldn't raise a big enough audience to not be an insult and a misuse of their time away from their worthwhile occupations helping women face their health problems? In fact I'm so cross that my grammar and punctuation has gone awol.
18th February
Well after all that I was really impressed with what my WI had provided in our boxes for the Forces in Afghanistan. I took them up to Westbury and District WI this morning and was filled with admiration at the way its members had organised themselves to handle this project. I'm glad to say that there is a lot of support for this campaign and that the recipients of the parcels are taking the time to write and say thank you. This adds a personal touch to the scheme. Some have mothers who are WI members and who knows perhaps when the girls are demobbed they may remember and become members themselves.
19th February
The local WI book group met today. We had been reading Penelope Lively's "A House unlocked" which is an autobiography describing this novelist's childhood. It stirred memories of World War II and of another way of life in a country house where gardening, hunting and organised picnics a la the Bloomsbury set were enjoyed.But the author also discussed the changes in society over the last half century, the alteration of values and the coming of travel.I picked up an article in the national press where the Campaign to Protect Rural England said that a new village green boosted village life. "It tends to encourage events, inclusivity and a resurgence of traditional forms like the Women's Institute".This was one of the points Penelope Lively was making too.
We are hoping to join up with another reading group in the town for a session together but we need to decide on a book to all read and discuss.
Thursday 21 February 2008
Tuesday 12 February 2008
Education, flora and fauna
17 January
It was the day for the final meeting of a series of four when the Bucks WI members are gathered to select the resolutions which they think are worthy to go forward to the Annual General Meeting of NFWI in June 2008.There must have been about 100 people present to hear the resolutions outlined by the members of the Member Services Committee.No one represents her WI at these meetings: she makes her own decision. We had six resolutions to choose from which all mirrored some aspect of the interests and campaigns of the WI movement.We thought about artificial additives in children's medicines, the dangers of Group B Streptococcus infection in infants and inappropriate imprisonment of the severely mentally ill. For education we discussed fairer funding for schools and for the environment we considered safer routes for pedestrians and a ban on sea bottom trawling. The last topic was presented by a local WI member whose WI had sent up this resolution.
It will be interesting to discover whether our choice as a county federation is the same as the one from the country as a whole.
30 January
Our local WI committee tonight was very busy as not only our WI but the County Federation and National gird up their loins for the new year activities after the Christmas break.There is always so much forward planning to do, scrabbling for dates which do not clash with other events and weighing up ideas for fundraising. We think we know what we will suggest to the meeting next week but one never knows what the reaction will be. Sometimes one wishes one didn't need to be democratic--it would certainly speed things up!
4th February-8th February
At home I have been without my computer so this blog has been in limbo for weeks, stored somewhere in the ether because my machine decided to break off communications with my provider.What a palaver! Why on earth would a machine suddenly think of that? And the helplines talk pure jargon so that in the end it is better to hand the whole thing over to a professional and hope he isn't losing your life's work in some black hole.It is also rather unsettling to realise how dependent one has become on a computer. This little room seemed quite heart-less!
Anyway I went off on the WI winter break to Cricket St Thomas where I didn't need to think of electronics at all.
Forty two of us joined the holiday. We visited Lyme Regis, the Donkey Sanctuary and Sidmouth. The seas were impressive as it was very windy. Even so some brave souls were speeding among the waves on sailboards.During the showers we were able to take coffee before walking along the Cobb and remembering Jane Austen's heroine being blown off the top.
The sun shone while we talked to the donkeys.It is an amazing story how that enterprise developed from one woman's vocation into a national concern which will provide speakers all over the country. The work done for special needs children on the site is impressive too. Sidmouth is a lovely little town with lots of old fashioned shops which are a delight and proved a mecca for our party.(Actually that isn't a good word to use as the members didn't remove their shoes but came out with more pairs than they had when they went in!)
Next day we explored the little safari park and went for walks and on the last day we visited Exeter.The embroideries in the cathedral are magnificent and it is heartwarming to hear of a group carrying on the traditions of hundreds of years in making beautiful objects for their church just for the joy of their creation.On the way home we spent some time at the Butterfly Farm at Studley Grange so we studied flora and fauna during our travels in the West Country.
These holidays do us all good providing a chance to meet and talk to others and speed us through the dark months of winter.
While we were away the BBC did another showing of Calendar Girls. Thank Goodness it did, as it proved a great antidote to that ghastly Jam and Jerusalem series which people have had to endure during the past weeks.
It was the day for the final meeting of a series of four when the Bucks WI members are gathered to select the resolutions which they think are worthy to go forward to the Annual General Meeting of NFWI in June 2008.There must have been about 100 people present to hear the resolutions outlined by the members of the Member Services Committee.No one represents her WI at these meetings: she makes her own decision. We had six resolutions to choose from which all mirrored some aspect of the interests and campaigns of the WI movement.We thought about artificial additives in children's medicines, the dangers of Group B Streptococcus infection in infants and inappropriate imprisonment of the severely mentally ill. For education we discussed fairer funding for schools and for the environment we considered safer routes for pedestrians and a ban on sea bottom trawling. The last topic was presented by a local WI member whose WI had sent up this resolution.
It will be interesting to discover whether our choice as a county federation is the same as the one from the country as a whole.
30 January
Our local WI committee tonight was very busy as not only our WI but the County Federation and National gird up their loins for the new year activities after the Christmas break.There is always so much forward planning to do, scrabbling for dates which do not clash with other events and weighing up ideas for fundraising. We think we know what we will suggest to the meeting next week but one never knows what the reaction will be. Sometimes one wishes one didn't need to be democratic--it would certainly speed things up!
4th February-8th February
At home I have been without my computer so this blog has been in limbo for weeks, stored somewhere in the ether because my machine decided to break off communications with my provider.What a palaver! Why on earth would a machine suddenly think of that? And the helplines talk pure jargon so that in the end it is better to hand the whole thing over to a professional and hope he isn't losing your life's work in some black hole.It is also rather unsettling to realise how dependent one has become on a computer. This little room seemed quite heart-less!
Anyway I went off on the WI winter break to Cricket St Thomas where I didn't need to think of electronics at all.
Forty two of us joined the holiday. We visited Lyme Regis, the Donkey Sanctuary and Sidmouth. The seas were impressive as it was very windy. Even so some brave souls were speeding among the waves on sailboards.During the showers we were able to take coffee before walking along the Cobb and remembering Jane Austen's heroine being blown off the top.
The sun shone while we talked to the donkeys.It is an amazing story how that enterprise developed from one woman's vocation into a national concern which will provide speakers all over the country. The work done for special needs children on the site is impressive too. Sidmouth is a lovely little town with lots of old fashioned shops which are a delight and proved a mecca for our party.(Actually that isn't a good word to use as the members didn't remove their shoes but came out with more pairs than they had when they went in!)
Next day we explored the little safari park and went for walks and on the last day we visited Exeter.The embroideries in the cathedral are magnificent and it is heartwarming to hear of a group carrying on the traditions of hundreds of years in making beautiful objects for their church just for the joy of their creation.On the way home we spent some time at the Butterfly Farm at Studley Grange so we studied flora and fauna during our travels in the West Country.
These holidays do us all good providing a chance to meet and talk to others and speed us through the dark months of winter.
While we were away the BBC did another showing of Calendar Girls. Thank Goodness it did, as it proved a great antidote to that ghastly Jam and Jerusalem series which people have had to endure during the past weeks.
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