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. 

All that Jazz

23/10/2018

0 Comments

 
There were about 90 Winslow WI members and guests at the Jazz evening tonight when Lou’s Sextet entertained us in the Public Hall. This was a fund-raising event for Buckinghamshire Mind and the local WI. Everyone enjoyed the music and the ploughman’s supper and each other’s company. There is always the worry at these events that nobody will come but in the last few days prior to the date requests for tickets flow in. The WI committee had spent a lot of thought organising the evening and its work paid off.
On the17th October four members got together to make up the Remembrance Sunday wreath from the many handmade poppies either crocheted or knit by 10 members over the past few months. The wreath used up 100 of these which echo-ed the centenary of the end of the First World War. We are very pleased with the look of the finished article and our President will feel justly proud carrying it in the town parade and laying it at the memorial.
The October meeting of the Discussion Group chose the topic of “Are holiday cruises anti-social?” It was anticipated that the subject would ruffle a few feathers because many of our members are fond of cruise liner holidays and have travelled all over the world on them. This evening we were presented with a whole lot of uncomfortable facts about the pollution caused by these monsters on the deep. What sort of pollution were they not guilty of? If it wasn’t sewage and waste, it was fuel and crowded places of interest--- and then the damage to the ecosystem in areas such as Antarctica, the Arctic and the Easter Islands. Could the social benefits aboard and the economics of the travel industry justify all of this? Unfortunately, I don’t think the travel firms need to fear a drop in their sales after our discussion but we did try!
​
0 Comments

October 7th, 2018

7/10/2018

0 Comments

 
​ 
This evening the members listened to an interesting talk by Bob Harding, a paramedic with 40 years’ experience recounting tales of answering calls to the service. Most of these had been genuine pleas for help but unfortunately some had been a misuse of the service or an unnecessary call out. We spent some time making plans for the coming fund-raising Jazz Night and the Chase Group meeting at Mursley. Nominations were taken in for the committee next year in preparation for our Annual Meeting next month. The entry for the Bucks Village Book was on display and we are quite hopeful that it will be included in the final publication.
The WI Reading Group met on 25th September. A lot of people were still on holiday but had sent in their opinions on “1000 Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hossein . I think everyone had been moved by this novel and felt it was equally worth reading as the “Kite Runner”, his earlier work. The story ends hopefully at 2007 but unfortunately we knew how tragically things had turned out after that date in Afghanistan. It was amazing how the author was able to feel for the sufferings of the women through the constantly changing regimes in their lives and the private situation in their homes. It is tragic to see how the beautiful  cities, the history  and their culture have been destroyed by war. We will have to read the next book by Hossein.
In between whiles, I have been reading two books which are so relevant to the national WI campaigns that I would like to recommend them to you: first, non-fiction, “Somebody I used to Know” by Wendy Mitchell and then a novel by Gail Honeyman called “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine”. Wendy Mitchell was diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of fifty and she tells her story of how she thought out ways of surviving as normally as possible even though she was fully aware of the slow deterioration of what she could actually achieve. It is a brave account of what can be done, obligatory reading for anyone dealing with this affliction personally or in a family member. Gail Honeyman’s book is sad and hilarious in parts and it is a mystery story too. The main subject is the effects of loneliness and trauma . One just cannot put it down so try and borrow a copy because it will help everyone to understand what loneliness and depression can do to people.
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