​There is one thing I can promise you in 2018: you will not find any recipes nor pictures of food on my blog. What did journalists and people on the media write about before they discovered food? On every page of newspapers these days there is something about baking or cooking or dieting. If it is not directly taking up columns, then it is in the adverts. I cannot be the only person bored to tears by the subject. However, I reserve the right to let you find references to food waste because that is something which I feel strongly about and which the WI wants to work towards reducing.
So that is one New Year’s resolution. The next is to try to eliminate as much plastic from my life as possible. I will continue to take paper bags with me when I shop for food and read the labels on any new purchase to see what it contains and where it came from. This slows the whole shopping process down but is quite interesting to do. I wonder whether the WI campaign, along with David Attenborough may really make a difference. Surely all plastic should display advice on whether it can be re-cycled or not. Couldn’t all plastic be collected in one bin and be similarly dealt with at a plant in every authority?  It is so confusing at present with no common treatment available.
If we are going to try to live by WI mandates we can all look out for our neighbours to combat loneliness and problems of depression which this often exacerbates. Homelessness is another problem that a WI member can try to alleviate by supporting her local women’s refuges and looking out for solutions. What a difference it would make if every town council took upon itself to house one homeless family! All communities have houses standing empty for months, sometimes years on end. Locally, we have an unused school building which has a roof, electricity and water which could be a refuge---albeit temporary until it is knocked down for re-development.
The local WI meeting last week touched on some of these topics when running through the shortlist of possible resolutions to go up for discussion at Cardiff at the NFWI Annual General Meeting in June. At this stage it is an individual choice from five topics but later we will vote as a WI either for or against the resolutions chosen to go forward. We listened to a very interesting talk on food nutrition when I think we all learned something new and useful about the food that we eat and what our bodies need and do with it. A high proportion of our members are planning to become dual members with the morning WI. Our interest groups continue to flourish.
The discussion group which meets monthly in a member’s house is one of the most successful of these. It is now four years old and has not run out of topics yet nor had anyone so offended as to walk out. Last night we were discussing body image in line with one of the shortlist resolutions. This again is a field where social media and advertising have a lot to answer for. It is not a new problem as everyone has always worried about how other people view us but now through social media one is on trial by a vast audience which is made up of spiteful people cloaked by anonymity. It is no longer one’s peer group in class nor one’s own family nor villagers on the street; it is the whole country telling everyone else where one’s face or body falls short of perfection. Little wonder the victim refuses to go out, go to school or walk back into the workplace.

​22nd May
Apparently on Countryfile on TV at the weekend a discussion was featured about the microfibres being washed into the water courses from organic fertilisers being spread on the fields. In our WI information on the resolution going up to the AGM in Liverpool about microfibres entering the ocean from our washing machines, there was also mention of the water run- off from the motorways which is contaminated by the shed from the wear and tear on tyres. The fall-out from fertilisers was a new source of danger. This followed the articles in the national press the previous week covering Prince Charles’ talk about the growing problem of plastics generally in the oceans. It is hopeful to learn that there is a substantial prize being offered to encourage research into finding solutions to the situation. Obviously, there is growing awareness of the subject of our Bucks resolution but it in no way takes away the premise of ours: ours has a different angle. We are asking for the Government and industry to research at source how this flow of microfibres can be stopped from our homes--- either change the textiles or the filters somewhere between our houses and the sea.
20th May
This weekend the NFWI was joining with other like-minded bodies to make representations to supermarkets expressing concern at the huge amounts of food waste after items are withdrawn from the shelves. WI members were asked to find out what was happening locally. Did your WI do anything about this? Did you see any coverage in the press? I took the WI manifesto with me on a group outing for another organisation and talked briefly about it. The response was very positive but I was only drawing the listeners’ attention to the WI mandate and hoped that what The WI was doing would feature in the media but I haven’t yet found any mention of it. Of course, it was Pippa Middleton’s wedding too.
18th May
The local WI supported the Town Council this afternoon by going on a litter pick. I think this was prompted by the coming visit of our twinning associates from France and the fact that the town is entering the Best Kept Village competition but whatever the motive it was a worthy activity and re-enforces our role in the local community.
10th May
The members of the discussion group were talking about Air Travel this evening. They described their experiences both good and bad, the advantages and disadvantages of improving ready access across the world. It also revealed how many families were scattered about the globe and how integrated we all are with other nationalities. Some of us will never enjoy flights because we are just terrified by the whole idea, just as others dread a sea crossing or going by tunnel. We shared information on the ways to get “bumped up” and how to find out which seats are to be avoided. It’s all on the Internet apparently.
8th May
The Happy Stitchers are still busy on their projects and progress is being made at different rates. We also find time to talk round and plan future activities in more detail than is often possible at the monthly meetings.

