Technology and food

28 January
This morning I e-mailed the WI Life to thank the editorial team for including the gluten-free recipes in the January issue.They will be really useful to individual members and to those of us who cater for events within our own WIs or at County occasions. I also criticised the faintness of the print and those pages printed with black backgrounds because people with failing eyesight find problems with this style of presentation.The reason I am telling you all this is because I received a prompt and polite reply from the editor so it is worth sending up your comments: they are read and one obtains a report on what is being done about one's concerns.
27 January
Today there were two training sessions held at Stuart Lodge High Wycombe for those wanting to know how to set up a powerpoint presentation. The Federation now has a lovely new projector for use at events. A tutor from Denman College came along to instruct and it was absolutely fascinating.The actual linking up of the machines is pretty straightforward but to be able to experiment with preparing a presentation of one's own and be assured that one wasn't going to destroy the whole set-up or wipe out all Mr Gates' information system with one press of a button was very exciting.I think that there may be a new set of speakers for WI meetings just waiting to be asked to entertain the members.
26 January
Several WIs have sent members on the Basic Food Hygiene courses which have been set up in Bucks during January.Twelve of us spent the day being instructed by Jill Brand from Denman College and then sat the test paper which we all hope will result in the issue of a certificate.No WI event where food is on sale or even just provided should be without someone holding this certificate especially in this day and age when people are sue -happy.Having studied the various things that can invade our food and premises, there were some students not so keen on taking lunch! Of course several of the students were preparing food at work and for other charity causes so to run a course like this benefits the community in general as well.
21 January
The Education and Current Affairs subcommittee held its postponed meeting today. The main item under discussion was planning for the June Henry VIII and All That event at Cheddington which is taking shape. We have some excellent speakers booked and some good ideas for sideshows etc.We are also enquiring about a Tudor theme outing for the autumn.Other WIs in Bucks and other federations are taking advantage of schemes such as Awards for All so we are going to encourage our WIs to explore these because we feel opportunities are being missed.We welcomed two members who came as observers to today's meeting. If you would like to come and see what goes on at any of the subcommittees please contact Sara our Federation Secretary and she will tell you when the next meeting is going to be held.All would be pleased to see you.
19 January
The local WI reading group met this afternoon. We finished discussing Ivanhoe from last month.I think it was obvious that these days people haven't the length of attention span that former generations possessed or perhaps learned. Our book this time was The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine MacMahon whom we had heard speak at the Chesham Book Event in November. Generally this novel was well received.As you can guess from the title it was a historical novel about the Crimea War. Strange how the battles were treated then rather like spectator sports, in spite of the horrific injuries sustained.Also there was a different slant on Florence Nightingale in this book. It was a romance, I suppose and it had an uncertain ending which we have left to sort out next time as some readers hadn't quite finished.There was a lot of detail about needlework in the novel too which fit in well with yesterday's visit made by the Craft Group to buy materials to start ribboncraft. We were so exhausted after that that we had to go out to lunch to celebrate being able to get out of our houses after imprisonment by snow!

Entrance 2010

13th January 2010
It is already 13 days into 2010 before I have wished you a Happy New Year but everything WI related which I planned to attend has so far been cancelled because of snow.It was lovely to enjoy a white Christmas but now it is above a joke! If any of you logged on yesterday and was amazed to find an unexplained photo of a gate on my blog, here is the reason for its appearance.The intention of this blog was to report on WI events and the life of a WI member so I thought while I was cooped in and not really doing anything related to WI, I would edit or reorganise my blog. Instead of a portrait of myself which is usual on blogs, I would insert a logo of some sort. Easier said than done.When I finally saw my photo had made it on to the blog (albeit in the wrong place), the euphoria was so intense I had to go and lie down in a darkened room.
What I wanted to intimate was that the WI opened doors and gates to all sorts of different activities and interests. If the NFWI can do away with the WI Tree, I could have something symbolic for my logo. Anyway, I like doors and gates. In another life when I was teaching information skills to schoolchildren, I once set Doors and Gates as a topic. You should have seen what they came up with! Wrought iron gates, doors on cabin cruisers and the mechanics behind rising hinges---it was great fun for all concerned.Lights are a good topic too but I'm way off course now...
For the moment or perhaps the year, the photo will stay where it is but I hope you get the idea.
What did you think of the new Bucks Green Letter? I think the editorial team probably went a bit over the top on the use of colour but it is a great temptation when one finds one can do something to try to do everything to show one can! The photos didn't print up all that well but it is up to us to provide good clear material to be included. It is still a tool to help the WI committees to be efficient and this is successfully achieved plus a bit of information on what has happened recently within the Federation which is interesting.I always like telling members about the good events which they have missed in order to encourage them to make sure they sign up for the next opportunity.Please remember to vote for the resolution on the form in the WI Life and get it to your WI Secretary even if your meeting has been cancelled. It is the first time every member has had a vote at this stage of the proceedings and I fear the weather will have a detrimental effect on the number of votes used.
The new national logo was mentioned on New Years Day in the media which was good publicity but of course it was reported that this was to get away from the Jam and Jerusalem image of the WI.Was our tree representative of Jam and Jerusalem? I failed to make that connection all these years. They could have been using a gate like me with the addition of a bramble branch perhaps.
How about a New Year's Resolution to comment on this blog to stop me running off at a tangent.