Busy, busy, busy...

1st April

The monthly WI gathering this evening was held in the local pub because the new meeting hall at our home school premises was not ready for use yet. I don't know whether it was because we had to make our way through the bar on the way to the function room or wether every one was feeling full of the joys of spring but it was a very busy and talkative meeting. The entertainment from Downley WI entitled "Verse and Worse" was highly entertaining and very slick considering the area left for the performers was a bit restrictive and had to be adapted in full view of the audience. There were heaps and heaps of knitted squares piling up ready to be joined together to make shawls for the fistula victims in Ethiopia:this appeal had found support from nearly all the members. Amazingly only one person wanted to go to the Royal Garden Party so that was easily sorted.Volunteers were sought for lots of tasks to do with the arrival of the WI Centenary baton in Winslow later this month and bookings made for the Waddesdon Garden Party.

 

31st March

Book Group this afternoon when we discussed "My Dear, I wanted to tell you..." by Louise Young. This was a heart-rending story about life at home and in the trenches in World War I, full of quite graphic detail on the early work in re-building bodies, faces and minds of returning wounded soldiers and the changing lives of the women left behind.Several members of the group had difficulties initially getting into the story but persevered and then began to appreciate the novel. However there was a difference of opinion on the motives at the end of the book for the destructive actions of the beautiful wife. We enjoyed the descriptions of the natural world still appearing amongst all the horror, shuddered at the mismanagement of the war and despaired at the waste of life.There were many strong characters depicted throughout. I was really pleased to have read the book and some of us are going to track down the promised sequel.

 

WI Life magasine arrived this morning and once again there was no write-up of the Bucks Science event which was promised not only last year but this as well. Never mind, there were two pages of instructions for creating a pretty pincushion.

 

30th March

This was fun. The Bucks Celebration Lunch held at Newton Longville was very well attended and everyone had made a real effort to dress in a style which would have been seen within the 95 years of the Federation. The hats were gorgeous and the winning costume was straight out of My Fair Lady. There were also uniforms and hippies and Dior creations. The food was good and was served so that we all enjoyed hot food and were able to use proper napkins. The girl duo was entertaining and we all left feeling happy at the start to the centenary celebrations.

 

26th March

The Resolution Selection meeting was held today at the Gatehouse in Aylesbury Two young ladies, one from NHS Continuing Healthcare and the other from Social Services presented the " failure to care" resolution. It is a very complicated subject and the audience had difficulty in taking in the different bodies involved in providing care and who was supposed to do what for the elderly and long-term disabled. Perhaps that is the real crux of the motion ie. it needs explaining to the public instead of no one being aware of what can be done by whom.We learned that NHS Continuing to Care was free to all and that social care needed separate assessment and was means tested. However we were left with a feeling of dissatisfaction with the wording of the resolution and uncertain of whether it was addressed to the right people: HM Government had set up Continuing Care but it had been approached in different ways by councils working in different postcodes.I do wonder how the delegates listening this afternoon will present the resolution to their home WI members.The need for integration between the two systems was not stated clearly in the wording.

 

23rd March

The Group meeting tonight was well attended. The speaker was a stunt woman who had worked on the Titanic film (which she never mentioned) and on many TV films where she had been asked to fall from high buildings or be knocked about in accidents and crime scenes. She did have difficulty in engaging the audience in the reported stunts but her tales of her stage life and the effect of risk assessment and insurance claims on her activities were entertaining. She was certainly fearless in most situations unless it involved a horse! The refreshments were good and much enjoyed and there was a lot of talk afterwards. We were sad to hear that one of our group WIs had had to close but glad to see some of the former members among the audience. We hope that they will join a neighbouring WI again.