Still Celebrating

16th September

Happy 100th Birthday to the WI! There were comments and articles in several newspapers today. On the evening TV local news  there was an account of the Oxfordshire Federation's march with banners through the centre of the city.A few days earlier the annual visit of the Queen to her WI in Norfolk was also covered. Our local WI's exhibit in the town library is of interest to many readers and looks very good. There are still a few events planned for this celebratory year which has definitely been a huge success in publicising the WI nationally and across the world through the ACWW (the Association of Countrywomen of the World).

 

14th September

It was an early start for 44 members of the local WI when they boarded the coach for a celebratory visit to Denman College near Abingdon.We did actually need to allow that amount of time for the journey as the traffic was very heavy around Oxford. This outing had been planned as a special event to celebrate the centenary and also Bucks Federation's 95th birthday. Our WI had voted to use the annual bursary which it awards, towards the cost of a day visit to Denman which would include a cookery demonstration and a tour of the college and an awful lot of food. Each traveller contributed to the cost of the coach hire. We enjoyed a lovely time together and it was especially good that some members had never been before and surprisingly, some had no idea that one could study anything other than cookery. I'm glad to say that several people were encouraged to think of booking a place in the future. The cookery demonstration was excellent and taught us some new recipes and encouraged us to use different ingredients. The members were impressed with the house and the Bucks Federation bedroom and the gardens were looking good even if seen through fine rain.

 

7th September

Some of us were still away on holiday so it was a select craft group that met this afternoon. Several members were struggling on with projects that they had started in the last "term" but others brought along knitting or sewing to keep their hands busy while conversations roamed over travel and family news. We put some thought into what we could feature on a Christmas Fayre stall in Buckingham at the end of October. The craft group did not want to shoulder the complete onus of provision for the stall again so soon after its commitments to the Farmers' Market and the Baton celebrations. So we are going to have a stall which may offer anything--cakes, preserves, crafts and toiletries--so that as many WI members as possible may contribute.Items will be sold on commission or on behalf of the WI. It should work and we will present the idea at the next monthly meeting. We did very well two years ago and it would be very shaming if our WI was not represented at the event.