Positive thinking

3rd February
The local WI met for the first time at its new venue, welcomed a new President and two new members joined.I think everyone was glad to be back together after the cancellation of the January meeting because of snow.The new premises met with general approval but we have agreed to re-orientate ourselves in the room when we have a normal meeting because we got a little cold spread out in a huge circle so that all were on the outer colder areas of the space.This arrangement was requested by our speaker who demonstrated "Singing for All" and she got us all singing almost immediately.It was a fantastic evening and as one new member said "If someone this afternoon had told me I would be singing Oompah rounds that evening with a bunch of strangers I would not have believed them---in fact I would not have gone along at all!" BUT she joined, phoned to say what fun it had been and could she help at the next event.I think a lot of us suffered the same misgivings but ended up feeling really enthusiastic and cast away the winter blues.
The downside of the meeting was that it was reported that only a small percentage of our members had voted on the resolution selection which is very disappointing and I should imagine has been mirrored across the federations. Partly this has happened because of cancelled WI meetings and the selection meetings during the snowfalls but some of it is because of the apathy which some feel about the WI outside their own village hall.
At Christmastime the local paper ran a feature on the WI after one of the editorial team had visited a WI in Towcester. She wrote of failing numbers and the fact that the movement needed younger members (the usual cry but quite sympathetically written) and she headed the article with a picture of Winslow WI's Big Tidy Up.As a result of this Winslow WI President has written to invite the reporter to the Fashion Show which it is holding at the end of March. The President has also invited her to be a model! This week in the Advertiser there has appeared a letter of mild protest from Towcester saying that it had gained members just as the WI nationally was gaining members and telling everyone about the new "young" WIs springing up around the country.Then at the weekend one of the colour supplements featured the group formed at Shoreditch in London and there was an article about the possible collaboration of the NFWI with Mumsnet over shared concerns and interests such as the non-violence against women campaign.I am sure the readers (Does one call them readers?) of Mumsnet will be tempted to investigate our WI website and the WI could well gain younger members through this idea.
There was also in the local paper a very full report done by three WI members on a new bus route in the Stony Stratford area. They had experimented by using the service at different times of day to see whether it was a successful solution to the transport problems in that region. The inauguration was a response to the WI's action in reporting on rural isolation issues. Positive thinking and a practical approach which gets results so the WI can make a difference and act outside the village hall!