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The Members' Blog

Authorship
Until January 2020, this Blog was the voice of an individual WI member. Over her 40 years of membership, our Blogger had made a very fine contribution to this and other Federations in England. With interests in crafts, reading and writing and in travel, she also took an active part in campaigning for women's welfare and education and on environmental issues. While she has now handed over the Blog to the wider Bucks membership, her archived blog posts are a testament to someone who always made the utmost of her membership, and a rich source of information about the part the WI can play in today's society.

January 29th, 2017

29/1/2017

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25th January
Since before Christmas there has been an exhibition at the V&A Museum in London called “Opus Anglicanum” about medieval embroidery, a craft which was centred in London for hundreds of years. We all learn about French and Flemish tapestries but fail to know about what was being done in the workshops around St. Pauls in London and exported to castles and churches throughout Europe. The reason I am telling you this is that the WI Life contained a voucher to visit the exhibition with a 20% discount on all tickets bought by members. It does annoy me when I hear WI members say that they throw the subscription book in the bin and never read the offers in the magazine. The subscription book costs the WI nothing and if one looks carefully at the offers one can get the value of the subscription back: I did last year and as I saved £16 on my visit to the V&A I am already well on the way to doing it again this year. I know we don’t want to buy a stair lift every year or can’t be bothered to get 10 pence off a margarine but in these days of so-called austerity we see that many people are dining out more often, travelling here there and everywhere and we all need everyday clothes, so take advantage of whatever deals there are on offer.
23rd January
The members of the crochet group were able to report the successful making of two hats which just needed flowers to embellish them. Another flower maker is working on one to add to a knitted sweater and a floor pouffe was proudly given as a Christmas present. We are also adding to our repertoire of stitches in order to attempt more ambitious patterns.
18th January
The discussion group had given itself a very wide topic indeed---the sea. We heard about a member’s adventures sailing among the Greek Islands, about childhood memories of living by the sea, about walking coastal paths and the unexplainable lure of just watching the waves. Poetry was featured too. Of course, we also discussed pollution because of its topicality with the WI short list of resolutions and the dangers of over-fishing and the advantages of living on an island. All in all, if you set a wide topic you get a wide ranging response so we spent a very enjoyable evening in the warm with glass in hand and feeling glad to be on dry land on a wintry night.

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Another year

14/1/2017

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11th January
Tonight was the occasion of the Winslow WI’s first meeting of 2017. It was also its 95th official birthday although this is not being celebrated until the Murder Mystery Evening in March. It was difficult to judge what the membership is going to be this year because there were so many people absent affected by illness or away on winter holidays. We know that several WI members are moving their main membership to the new morning WI because they feel a little apprehensive about winter driving in the dark which is understandable. The speaker was an energetic actor talking about the history of pantomime so the members were soon involved in the traditional audience participation, without the hisses I am pleased to say.
The President then took the lead on the explanation of the short selection list of six resolutions and the votes were collected for sending in to the NFWI via the Bucks HQ in High Wycombe. Plans were made for the Murder Mystery Evening, the Chase Group meeting which we are hosting and the County Quiz which are all happening around the same weekend.
9th January 2017
This is my first entry for the new year after the long Christmas break. All WI members were given the holiday task of completing the membership survey in the December issue of WI Life and the members of the Bucks Federation were also asked in the Bucks Newsletter and on the Bucks website to complete a local survey. If one examines the questions asked, it is fairly obvious what information the Board of Trustees are keen to learn and I really think that the members should take the time to fill it in---especially those who tend to grumble about the location of the County Federation Office and the venues for events. Enough said but if you haven’t looked, do so now. The closing date for receipt of the survey has been extended.
The local WI crochet group was decimated by coughs and colds but those of us who were present spent an enjoyable afternoon returning to our projects and sorting out problems. Unfortunately, two beginners have decided to give up either because of failing eyesight for close work or arthritic finger joints but the rest are planning quite ambitious products and are eager to tackle the mysteries of written patterns or charts.

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The Members' Blog

January 29th, 2017

Another year

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