4th May
Somehow or other the Bucks Annual Council Meeting seems to occur on a momentous day such as that of Maggie Thatcher’s funeral or when Prince Philip announces his retirement---events which impact on our main speakers. The morning agenda dealt with the business side of the Federation, announcements of forthcoming events and a preview of the Bucks resolution going up for discussion at the NFWI Annual General Meeting in Liverpool in June. There was also a presentation from Johnny Walker of Taylors Bulbs who told us how great a contribution the members’ orders bring to the finances of the BFWI and he managed to be amusing as well. Mr Walker certainly knows his audience. This was followed by a thought-provoking talk from Lindsay Boswell, Chief Executive of FareShare whose work is very relevant to the NFWI’s concern about food waste. It was also timely for the campaign which should hit the headlines at the end of this month. Lyndsay thinks big with 5 warehouses already working full time in London.  He is planning others in major cities across the country. The ridiculous reasons given for stores and factories to throw out food border on being criminal. This is a sphere in which the WI members can make a difference by challenging the perpetrators.
In the afternoon, Judge Francis Sheridan gave the WI members an update on his campaign to assist the NFWI in keeping people with mental disabilities out of jail for criminal offences and for injecting more speed and compassion into the family courts, especially in relation to children and domestic abuse. We have a strong ally on the county circuit. Then it was Giles Brandreth to talk about the seven sources of happiness. Actually, the audience didn’t know that was his chosen topic until almost the end of his very entertaining talk. He has become something of an authority on the Duke of Edinburgh so it was natural that he talked about the Prince’s life following the day’s announcement. Giles was very amusing and involved the BOT members in his presentation: I thought our Vice-Chair Pat Poole and Tracy Girdler-Rogers did very well in what at times became an unrehearsed double act. At the end, he did define happiness as being a leaf on a living and growing tree which tied in neatly with the WI member’s part in the WI and in the community.
3rd may
Tonight, the local WI held its Resolution meeting. Both subjects were covered by members using the presentations available on the NFWI website. This means that the facts and figures can be seen on the screen and are not difficult to take in from someone talking and reading at the same time. It will be interesting to hear what the members thought of this method. We instructed our delegate from a neighbouring WI to vote in favour of both resolutions but we only gave her discretion on the Loneliness vote, not the Plastic Soup. A longstanding member then talked about her experiences over the years as a member of Winslow WI from the age of fourteen. All the scrapbooks were on display and it was interesting and rather sad to see the shift away from drama and music which has taken place in our WI and indeed right across the WI movement.
25th April
The local WI book group met this afternoon to talk over “The Shadow of the Wind” by Zafon. This thriller set in Spain around the civil war was popular with the readers, much more so than the previous title, Salmon Rushdie’s “Midnight Children”. There was a bit too much blood and gore in the Zafon for me but I was definitely in the minority: the author covered nearly every means of a violent death in some detail. The others enjoyed the almost Dickensian melodrama and the descriptions of terrible poverty and hardship. There was humour too and the descriptions of the squalor were good. There was certainly plenty of action and frequent flashbacks covered by letters and interviews with those just hanging on to life long enough to tell their story. We are off to Peru with the next title for a bit of mountain-climbing.
24th April
The Happy Stitchers are busy knitting, crocheting, making patchwork and generally wielding their needles---the only needles we are not prepared to accept are those used for tattoos. We also looked at what the members had made at the rag rug session in Padbury and wondered whether we might travel down to Stuart Lodge one Tuesday to visit its craft shop and perhaps go to the next Craft Fair at the NEC.
 
