6th July
"It's a mad world , my masters" I cannot remember where that comes from but it certainly applies to what I read in this morning's paper. Did you see where a Surrey Burough Council had forbidden the local WI from tending the War Memorial in its home town? In order to save £14,000 per year in maintenance costs, the Council decided to replace flower displays with grass. The WI in typical fashion said its members would perform the task for free, only to be told that it was too dangerous for the women to cross the road in case they got knocked down by the traffic. Did you ever? I presume it is OK to send their sons and daughters off to war but not to allow the mothers to walk across a road which they have to do countless times a year in the course of their normal lives.
Our WI meeting tonight involved exercises done on our chairs and gentle stretching upright from the floor---the sort of thing one could do in queues, I suppose. Everyone took part and the result was lots of smiling faces. We heard the report from the AGM in Liverpool and were given information on what follow-up work should be done on the mandate about the closure of libraries. Plans for future events were made and volunteers sought for a catering job which the WI has undertaken. The cushions made at the patchwork course were on display and these were admired. A large party is off to the Bank of England this month on an outing arranged within our group of neighbouring WIs. There are lots of activities advertised in the Bucks Newsletter for September so it was a case of working out dates for the diaries.
5th July
The Book Group met today. We started off with a reprise on "The Swimmer" by Roma Tearne which had been well received the month before. Then we talked about the Literary Lunch which several members of the group had attended. We all agreed that Katharine McMahon had been an excellent speaker and someone had bought each of the titles on sale that day so some swapping was arranged. The book we had all been reading or attempting to read was "Now is the Time to Open your Heart" by Alice Walker. Actually a lot of the readers had given up because it was very deep and meaningful with a storyline that was unimportant to the message of the book. One can only be interested in a limited amount of experiences in a person's soul induced by drugs taken to purge the mind and body. The novel was beautifully written but very different from "The Colour Purple" which had prompted this selection. We were encouraged to enjoy the companionship of women who were all better guardians of the planet than the males, to preserve the Earth and ourselves by making conscious decisions about our relationships with others and our food.At least I think that was what we all thought it was about! Our next book is a biography of someone who had lived in Northern Rhodesia in the days of the British Empire which I hope will be more manageable.
Thursday 7 July 2011
Tuesday 5 July 2011
Food for thought
4th July
It was interesting to read that NFWI is about to launch its first range of branded food products for store shelves. There will also be some non-alcoholic drinks on offer and there would be an on-line service too. The WI is being encouraged by the trade magazine The Grocer so let's hope this will be a successful venture. I wonder what the former stalwarts of WI Markets will make of this move.
The really good news released at the same time in the national media is that at long last the Powers that Be in the Government are addressing the time scale for the adoption of children. About five years ago Winslow WI wanted NFWI to accept a resolution on this very problem but it wasn't selected to go to the national AGM so watch the press on progress with this heart-breaking problem.Perhaps if the WI had been able to bring more publicity to the issue it would have saved more disappointment for would-be parents and years of "temporary" foster care for hundreds of children. The article I have just read states that only 70 young babies were adopted last year compared with 4000 in the 1970s and it is not that there is less demand---just too much ridiculous bureaucracy.(Actually the paper didn't say the last bit but I can!)
28th June
Today 114 WI members converged on the Holiday Inn in Aylesbury to enjoy a lunch and listen to Katharine McMahon at the Bucks Literary Lunch 2011. Katharine is the author of "The Rose of Sebastopol" and "The Alchemist's Daughter". She is also a very good speaker so everyone was happy to hear her describe her work as a novelist and teacher at Hertfordshire and Warwick Universities. It was a pleasant room and a friendly atmosphere. The venue was new to WI and avoided the problems of hiring outside caterers to produce a meal in village hall kitchens with only limited facilities.We will have to wait to see what the members thought of the event before deciding to repeat it in this format. There is also the consideration of who to book as speaker because the written word may be brilliant but public speaking weak. Today we knew we were on to a winner and Katharine was delighted that we were able to sell all the copies of her novels which we had obtained from the publishers.Our reading group enjoys Katharine's books and finds there is always plenty to talk about, the characters and the historical settings.
It was interesting to read that NFWI is about to launch its first range of branded food products for store shelves. There will also be some non-alcoholic drinks on offer and there would be an on-line service too. The WI is being encouraged by the trade magazine The Grocer so let's hope this will be a successful venture. I wonder what the former stalwarts of WI Markets will make of this move.
The really good news released at the same time in the national media is that at long last the Powers that Be in the Government are addressing the time scale for the adoption of children. About five years ago Winslow WI wanted NFWI to accept a resolution on this very problem but it wasn't selected to go to the national AGM so watch the press on progress with this heart-breaking problem.Perhaps if the WI had been able to bring more publicity to the issue it would have saved more disappointment for would-be parents and years of "temporary" foster care for hundreds of children. The article I have just read states that only 70 young babies were adopted last year compared with 4000 in the 1970s and it is not that there is less demand---just too much ridiculous bureaucracy.(Actually the paper didn't say the last bit but I can!)
28th June
Today 114 WI members converged on the Holiday Inn in Aylesbury to enjoy a lunch and listen to Katharine McMahon at the Bucks Literary Lunch 2011. Katharine is the author of "The Rose of Sebastopol" and "The Alchemist's Daughter". She is also a very good speaker so everyone was happy to hear her describe her work as a novelist and teacher at Hertfordshire and Warwick Universities. It was a pleasant room and a friendly atmosphere. The venue was new to WI and avoided the problems of hiring outside caterers to produce a meal in village hall kitchens with only limited facilities.We will have to wait to see what the members thought of the event before deciding to repeat it in this format. There is also the consideration of who to book as speaker because the written word may be brilliant but public speaking weak. Today we knew we were on to a winner and Katharine was delighted that we were able to sell all the copies of her novels which we had obtained from the publishers.Our reading group enjoys Katharine's books and finds there is always plenty to talk about, the characters and the historical settings.
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