Different webs

28th February
I have been reading the latest issue of the WI Life magazine and was most interested in the article about blogging. I hope it will encourage the WI members in Bucks to blog. The examples described in the magazine were very professionally produced; several of them seemed to be promoting businesses as well as hobby interests. They also included photos and pictures which of course this one never has done. The article stresses how easy it is to blog which is what I have been saying for years but it is obvious why I don't receive comments. I have never gone into other people's blogs. It all depends on what you are aiming to achieve by your blog. If it's an advertising tool or a form of chat show, fine. This one isn't: I set it up with the blessing of BFWI to illustrate the various activities a WI member in Bucks could enjoy, a form of advertising I suppose or a promotional item.Who else in Bucks WIs has a blog? Why not make contact with this blog and advise me on whether I should change the style and direction? I don't want Facebook or to Tweet but think I could liven this up a bit if it is thought old fashioned.

27th February
Today two coach loads of Bucks WI members travelled down to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum. We enjoyed a marvellously traffic-free run there and back and spent about five hours roaming around the museum. The draw was the exhibition of photographs of Queen Elizabeth taken by Cecil Beaton. There were nearly 100 of them as well as film clips and Beaton's personal scrapbooks which were fascinating to read. The day also afforded time to view the collection of artefacts from all over the world and I came home suffering from an overload of colour, design and pattern in every sort of material there is.What was particularly breath-taking was a cloak made over 4 years from material spun and woven from the Golden Orb Weaving Spider---well, about a million of them were used to create the whole thing.Some drawings and paintings by Beatrix Potter were on display and the jewellery was absolutely beautiful.

21st February
The local WI Book Group met this afternoon and we talked about Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd.In spite of the violence contained in the novel, most members really enjoyed reading this thriller. It was very well written with a complicated plot and set along the banks of the river Thames from Chelsea down to Canvey Island. In fact, it was quite Dickensian when describing conditions in East London which in some ways haven't improved in the last 200 years. The story raised issues of the plight of the homeless, the corruption of the welfare state and the big business manipulation of medicinal drugs: also, rather worryingly, the amount of trained fighters released into society who may be useful to perform tasks for illegal concerns or security firms.

13th February
A fantastically busy gathering of members for the Craft Group today. Somerset patchwork has proved very popular and when the members had seen at the last monthly meeting what a beginner could achieve, we had some new people come along inspired to start.Several members are making a cosy for tea and coffee pots for the April Council Meeting competition and work has started on the exhibit for the County Show.A neighbouring WI has invited us along to a craft workshop next month and some of our members are involved with courses at local shops.The meetings of our craft group are great for swapping ideas and getting another answer to a problem that has arisen in some craft project---or come to think of it, in life in general!