Action!

​It was the Chase Group Autumn meeting last night. A beautiful evening with a bright moon above and no rain, so why was it so much smaller than usual? I don’t believe the WI members were glued to the latest Brexit news but something kept them at home. More fool them because they missed a really interesting speaker, good reports from the group WIs and tasty refreshments. Deborah Brady spoke about her life as a photojournalist on Fleet Street where at the beginning she was the only female in a man’s world. Deborah had covered some harrowing events and she explained how difficult it was to try to desensitise herself to the scenes which she was photo-ing and she demonstrated the physical problems of lugging around all the equipment necessary for obtaining just the right shot at varying distances. The audience was enthralled to listen and watch a very entertaining and accomplished public speaker in action.
Thursday 10th October
I attended the BFWI’s Autumn event “Women in Uniform” in the Old Town Hall, High Wycombe. This was a well-supported event: there must have been over 200 people there. There were some uniformed ladies in the audience and the Board of Trustees were resplendent in hats to represent the uniform of WI ladies! Well I suppose it was nearer the truth these days than aprons! Three young women from the Armed Forces Diversity Engagement Team gave a very comprehensive presentation about the opportunities on offer to girls in the army, navy and air force. It was slick and fast and very interesting. The modern armed forces welcome all trades and professions with 500 different roles to play and they want to attract school and college leavers into their ranks: they have 6000 apprentices. This demonstration was followed by Mrs Julia Upton MBE describing her role as the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire. She wore a most attractive, definitely feminine uniform but revealed that this lady had set herself a mission to make a difference to our prisons and care systems. The Sheriff shared many of the concerns and aims of the WI and is obviously a woman of action. Then there was an extra speaker, the new NFWI Training Manager based at Denman College who had been a high-ranking officer in the Navy. We were allowed to look but not to touch her ceremonial sword. Tracy Santrian spoke of the similarities between the training in the forces and the shared ideals of the WI. The afternoon closed with a brief concert from the RAF Halton Voluntary All-Woman Saxophone Quartet to prove that the forces welcomed musicians as well.
9th October
After the summer break the local WI discussion group met to plan a programme of topics for the coming months. Everyone had thought of something and their ideas ranged from protest marches to language tuition, industrial espionage to space mining, tea to the use of religious buildings and frontiers to TV programmes. We then sat drinking our wine and listing what made us feel happy---besides the drinking of wine! Female company ranked high too so, WI members go forth and spread the word.