Get me out of here

26th August
I drove over to the chairman of our sub-committee's house to work on the long agenda for the September meeting. It is always pleasant to visit informally even though one comes away with a feeling of foreboding over the possible length of the coming meeting. I thought WI members were to expect a holiday in August but the paperwork keeps piling up! I took the opportunity to explore this part of Bucks in some detail as three of us have been walking the Bernwood Jubilee Trail and we have reached Brill. We are now into an area we know very little about. We have been using public transport as much as possible but the western fringes of the county suffer from a dearth of buses at sensible times for walkers, so the logistics are going to be a problem until we reach the Buckingham catchment zone.I can recommend the trail and the countryside is lovely, very empty; we have disturbed deer and foxes on our way. The brambles are good too.
In the evening it was the local committee meeting at which we heard all about our treasurer's battles with the Bucks County Council over the draconian rise in rent for our meeting place. Although we have found other premises willing to take us if we must move, it will make changes necessary perhaps to our night of meeting or our timing, so we hope to be able to stay put but win our case. We have strong allies in the fight and I always remember the Member of Parliament who said that if the WI protested, the Government tended to throw in the towel! I don't fancy the local force's chances of success after that.The good news is that our WI came up in the Friends Club draw so we have some more pounds in the bank account. We will keep quiet about that to the local government people.Our WI buys two tickets every year in this lottery and we have had individual members win as well as the WI official ticket. Also to raise a few more funds of a more reliable kind, we are exploring Gift Aid on our subscriptions.There is a booklet of advice on this procedure available from NFWI.
27th August
Bucks County Show and a lovely day for it too.I went down just to collect some display material for the local town show and was caught up in a long tailback of traffic. It took me 45 minutes to cover the ground I usually do in four! Then once inside the ground I couldn't find the WI, all the guides and maps had been sold and no one official seemed to know where anything was either.I was very relieved to track down some friendly faces on our pitch who managed to calm me down.It really was not a very good site but gone are the days when the WI can afford a tent of its own. Had we all known of the frustrations ahead when trying to leave the showground, I think we would have walked to the nearest pub and fed and watered while the chaos dissolved. The organisers will have to get the entrances and exits sorted out or peolpe will give up coming. I know the attendance was greater than ever before but to have 5 lanes of cars in each of two fields converging on an exit each onto a shared track leading into a major road which carries masses of traffic on a normal day is just barmy. There were drivers, children and dogs all overheated by the sunshine and the frustration.I tell you...something has got to be done for next year.
31st August
Winslow Town Show--now this is how to arrange traffic! One entrance and one exit for vehicles but only two lanes on which to approach and then alternate and filter under the control of marshals.Simple when you know how.The WI had the same site as last year which is one we like because it overlooks the horse jumping area and is next to the pig roast and the beer tent! Everyone must come by our tent. The day was very cold and blowy first thing in the morning but the sun was out by the afternoon. We had lots of visiting members from WIs in Bucks as well as farther afield.Our major display this year was on the SOS for Honeybees campaign, general promotion of the WI, the craft group and the sampler which is to form part of the Federation book and the books read by the Book Group.We think we have attracted some new members but will wait to see if they actually turn up at a meeting.
2nd September
The local WI meeting was very well attended to hear a talk on scrapbooking which was not quite what I had thought scrapbooking was.Surely it isn't just sticking photos in an album? There were lots of reports on events during the recess and masses of talk on personal adventures and holidays so it was a very friendly meeting. We hope to start a discussion group in order to highlight some of the WI campaigns as well as airing topics that are of interest in everyday situations. One never knows, a resolution may spring from one of these meetings.