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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.

28/5/2018 3 Comments

Beyond Bucks

There has been rather a long gap in my blog which most of you will not have noticed. Our local WI’s discussion group talked about “Etiquette” and discovered there were many things done in society nowadays which would never have been deemed acceptable even twenty years ago. However, there was much that we missed but knew we had lost the battle: e-mails and even phone calls are no substitute for thank-you letters; the use of Christian names immediately by medics and tradesmen is another sore point. We all know many Johns and Chris-es so that a surname is absolutely necessary but not often included in an introduction. One of the more memorable aspects of the recent royal wedding was tied in with the traditional use of etiquette and the showing of respect and consideration to others.
While my husband and I were on holiday in Essex (we know how to live) I was talking to a lady from Kent who is a WI member. The subject of food waste at the hotel at which we were staying came up. Unfortunately, it was horribly evident and I mentioned the NFWI campaign. I was very shocked that she said something like “My WI never does anything about following up the resolutions. In fact “ she said “Her WI wasn’t important enough to go to the AGMs.” It was obvious she knew nothing about how all WIs are linked into attending. She had heard about the midwife crisis and knew about the shortcomings in the adoption process but only through the Mothers’ Union. I daren’t ask her about pollution of the oceans because I thought I might get rather cross.
It was a pity I missed the “From Adversity to Prosperity” event. I wonder whether there is anyone out there who could write it up for my blog? That’s the disadvantage of not attending as many events as I used to: this was not because of advancing years but because I was elsewhere. Did I tell you I had been to Essex?

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6/5/2018 3 Comments

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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