All our yesterdays

April is a month dominated by WI resolutions. The meeting at the AVDC building in Aylesbury was well attended and very useful to members who had volunteered to introduce the mental health resolution to their own WIs in order that the vote might be carried up to Cardiff for the National Annual General Meeting.  The local information adds to the article printed in WI Life and the follow-up papers on the NFWI website.
At the May meeting our WI, in a small way began the process of talking about mental health in the members’ own or family experience which is the aim of the resolution---to be open about these matters and to try to eradicate the stigma which has been attached for time immemorial. The members duly voted for the resolution but forgot to give our delegate the right to use her discretion to alter the vote. In discussion we hoped that because there has been progress in the treatment of mental health it will help anxiety and depression to be seen as a temporary phase and not a lifelong sentence.  We can all help by listening and not being judgemental. We have also started to fundraise for MIND to help in the care of sufferers from poor mental health.
We listened to a report of how one of our members had been to Denman College on our WI bursary to study fermentation and had returned enthused to make yoghourt and exploding tomatoes---yes, you heard it here first!
Then the members were shown a craft exhibit from 1969 made by some of our previous members which had won a prize and then disappeared without trace into someone’s attic. There was also an item dated 1933 and a beautiful hand embroidered double bedspread with Bucks lace round the edge. The workmanship on these items is of a fantastically high quality and the time spent on their creation must have been exhausting. NO ONE KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT IT OR WHERE IT WAS. Should we care? And where is it to go so it will not disappear again? Very few WIs have any facility to store their archives and we know our County Federation Offices cannot store stuff. What should we do with it? Does it matter? Our WI has a folder of photos of lots of craft items and a set of scrapbooks which is rarely seen. These are squirrelled away in various attics or understair cupboards in danger of being thrown into a skip when the member’s family clears the house. Is this enough? Libraries are closing. Museums? They wouldn’t be seen there very often. Again, does it matter?
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