Resolutions and show promotion

7th May
Most WIs in May are busy preparing their delegates for the Annual General Meeting of the National WI in June this year in Liverpool. The Annual Review has to be accepted and the Resolutions discussed and voted upon. Personally I enjoy these meetings but I know others who don't. We always have to offer carrots to entice members to come along: wine helps the tongues to wag as well.This year every member was asked to bring an item of food which had a locality attached to it but which could be eaten in the fingers. We thought this would avoid a Lancashire Hotpot or a large plate of ravioli! It was amazing what turned up and how well it balanced out between sweet and savoury.
There was quite a good debate on the undesirability of imprisonment for mentally ill offenders. Probably this was because locally various psychiatric hospitals have been closed in favour of care in the community and there are 2 prisons in the area.Cases were cited of where long-term imprisonment had resulted in real harm to the inmates but also it was felt that the public needed to be sure that any hospital was properly secure.
Bottom trawling (although the resolution came from Bucks) was felt to be ambiguously worded so the members asked our delegate to be prepared for an amendment at the meeting in Liverpool.We felt that if the movers did not want a total ban on this type of fishing they should have said "where it causes catastrophic harm to marine life" not "which".Let's hope this is changed on the day as we are too late for an amendment ourselves.
We also spent a bit of time while the Treasurer presented her budget for next year and the Secretary is going to construct a survey for our local members to complete on what they want from the WI and what they don't want so that we can try to make the WI a little more tailor-made. This may be a revelation to the committee but we must be doing something right as we gained a new member even after what some describe as a boring meeting!
8th May
There was a small gathering of 6 interested members to plan our contribution to the Town Show in August.We want a corner site this year even though this costs more. We have been in the same place for years which may or may not be an advantage.We want to fly the flag for Winslow WI and for the County Federation so we have lots of ideas on what to display.The general public always expects us to be selling cakes but that is not practical in August and others do that anyway. We are looking for something to attract attention and keep people in the tent for long enough to take in what the WI is all about. So we need an attraction for children while their mothers read or something to make the adults linger but we are not out to make money and want to get away from the endless raffles and tombolas.Not easy.
In the afternoon 2 members went over to the group for young mothers to teach them how to sew, knit or crochet. This is a new undertaking so we are not yet sure how successful it will be. What we really need is financial backing to be able to provide a creche but that is proving difficult.It happened for the Let's Cook project so maybe we will be lucky too.
12th May
Back to the Town Show planning--this time the Craft Group's contribution. We think we will be able to make something eye-catching to draw people into the tent. The trouble is that everyone imagines the final outcome differently! It will need a bit of furious activity to finish in time but we like to have a joint project so it all sounds hopeful. Those who don't want to take part can organise the display of items made over the last year.I think we will need to borrow some of the display furniture from the Federation stores, banners and perhaps a piece of trellis--but that is why such things are kept there for WIs to use.