Buckinghamshire Federation of Women's Institutes
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  • Home
  • What we do
    • Board and Committees
      • Federation Trustees
      • Committees
    • 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
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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. 

Ready or not?

26/7/2016

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26th July
A rather warm day to be inside discussing books but far too hot to be outside in the garden. The novel today was “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” by John Boyne. This has been made into a film. It is a disturbing story which was written for teenagers as well as adults. To a certain extent, the fact that our generation is aware beforehand of the circumstances the author is describing will have given us a different slant to that of a youngster approaching the book; a person who has been spared the details of the horror of the holocaust. The innocence of the young boys in the story as they are pulled into the cruel world produced by the conflicting ideologies of their elders is so sad. And then that last hanging statement of the novel. ”Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age.” Written in 2006 by an Irishman it reveals the true message behind the book which applies just as poignantly now-a-days in many lands further away from home.
23rd July
I visited the Mid-Devon County Agricultural Show today and as you would expect I had a look at the WI tent. The Federation had its own large marquee which also housed the Country Markets. The displays were impressive and the competitive inter-WIs contributions were exciting a lot of interest and comment. Obviously the WIs were set a theme but they were given a larger area in which to display their entries. The frames were deeper so didn’t look so “busy”/crowded as ours tend to do at the Bucks Show. The WI Advisers were doing their promotional work and there was an interesting stall set up for the Denman College Appeal and ACWW.
 
13th July
The discussion group met tonight over a glass of wine to talk about the emergency services. Once again it is surprising the amount of voluntary work which is included within what one would expect to be a state system. We were full of admiration for the scope of the services available, ranging from the air ambulance to the new first response cars. We also acknowledged the way in which big business and industries respond to the needs of people caught up in floods and disasters. The discussion also afforded us time to tell members about the local emergency scheme which operates across counties in which the WI plays its part. Many WIs have a list of trained members who are willing to make themselves available if an emergency arises in the neighbourhood, such as major transport accidents. One doesn’t need to have medical expertise: the ability to get to a village hall or school which has been set up as a relief centre, to make and receive phone calls, to listen or just to serve refreshments and provide a calming influence, may be all that is required. Fortunately, one may never be called upon but the hospitals and police really appreciate help in these ways so that they can get on with the jobs we cannot do.
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  • Home
  • What we do
    • Board and Committees
      • Federation Trustees
      • Committees
    • 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
  • Running your WI
    • Tutorials & Library
    • Finding a Speaker
    • Volunteering with BFWI
  • History of Buckinghamshire WIs
  • Use of Website
  • Covid advice