In the eyes of the public

27th July
Here we are, not yet in the silly season for the media, and one cannot open a national paper without there being some mention of the WI! I exaggerate of course but the WI has had a very busy month for promotional articles which makes up in a way for the tiny mention of the AGM in Cardiff. Our National Chairman, Ruth Bond was interviewed on Breakfast TV about the planned launch in October of the Harmonies' album The Voices of the WI.The members who attended the AGM were recorded singing Jerusalem as one part of the album. Apparently Universal Records has invested £1 million in this project so we had better buy it for all our relatives to get it on to the top record charts. There has also been a lot of publicity for the cakes which are going to appear in supermarkets acknowledging the WI recipes used but not, I hasten to add, actually cooked by WI members --that is still the province of Country Markets and us locals."Young, hip and part of the WI" was the heading for another feature on our membership growth based on a reporter's visit to the new WI in Islington with a photo of pretty, lively faces enjoying an evening at their meeting. That article was followed by an explanation in another paper of why we couldn't directly collect for Help the Heroes because of our charitable status. Although members had been sending goodies out to the troops for several years and supported the forces in every way they could, they are not allowed to contribute anything from their funds into the monies of another charitable organisation. And then, blow me! featured in a glossy supplement, there was an ex-Bucks WI president looking absolutely gorgeous (and we who knew her in that role know exactly how old she is) interviewed about her life on the Continent as a very popular DJ. So it is not the young WI member who is hip but also the longstanding one! My sister-in-law and two friends wandered mistakenly into a WI meeting in Cumbria thinking they were going to support a friend in the mobile theatre visit to the village.They were made very welcome and although they got rather giggly when they realised their mistake, they didn't know how to get out without appearing very rude so they stayed and enjoyed a talk about hats.Well, you never know maybe they will become members after this chance encounter.

20th July
The local WI book group met today. It was too hot to sit outside so we retreated indoors. Several people had read "Once a Landgirl" by Angela Huth which was much lighter than our recent selected novels. We suspected that the author having concentrated on one of the girls from the original book, might very well produce stories based on the lives of the two other girls. We didn't feel it held our interest as well as the first book because Prue's life had become just another rather amusing take on a girl's search for love in post war Britain.We had also been reading Crimson Rooms by Katherine McMahon but because not everyone had had sight of a copy, we have held discussion of that title over until next time. However as one member declared it the best novel she had read for ages, I think we have picked a winner here.A few had been reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Martel which is a wonderful historical novel based on the life of Thomas Cromwell. No wonder it won the Booker Prize as it is a wonderful novel which keeps one reading far into the night. The good thing too for us is that it has been done as an audio book so our member with sight problems could listen, although she had to get a member of the family to produce a character chart for her. It is confusing because Henry VIII gave out titles and posts at such regular intervals that one has to concentrate on who is being addressed in conversation. Although the novel covers only the time when the king was trying to obtain a divorce from his first wife until Anne Boleyn's miscarriage, it is a fascinating account of the intrigues at court and Cromwell's rise to power. The character of Cromwell is so appealing that I don't think the author could bring herself to recount his subsequent fall from grace and end.

8th July
The Education and Current Affairs sub-committee met today. Committees receive a bad press.Who was it that said"Committees are made up of the unwilling, chosen from the unfit to do the unnecessary"? However the WI wouldn't manage on any level without them: they can be enjoyable and rewarding meetings. It is good when what has caused a lot of work goes well and people are appreciative. This was certainly so over our committee's Henry VIII day and the recent Nature Ramble. So of course we set about planning events for the rest of the year and 2011 which we hope members will support and enjoy.Following the meeting we had a short presentation from the Bucks County Council on the provision of help to women (and men) suffering from domestic violence, especially those in rural areas. The NFWI survey carried out last year had made everyone aware of the incidence of this problem.The WI is a valuable source of information and power for good on family issues so to question and ignore the information wrung from individuals is to be guilty of stuffing unpleasant truths under a cosy pillow of respectability.If we think back to colleagues at work, friends, children unable to go swimming in case their bruises are noted, cross generation abuse where the elderly relative suffers rough handling and calculated mental cruelty, who can say she is unaware of the problem or doubt its frequency? Uncomfortable knowledge it may be, but if the WI can do anything to help, it should.How can we call ourselves a caring organisation if we turn our backs on those suffering from domestic violence?