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. 

Newcomers

27/3/2014

0 Comments

 
19th March
The local WI held a New Members' Evening tonight in one of the town's pubs.We have welcomed several new WI members over the past year, some of whom have belonged before in other county federations but the rest are new to WI. One doesn't really get the chance to get to know people at the monthly meetings until they have come a number of times and certainly one cannot explain much of what the organisation which they have just joined is about. So the committee drew up a programme of speakers from within the WI to cover the most important points of the WI movement. Of course we had to run through its formation and its 3 level structure and translate a glossary of initials which we bandy about happily all the time.After that we got on to resolutions and mandates and our place in the community. Then it was up to the various groups which have been formed in the local WI to give a sales-pitch for her own interest group.Time then for another drink over which to chat and get to know who everyone was, whereabouts they had come to live and what had brought them to the town. I am sure that we all went home feeling that we had done our best to give a good impression of the WI and what it stands for and made our new members feel welcome. It is however a twoway process so the fact that the new people had come along showed that they were willing to play their part.

12th March
The subjects that the discussion group choose are often topical. We were a little late with the talk about flooding but some poor unfortunates are still mopping up their homes and land after the rain has stopped.The Thames Valley is the nearest disaster area to us but Buckingham and Stony Stratford suffered from floods and had endured some anxious nights watching the rising levels of the local rivers. Quite a few of us had suffered the effects of domestic flooding and knew the time it takes to dry out after a sudden influx of water; but that is usually just water. To have the house full of water and sewage for weeks on end must be a nightmare. We felt that it was noticeable that there was an increase in aid once the Thames Valley was affected but before that the farmers and residents in rural villages had received very little help.Some farmers had lost everything they had and even their future income was jeopardized for a couple of years.If climate change is going to bring about these intense storms, preventative measures will need to be made, drainage needs improvement and houses cannot be allowed on flood plains. There was very little that the WI can do except make the Government aware of its concern through the resolution process. Many WIs like ours take part in the local emergency planning scheme and these prove their worth when these situations arise. The media was criticised for getting in the way of relief operations and hyping it up unnecessarily with pictures of teenage girls "being carried to safety" by soldiers walking in water which just about came up to their ankles!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    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