Buckinghamshire Federation of Women's Institutes
  • Home
  • What we do
    • Board and Committees
      • Federation Trustees
    • Speaking out
      • Resolutions
      • Campaigns
        • Get On Board
        • Stop Modern Slavery
        • Make a Match
        • 5 Minutes that matter
    • Denman
    • The Members' Blog
  • What's On
    • Events Calendar
    • Competitions & Challenges
      • 100 Miles More
      • Huxley Cup
      • Elizabeth Bell Challenge 2021
      • 101 words
      • Silver Cup
      • Virtual Show
    • Centenary+1 Celebrations
  • Join Us
    • About Bucks WIs
    • Find a WI (Map)
      • Morning WIs
      • Afternoon WIs
      • Evening WIs
    • Find a WI (A-Z)
  • On-line Store
  • Contact Us
  • Gallery
  • Your WI
    • Tutorials & Library
    • Running your WI
    • Finding a Speaker
    • Volunteering with BFWI
  • History of Buckinghamshire WIs
  • Use of Website
  • Covid advice
  • Home
  • What we do
    • Board and Committees
      • Federation Trustees
    • Speaking out
      • Resolutions
      • Campaigns
        • Get On Board
        • Stop Modern Slavery
        • Make a Match
        • 5 Minutes that matter
    • Denman
    • The Members' Blog
  • What's On
    • Events Calendar
    • Competitions & Challenges
      • 100 Miles More
      • Huxley Cup
      • Elizabeth Bell Challenge 2021
      • 101 words
      • Silver Cup
      • Virtual Show
    • Centenary+1 Celebrations
  • Join Us
    • About Bucks WIs
    • Find a WI (Map)
      • Morning WIs
      • Afternoon WIs
      • Evening WIs
    • Find a WI (A-Z)
  • On-line Store
  • Contact Us
  • Gallery
  • Your WI
    • Tutorials & Library
    • Running your WI
    • Finding a Speaker
    • Volunteering with BFWI
  • History of Buckinghamshire WIs
  • Use of Website
  • Covid advice


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. 

Holiday Month

8/9/2015

0 Comments

 
2nd September

The local WI met this evening, once more away from its normal base. There was a good turnout to hear the speaker try to separate truth from myth in weather lore: we could have done with some reliable information for the month of August when the town show was a washout and the County Show just recovered from a heavy downpour to welcome visitors wisely in wellington boots.Once more we welcomed a new member and several guests who it is hoped will join later.The vice-president worked hard to obtain volunteers for various activities in the autumn but the audience was not very enthusiastic about anything---post-centenary lagged perhaps.A display has been set up in the library and next month there will be a discussion about the formation of an extra WI for the town. One member has been encouraged by the positive reaction to her plan to form a WI choir and the knitted shawls continue to roll in.

 

27th August

For the Bucks County Show, the local WI had joined others in a competition to construct a display to represent something that had inspired women in the 100 years of the WI movement. Most people had chosen past resolutions and there was plenty of variety in choice. Some of the displays were very imaginative and did the WIs proud. Unfortunately our WI was not among the prizewinners this year but we were pleased to be in the top half of the competition.Exhibits necessitate a lot of planning meetings even if only 4 people are involved. I would be sorry if our WI did not take part and it would be a pity not to have a presence of some kind at the County Show.

 

25th August

The Book group met to discuss Ben MacIntyre's "Agent Zigzag". This was the biography of a famous double agent in World War II.It is amazing to learn that an awful lot of the gung-ho adventures of James Bond are not as far-fetched as we had always thought. There really were people wandering around with multi-use wristwatches and suicide pills in their trouser turnups.These peolpe were playing with the lives of hundreds of members of the public both in Britain, Europe and North Africa. The author wrote with humour and pace but with sources quoted to prove that he had done a vast amount of research. Would the Book Group members have chosen this off a library shelf? No, yet all but one was pleased to have read this account of events that had taken place within most of our lifetimes.

 

24th August

Today I visited Greys Court, near Henley where the Oxfordshire Federation of WIs had set up a very good display about Lady Brunner's part in the WI over many years.Lady Brunner was instrumental in setting up Denman College and was National Chairman for 5 years from 1951.This was her home and it was very fitting to accentuate this link in the WI's centenary year.It's a lovely property to visit even if one isn't interested in the WI connection---wonderful gardens even on a wet day.

 

20th August

Three of our members visited the WI exhibition at the Milton Keynes Museum. One room was devoted to the WI with lots of exhibits and information about the WIs in the North of Bucks. In the refreshment area, there was a very interesting timeline with photos of WI activities fitting in with British social history.This show is one of three set up around the county. I believe our WI will feature in the one staged at Aylesbury in September.Some more of our members are due to visit the MK Museum later in the month.

 

28th July

"The Other Side of the Bridge" by Mary Lawson was our book group's choice for this month. It is a novel set in Canada which paints a wonderful picture of life spent in desolate countryside with extreme temperatures for months on end. It was a study of family relationships, the tensions between father and sons, and brother and brother. Also it pointed out the huge sacrifice of young men which Canada made in the World War II, a fact which is often forgotten. The author pulled no punches in her description of the mental and physical wounds suffered by the men in the forces and their families at home. We had enjoyed "Crow Lake" by the same author about 5 years ago and this one didn't disappoint.

 

20th July

The craft group met this afternoon to learn how to embroider with ribbons. We discussed the results of the stall on the market place and agreed that the craft had generated a lot of interest but it was not the time or place to achieve huge sales: another strategy was needed. There was talk of a summer lunch rather than wait for one in the middle of the Christmas festivities and plans were made for activities when we resume meeting in the autumn.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    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

​Charity No: 228057 ​
WI ADVISER
MY WI
NFWI
WI TRAINING
MCS2
​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
  • What we do
    • Board and Committees
      • Federation Trustees
    • Speaking out
      • Resolutions
      • Campaigns
        • Get On Board
        • Stop Modern Slavery
        • Make a Match
        • 5 Minutes that matter
    • Denman
    • The Members' Blog
  • What's On
    • Events Calendar
    • Competitions & Challenges
      • 100 Miles More
      • Huxley Cup
      • Elizabeth Bell Challenge 2021
      • 101 words
      • Silver Cup
      • Virtual Show
    • Centenary+1 Celebrations
  • Join Us
    • About Bucks WIs
    • Find a WI (Map)
      • Morning WIs
      • Afternoon WIs
      • Evening WIs
    • Find a WI (A-Z)
  • On-line Store
  • Contact Us
  • Gallery
  • Your WI
    • Tutorials & Library
    • Running your WI
    • Finding a Speaker
    • Volunteering with BFWI
  • History of Buckinghamshire WIs
  • Use of Website
  • Covid advice