WI unconcerned with health issues

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.