28th May

The local Book Group met this afternoon . We have been reading William Boyd's "Armadillo" which is a thriller set in the world of business insurance and loss adjustment about which we knew next to nothing.Some readers felt let down by the ending or, as some said, the lack of an ending but we appreciated the characterisation, the humour and the descriptive writing .The author certainly knows his London and enjoys writing about it and makes witty comments about the social scene and the changes made in city society. We preferred his later novel "Ordinary Thunderstorms" which was also a thriller placed in central London: last week we had a bird's eye view from the Cable Car of the dock areas where some of the action took place in that novel---no Olympic Village and Shard in those days!

21st May

Today 98 Bucks WI members who had been fortunate to obtain tickets visited Royal Greenwich. Such had been the demand that another coach and tour has been booked for 14th June for which there may be spare places; it is an unexpected date but the only one available to book for a relief outing.The day was cold but dry and we enjoyed the walk through the Park and crossed the Greenwich Meantime Line before exploring the Maritime Museum and the Queen's House. After lunch we had plenty of time to wander around the Cutty Sark which has been restored so beautifully with exhibitions and lively explanatory notes in every shape and form. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we could all hear even though such a large party. Then it was off to the O2 to take a ride in the Cable Car.When we had first seen the string of little cabins from the hill in Greenwich, it had looked very like a Christmas decoration strung exceedingly high and rather flimsy. Doubts were expressed as to whether some were actually going to risk it but in the event everyone boarded and enjoyed the experience. Even on a day without maximum visibility it was wonderful to ride high above the Thames and see the panorama of London spread out below us.

　

　

9th May
The Current Affairs sub-committee met today and again there was talk about resolutions.However the bulk of the time was spent in planning the Great Food Debate in High Wycombe on the 25th September. There are going to be some high flying speakers and we are hoping that the WI members will do us proud by turning up with really good questions for debate and reasoned points of view. The ACWW theme of Grow locally, Benefit globally will also feature and some supermarket chains will be there to fight their corner. The organisation of the Royal Greenwich outing has been a headache but we were very pleased that the WI members responded so well to this offer and even more pleased that nearly every WI re-acted with understanding well when we had to limit it to WI members only. We hated doing this but it was the only way to be able to take almost all the members who wanted to go.We received one offer to come in drag which we regretfully declined! This may have been inspired by the photos of WI members dressed as pirates which appeared in the national papers this week.
We are suggesting that WIs construct their own websites so that the Federation website could link them in and they could link into the NFWI as well. We were assured that this was easy to do and if any WI wanted practical help it could enquire through Stuart Lodge.

8th May
Our WI Discussion Group met this evening. I don't know who set the topic: it sounded a bit off-putting but proved very interesting."Access to Welfare" started with some background notes on the Beveridge Report and the introduction of the National Health Service. If the Government needs help with re-organising the NHS, I suggest the Ministers contact our WI! We touched on the work of the old Job Centres as well and uncovered the fact that this Universal Credit being piloted in the North East relies completely on on-line access which is a "catch 22" situation for those who have no money, no computer and no confidence in their ability to use the websites. There must be many people whose personal pride would prevent them from using the computers in public places or from asking help from someone where their financial position has to be discussed.
Do we hear a WI resolution in the making? We all agreed that it was a damned sight better than the one coming up in June.

1st May
There was a good turn-out tonight for the annual meeting, always referred to as the Resolution Meeting. The motion about preserving the High Street created a lot of discussion, although it was by no means all about the content of the resolution. Knowing that abstentions are not counted and therefore a waste of a vote, we finally instructed our delegate to vote in favour because we didn't want to appear unconcerned about the plight of the high street traders BUT we thought the resolution was already in the public eye with all the Mary Portas business: it lacked any definite aim: it was too long and woolly. To a certain degree, it was unrealistic too because no one can halt on-line buying or persuade people to completely give up visiting superstores. We thought that there must have been better resolutions to choose and someone should express our disappointment to NFWI.

The craft group have made over 100 items for the stall at the Young Farmers Show in June and a working party was set up for the August Garden Party. A very favourable report was given of the April Council Meeting and of the meeting of 3 of our members on behalf of Bucks Federation with John Bercow about the chronic shortage of midwives which was last year's NFWI mandate---something that the WIs could work on and try to make a difference.

29th April

What a lovely morning to take part in the Women Walk the World event for the Associated Country Women of the World! It is an inspiring idea that people as far away as Papua New Guinea will set off to walk at 10am their time and, across the world, others will start walking at 10am as the sun catches up with them. A small group of seven and a dog left Hillesden at 10am this morning and enjoyed a walk through the countryside in sunshine and among daffodils. There were quite a few other groups of WI members walking in Bucks at the same time so a tidy sum will be raised from sponsorship to support ACWW. It's the least we can do after May Kidd's inspirational talk at the April Council Meeting in Aylesbury last week.

26th April

The NFWI has been doing a lot of work on the 2012 mandate passed at the Annual General Meeting at the Albert Hall . All members have been kept informed through the WI Life:we were asked to fill in a survey and to send up information on local experience of the midwifery services so that a cross-country report could be produced. We were asked to contact our MPs and Health Bodies to express our concerns about the shortage of midwives and the need for more to be trained.All the Bucks MPs received letters in readiness for the lobby planned for 3rd May to coincide with the publication of the report.I was very pleased to be able to join two other members of Winslow WI to meet with the Speaker, John Bercow at his surgery in Buckingham.He was interested in the campaign and supportive and has promised to do what he can to help the WI. After all he is a father of three young children so hasn't forgotten the benefits of the caring role of a fully trained midwife.Hospital targets in some parts of the country put mothers under pressure to hasten birth, resulting in 38% of births being induced and the rate of emegency caesarean section can vary from 20% in some hospitals to 40% in others.An experienced midwife giving one-one attention can avoid a lot of distress to the mother and save the NHS money on costly unnecessary medical intervention.

Given a sensible straightforward mandate with which to work, the WI can make a difference:it has the clout to force the Government to look at a problem.