New term for WI members too

16th September
Love your Library Day and the birthday of the Women's Institute.Every WI member was exhorted to borrow a book from her library to reinforce the message given at last June's AGM in Liverpool that the WI was against library closures. It was a pretty insignificant gesture locally so I hope more was made of it nationally. We needed a banner really and actually we could have got away with just passing backwards and forwards through the library door because books issued are not recorded so much as the "footfall".It all went wrong when the authorities started to refer to clients instead of readers. Anyway several of us dutifully attended and let's hope that 4,000 or so Bucks members did the same. We got a mention in the local press.

14th September
The local WI discussion Group enjoyed a good evening when a member reported back on having attended a meeting where the speaker explained about New Leaf. This is an organisation set up to help rehabilitate prisoners who have been in prison for under 2 years. Two WI members had attended in order to tell the rest of us following our discussion on the Care not Custody campaign. The WI was more interested in the sentencing of lawbreakers who had mental disabilities, the topic which had been covered by a pair of magistrates at a neighbouring WI. We revisited the subject and also discussed the mandate passed by the Bucks Federation on Care for Stroke victims. We decided to advise the members at the next WI meeting to contact their MP and local organisations to express our concern about provision of help and information.

13th September
We were almost back to full strength at the Book Group today after the holidays. We started with a brief reprise on Africa House by Christina Lamb for those who had missed the last meeting. Then we turned our attention to The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton which everyone had enjoyed reading.It was a long novel with some unexpected twists. The style of writing which tells the story in turns between 3 generations is confusing but seems to be a popular tradition in today's novels. Some of the descriptions were a bit Dickensian but the characters were interesting although we thought that one male could have been brought to the fore which would have darkened the plot.We like a bit of the sinister in our books!

12th September
Those WI members who did not sign up for the Art Day at Cheddington missed a treat. Professor Anthony Slinn talking about the Impressionists was a delight and we all learned a great deal. The food at lunchtime had a French theme and was excellent. The exhibition of art from WI members was of a high standard. There was lots of talk over lunch and everyone was full of praise for the small team which had planned and carried out such a successful event.Well done to the Executive members hard at work in the kitchen!

2nd September
A brief mention of an article in the fashion pages of the Daily Telegraph which featured Jazz Domino Holly who has just published a book called Queen of Crafts. Apparently it all started with the author wanting to learn to knit, then forming the Shoreditch Sisters WI to encourage others and the WI grew to over 100 members mostly working girls with Jazz as President for a couple of years, doing much more than craftwork as we all know WIs do.

1st September
The Bucks County Show and for once it was a lovely fine day. The Bucks Federation had space in the Produce marquee and showed off displays with the title of Our County. It was fascinating to see the different interpretations of the subject and to take part in a joint effort. It is all good experience in showing and following the schedule to the letter because WI judges are famous for their strictness in such matters. The training to become a WI judge is stiff but well respected in the world of county shows so that they are often asked to judge for other organisations.It's something to think about doing if you know you have the expertise in either craft or cooking.