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Old secrets

11/2/2016

3rd February
It was another busy monthly meeting tonight with an attendance of over 60 members and 7 guests whom we always hope and almost expect will return to join. The speaker gave an interesting presentation entitled “Journey to Station X” which was all about the formation of the team working at Bletchley Park during World War II. It was amazing that the secrets were kept for decades when so many people were stationed there, living in the local villages and travelling on the trains or cycling to and from work. It would never be possible nowadays when everyone has to take selfies and be in constant contact with friends and family.
The trip to Milton Keynes theatre had been very popular. Arrangements were made to attend several County events and we are pleased to have two teams entering the inter-WI quiz this year which is being held in Winslow. It was agreed to celebrate our 95th anniversary in 2017 with a murder mystery evening. These things have to be booked well in advance because they are so popular. Several of our members have volunteered to help with the formation meeting for a new WI in the town. We wish them every success with that.
The Green Gym members had ended their walk in Aylesbury by visiting the WI centenary display in the County Museum. There were craft workshops going on there too so it had been very interesting.
It was a bit of a surprise to recognise some familiar faces on the cover of the latest issue of ACWW’s “The Countrywoman” magazine. The photos had been taken at the Vintage Tea held in Amersham in November which some of our members attended. Inside there was a write up on the progress of the projects undertaken by WIs across the world for women and children in undeveloped countries. The money we raise by the “women walk the world” scheme and our collections of “ coins for friendship” all go towards these projects. The international AGM is being held in the UK this year in Warwickshire so there will be good coverage in the media.

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Starting up again

4/2/2016

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26th January
Almost a full house for this afternoon’s Book Group which meant that we were nearly sitting on each other’s knees! We had two novels to discuss because we had not met over the Christmas break. In December we had read Maeve Binchey’s Whitethorn Woods. We found this a gentle novel, very Irish in its setting with some good characterisation. It was neatly constructed but I don’t think we will remember it for very long. The next novel was very different and I am afraid no one liked it at all. Maybe it was a generational sort of thing which just didn’t appeal to the members of the group although it came highly recommended by the TV pundits. “Not married, not bothered” by Carol Clewlow was an A-Z of the art of being a happy spinster, a novel with footnotes of doubtful use. It had some funny bits but quite frankly a few of us didn’t finish it. We wondered why the Bucks Library Service had bought it as a set for reading groups.
25th January
It was a rather select craft group which met in a member’s house this afternoon because there were other things going on in the town. However, we all had something to be getting on with and we discussed the problem of the size of the group and whether the local WI would need to consider forming an extra group, perhaps just for people who wanted to knit or crochet. Our next meeting will be under instruction on how to candlewick. Apparently this not about that ridged material which used to be popular for dressing gowns and bedspreads but a form of quite dainty embroidery. All will be revealed next time.
20th January
During the morning and early afternoon several members attended a jigsaw coffee morning in aid of Adoption UK. In the evening the Discussion Group settled down to talk about “Ritual”. It was quite difficult to separate the topic from religion but we managed because we always get off the point anyway! We got on to personal family rituals, those annoying habits which sportsmen and women demonstrate at sporting events and traditions in public life.
14th January
The local WI committee has agreed to put the Town Millennium Book which the WI produced into the local library history collection where it will be accessible to people interested in local history. This afternoon I availed myself of the services of the Bucks WI Federation ‘s Digital Champion to help me come to grips with my new laptop. I can recommend Joycelyn to you because once again she came and sat beside me and the machine recognised that the game was up and it would behave itself from now on! I hope. Such was my rush to try out some new manoeuvres that I forgot to mention that at the January meeting we sorted out delegates for the Bucks Annual Council Meeting at Aylesbury in April and the Annual General Meeting at Brighton.

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