Talk,talk

11th August
Three of us from our WI got together this afternoon to plan our exhibit for the Bucks County Show. Gone are the days when the BFWI used to have its own tent at this event but we are promised an area for promotion and for displaying a craft competition. We hope to improve on last year and on the result from the Mums Matter competition in which our WI did very well.Several other members are contributing items but the person arranging the floral part always has to be able to set the display up on the day previous to the Show as flower arrangements don't travel well.

10th August
The WI Discussion Group met tonight and although the set topic was Dentistry, I'm afraid we were straight into the city riots of the weekend. In fact more than half the allotted time was spent on discussing what had gone wrong over those few days and what was the real cause of such a breakdown of the rules of behaviour.We came up with a selection of suggestions on how to repair the situation.The general feeling is that it will take about 20 years to re-build the public attitudes to society and that the lack of respect for anything at all, lies at the heart of the problem.The importance of communication between parents and children was stressed, the relationship of teachers and pupils and the importance of example from public representatives whether government or sporting personalities. Solutions ranged from the re-instatement of parent-facing pushchairs, some sort of National Service and the teaching of basic principles eg that rights come with responsibilities.

Dentistry had improved technically and was something positive to think about, although it was still very difficult to sign on with NHS dentists and the alternatives were expensive. We considered ourselves lucky to have escaped the false teeth at an early age with which our parents' generation battled.Were jokes about false teeth still made or had they become outdated?

9th August
The Book Group members had been reading Africa House by Christine Lamb which was the biography of a man who spent most of his life in Northern Rhodesia. He built an English style mansion and a complete village for the native community based on the production of fruit and herbs. He played a major role in the setting up of Zambia and fought against apartheid although he treated his staff quite brutally at times. The book was very well written and caused a lot of discussion because Gore-Browne was a man with such conflicting characteristics and he lived such a hard life.I think we all felt that we were glad not to have had to live with or work for such a man! The book was enjoyed by everyone.

8th August
Our local WI fields a regular team to help serve drinks to the blood donors when the unit comes to the town.There is always a steady stream of donors so the three hours of talk and tea-making passes quickly. We now wear our WI badges because people ask why we are there and it does prompt enquiries about membership of the WI. It is also part of our contribution to the local community.