Buckinghamshire Federation of Women's Institutes
  • Home
  • who we are
    • Federation Trustees
    • Sub-Committees
    • Sub-Committee Videos
  • What we do
    • Current Campaigns
      • Climate Change
      • End Violence against Women
      • Get On Board
      • Stop Modern Slavery
      • Make a Match
      • 5 Minutes that matter
    • Resolutions
    • The Members' Blog
  • What's On
    • Events Calendar
    • Competitions & Challenges
      • Green Canopy Competition '22
      • Elizabeth Bell Challenge 2021
      • BFWI Silver Cup
      • Lady Denman Cup
      • Pudding Fit for a Queen
      • Virtual Show
  • Running your WI
    • Finding a Speaker
    • Subscriptions
    • Library
      • Tutorials & Library
    • Learning
      • WI Training
      • Denman @ Home
  • Gallery
  • Contact Us
  • On-line Store
  • History of Buckinghamshire WIs
  • Use of Website
  • Home
  • who we are
    • Federation Trustees
    • Sub-Committees
    • Sub-Committee Videos
  • What we do
    • Current Campaigns
      • Climate Change
      • End Violence against Women
      • Get On Board
      • Stop Modern Slavery
      • Make a Match
      • 5 Minutes that matter
    • Resolutions
    • The Members' Blog
  • What's On
    • Events Calendar
    • Competitions & Challenges
      • Green Canopy Competition '22
      • Elizabeth Bell Challenge 2021
      • BFWI Silver Cup
      • Lady Denman Cup
      • Pudding Fit for a Queen
      • Virtual Show
  • Running your WI
    • Finding a Speaker
    • Subscriptions
    • Library
      • Tutorials & Library
    • Learning
      • WI Training
      • Denman @ Home
  • Gallery
  • Contact Us
  • On-line Store
  • History of Buckinghamshire WIs
  • Use of Website


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. 

Protestations

27/9/2019

1 Comment

 
​Many of our local WI members attended a meeting called to explain about the proposed new Express Roadway planned to be built very close to the town. It was a public meeting called by the protest group: there was no one there from the Highways people to put their case and the local press wasn’t present either. However, we were shown excellent diagrams and maps and lots of statistics were given about traffic flow and damage to the environment. There is a need for improvement of the road leading into Milton Keynes past Thrift Farm and an extension to the Tingewick bypass but the case for a brand new major route was not proven. The frightening thing is that for every mile of developed road you have hundreds of new houses alongside and more cars and lorries using it. We want more buses to reduce the amount of cars with one person in. Have you heard that somewhere before?
The WI book Group has been reading “I am Malala” which is the autobiography of the young girl shot by the Taliban a couple of years ago. We learned a lot about the life of the women and girls who are eager for education but have to be so brave to just attend school every day. The journalist Christina Lamb, who helped Malala write, came and talked to the BFWI some time ago either at a Council Meeting or at a Literary Lunch. Malala’s descriptions of English life and of Birmingham where she now lives with her family showed how much she appreciated the freedom to move around without a male escort all the time and to choose how she dressed---but she missed the flat roofs where the children could play cricket! We compared her fighting technique with the young Swedish Greta who is in all the media at the moment.
There is a deal of banner-waving going on at the moment and I fear that our little town of Winslow may have to start on some form of protest soon. Our community library is under threat of demolition: we are being offered a portacabin as a “temporary” substitute until a proper centre is built. As there are not even plans submitted for this yet and knowing the speed of decision-making we fear that this could be a stealthy way of being closed down altogether. I am sure I don’t need to remind you that the preservation of libraries features in one of the WI mandates so perhaps we should be girding up our loins for a good old protest---banners are boring so what about a sit-in or read-in or library hug?
The natives are restive. If members of Parliament can behave disgracefully I am sure the WI members can too. It comes to something when the item on TV which is most tear jerking is the Ten o’clock news! To the barricades!
 