 
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​12th July
What fun! It seems that WI members have been engaged in running an illegal business organisation for years and the Law has just exposed us for the criminals we all are. As the Chairman of Cambridgeshire Federation said it has taken a very long time for us to be brought to book for using hedgerow fruits to make products for sale. I notice she mentioned sales at fetes---clever to keep quiet about putting our goods on the shelves of large supermarkets. Surely that must be a more punishable offence.
6th July
The work of the Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity was the subject of tonight’s monthly WI meeting. We were all surprised at the varied scope of the department and the huge part that the volunteers play in the running of such a large organisation. Our delegate to the National WI’s Annual General Meeting at Brighton reported on her visit which she had found interesting. Both resolutions had been passed by large majorities and no amendments had been allowed. The local WI’s Pimms stall at the Queen’s celebrations in the town had been very popular and sold out. The cake stall next day had had to be moved inside the church because of rain but had been a success. Several members had visited the Life Skills flat at Furze Down School to inspect what the WI had helped to furnish and they were most impressed.
4th July
The craft Group are making progress in finding out how to become Wrap Pyjama Fairies. This involves making clothing for children undergoing surgery in hospital or in hospices so there are an awful lot of rules to follow for Health & Safety reasons about fabrics and fastenings which can or cannot be used. It will be September before we really get started but there is a lot of enthusiasm already being shown.
3rd July
The bric-a-brac stall at the Farmers’ Market attracted a lot of interest and the WI made a profit of around £100 which will be added to the money which we are raising for the Save Denman College Appeal. My definition of bric-a-brac is stuff no one wants, so it amazes me that anyone thinks that the stuff can be sold to make money but what do I know…

1st June
It was hard to believe that we were in the midsummer month as we paddled across the car park against a strong cold wind for our meeting, but it was lovely and warm inside. The talk was about hedgehogs and very interesting it was too. We learned that they are an endangered species: the population has fallen drastically in recent years. The speaker maintained that this wasn’t climate change so much as that they cannot build up enough body weight to last the winter and they are subject to a nasty virus which further weakens the young. He described his work in Brackley all the while cradling a live hedgehog, just one of 200 he has at home. Andrew Jackson urged us to look after those we find in our gardens.
We heard that the Bucks amendment for the national resolution on food poverty had been dismissed by NFWI but that other federations had also had theirs dismissed so this motion may not be the straightforward success the proposers had hoped. Arrangements were made for the WI’s role in the town’s birthday celebrations for the Queen. The draw for 2 bursaries this year for Denman College took place. A suggestion that the local WI gives a sizeable donation to the College Appeal was approved by the members present but enquiries need to be made on how we can manage the transfer of funds according to the rules of the WI and the Charity Commission.
I notice the WI is in the news again. First because of the minor unrest at the proposed withdrawal of “Home Fires” from the TV and also because of the reprint of a history of the WI by Maggie  Andrews   “The Acceptable Face of Feminism”---just in case you go to look for it, Bucks County Library hasn’t got a copy!
31st May
The local WI Book Group has enjoyed reading William Boyd’s spy thriller “Restless”. The plot was very complicated, full of bluff and counter-bluff with a fair amount of dead bodies littered along the way but it was completely believable. The heroine’s experiences in World War II alternated with the build-up to the final reckoning in 1976. The characters were well drawn and the two periods clearly described right down to the clothes and popular music of the times. We have read several novels by William Boyd and never been disappointed.
24th May
This morning at the home of one of our members there was a coffee morning in aid of A21 which is a charity working in Greece to help the Syrian refugees blockaded at the Macedonian borders. A table top sale of belts, handbags and scarves helped to bring in extra funds. Even though WI members are not allowed to discuss party politics or indeed the Referendum,  there is nothing to stop them raising money for  people at home and abroad who are adversely affected by political decisions made by others.
23rd May
It was a small turnout for the craft group this afternoon but everyone was busy on some project whether it was knitting, crochet or sewing. Those that had attended the recent meeting at Cheddington, “From glad rags to kinky boots” had really enjoyed the day and gave an enthusiastic report to the others. We also heard of the holiday experiences of one of the group which had brought her up close to the problems of the refugees in the Mediterranean---not just the human suffering but also the responsibilities of the ships plying across its waters.
 
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