a mixed bag

1st March
I have just been reading the Buckinghamshire WI News which is full of lovely things to do right through to July. However, what a shame that 22 Bucks WIs did not return a single vote in the choice of resolution for the AGM in Liverpool in June! It seems a great pity that when every member now has the opportunity to express a preference she doesn't use the chance. Not one person out of 22 WIs! Part of me would like to see that the guilty WIs are refused the right to attend the Annual General Meeting but we"can't do that there here" as they say.

24th February
A busy day today rushing from one planning meeting to another. First of all a small working party met to arrange the summer literary lunch which promises to be great this year.We have booked a good author who is also a good speaker and we are holding the event in exceedingly comfortable surroundings. I'm not going to tell you any more at present so you will have to wait for a proper announcement in the Newsletter. Keep 28th June free though!
After that it was off to look at High Wycombe Town Hall to see how to lay out the room for the Education and Current Affairs sub-committee Trees event in March.It really is a pleasant venue and the buses stop right outside which avoids having to spend a small fortune in the carparks.The station isn't far away either.I always come away from these sorties quite convinced that something has been forgotten. It is rather like moving house when you realise that the diningroom table will not actually go through the door!
After that we repaired to the local Costa to draft the long agenda before returning home to feed the halfterm hordes.

23rd February
A lovely morning to go to the Wallace Collection on the visit organised by the Arts and Craft sub-committee.We were all punctual and enjoyed a good run in to London. It was pleasant to arrive in time for a coffee before setting out with our guides to look around the exhibition. These guides are so knowledgeable and make it sound as if they are fresh to the job when one knows they can be asked to do three tours a day. Although it was halfterm the rooms were not overcrowded and in the afternoon we were able to go back to see whatever we were most interested in with more time to really browse. The lunch was fine, a bit rushed because we had spent extra minutes on the tour, but it really was a very interesting way to spend the day. The journey home was slowed by a holdup on the motorway but one cannot make provision for that eventuality---better to happen on the way home than arrive late at our place of interest.

22nd February
It is always thrilling to suddenly see faces one knows on the national television.Sitting drinking a bedtime coffee, I was very surprised to see WI members from Bucks hobnobbing with the Duchess of Cornwall at Denman College! Apparently it was all kept secret when, as a WI member from Tetbury in Gloucestershire, the Duchess came to look around the WI college. She visited all the classes and was very interested in everything that was going on that day.

16th February
Tonight our local WI held a new members' evening in the President's house.We are rather proud of having seven new members and we agreed that they would get more out of their membership and more quickly, if we shared our experiences with them in a social setting. And it worked. It was a most enjoyable evening with lots of information given about the history and structure of the WI both nationally and at a local level. There was a lot of laughter too of course and I suspect that the committee members were spotting talent as well. I did hear someone say that the best way to get to know about the WI was to join the committee. I bet you were not the first person to be caught like that! It happens to most of us.

15th February
Over lunchtime the local WI helped one of its members run a jigsaw swap in the village hall in aid of Adoption UK. We had masses of puzzles to exchange or buy secondhand. We served coffees and soup and rolls and Lo and Behold the local press turned up --uninvited. Isn't it just the way when you ask, it fails to arrive and when you don't in walk the reporter and photographer. Anyway, there was a lot of chat and some jigsaw pieces added to the one on the table to complete and we raised £117. Something different which could be done again, preferably without a funeral going on nextdoor.