1 Comment

September 2019

12/9/2019

0 Comments

 
​September is the month for fresh starts, the month when one looks at the calendar and thinks where did the year go and if I don’t get that done soon it will be Christmas. On the home front one rushes round to book flu injections, dentist appointments and house painters and if the luck lasts try to have an annual review with the doctor which I am assured is the due of all patients of a certain age. Things are starting up again for WI members after the summer recess. Members have survived wet garden parties and barbeques so it is time to get back to normal, whatever that is.
Our WI pennant for 2020 is completed and has been approved by the members before being sent to Stuart Lodge for adding to the celebratory bunting which will tour the county next year. We have looked at the list of walks planned across Bucks in order to encourage members to walk 100 miles in 2020. Most of them look of a manageable length and circular to avoid the problems of a linear walk which we did many years ago when we walked from one end of the county to the other. Some of our members have experimented with walking netball: I am told it was a hilarious session with a certain amount of cheating going on. The Book Group read “Persuasion” by Jane Austen and really enjoyed a trip down memory lane when the novel had been read in school. For some it was their favourite classic.
I did some sight-seeing in North Wales during the holidays and visited Plas Newydd where Lady Anglesey lived when she started the first WI in UK at Llanfair PG. Unfortunately, the mansion is undergoing restoration work so we couldn’t see the interior properly. The guide knew nothing of the WI connection so you can bet I put him right on that! I wonder what those original WI members would think of the organisation today. We still share many of the first concerns and certainly ideals but imagine their attitude to our ways of communication---a glossy member magazine, e-mails, the web and the unofficialwi site and the way we jump into cars to travel to meetings instead of walking or cycling. Early membership meant hard work and dedicated commitment---we have it easy. Perhaps that is why some members skim along the surface and cannot be bothered to look a little deeper into what the WI is all about: like most things, the more one puts in the more one gets out.
0 Comments

    Archives

    December 2021
    September 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All
    ACWW
    Annual Meeting
    Body Image
    Book Group
    Bucks County Show
    Care Not Custody
    Centenary
    Christmas
    COOL
    Denman
    Digital Team Leader
    Discussion Group
    Existentialist Angst
    FGM
    Food Matters
    Great Food Debate
    Happy Stitchers
    History Day
    Homelessness
    Investigation And Discovery
    Jammin' With The WI
    Literary Lunch
    Loneliness
    Love Your Libraries
    Membership
    Mental Health Matters
    Modern Slavery
    Organ Donation
    Plastic Soup
    Quiz
    Resolutions
    Science
    Shop
    SOS For High Streets
    Stuart Lodge
    Support Overdue
    Violence Against Women
    WI Campaigns
    WI Constitution
    WI Crafts
    WI Life
    Women's History
    Women's Suffrage

    RSS Feed

Buckinghamshire Federation of Women's Institutes (Affiliated to the National Federation of Women's Institutes)   ​Charity No: 228057 ​
​External links disclaimer
Throughout our site you will find links to external websites. Although we make every effort to ensure these links are accurate, up to date and relevant, BFWI cannot take responsibility for pages maintained by external providers.  If you come across any external links that don't work, we would be grateful if you could report them to us.
Photo used under Creative Commons from rverc
  • Home
  • who we are
    • Federation Trustees
    • Sub-Committees
    • Sub-Committee Videos
  • What we do
    • Current Campaigns
      • Climate Change
      • End Violence against Women
      • Get On Board
      • Stop Modern Slavery
      • Make a Match
      • 5 Minutes that matter
    • Resolutions
    • The Members' Blog
  • What's On
    • Events Calendar
    • Competitions & Challenges
      • Green Canopy Competition '22
      • Elizabeth Bell Challenge 2021
      • BFWI Silver Cup
      • Lady Denman Cup
      • Pudding Fit for a Queen
      • Virtual Show
  • Running your WI
    • Finding a Speaker
    • Subscriptions
    • Library
      • Tutorials & Library
    • Learning
      • WI Training
      • Denman @ Home
  • Gallery
  • Contact Us
  • On-line Store
  • History of Buckinghamshire WIs
  • Use of Website