Thinking time

14th November
I should have been at the Current Affairs sub-committee meeting this morning but my car stopped, never to go again in Bedgrove.Of course it was full to the gunwales with equipment for return to Stuart Lodge and nearly all the paperwork but it did its final good deed by giving up the ghost where we could get off the road and find help in the form of a passing WI member's mobile and a local resident who gave us tea and sympathy while we awaited the RAC.It is amazing really how much we take our cars for granted and never prepare an emergency plan.However I know that most of the business was looking back over our recent events as we have a short breather now before we start on the detailed planning for Investigation and Discovery in March 2014.The sub-committee is also very pleased to have its Great Food Debate featured in the Letters column of the latest issue of WI Life.

13th November
The local WI discussion group decided to use the short list of resolutions for the Leeds NFWI annual general meeting next year as the topics for tonight.We felt that this would be a useful activity before we were asked to send up our individual selection out of WI Life for counting.We didn't conduct a voting session but it was pretty plain which resolution was not going to make the running.I have been reading Kofi Annan's account of his work with the United Nations. He quotes a belief held in many African countries which is called "ubuntu" in the Khosa language: I am because we are. This seems a very good answer to those who think we are powerless to achieve any worthwhile change beyond our own town or village. We are dependent on each other and we each have a share in society or the community and one another.The WI keeps putting forward resolutions to support women wherever they are if they are suffering from abuse or violence of any kind and to help sort out domestic problems hopefully before the women have turned to crime. We have always been for the practical solution to problems in society whether it be a health issue or a criminal concern: education and making members realise that they cannot put their heads in the sand and wish the matter away, is very important for this short list.

11th November

Today at Cheddington By George....that's style too! was the event presented by the Current Affairs sub-committee.The morning speakers were Hazel Jones on "The road to Pemberley" and John Bly on the life of a Georgian gentleman.They were both excellent speakers. In the afternoon Ian Brener returned to put us through our paces with "A dance through Time". A lunch of soup and a roll was served and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.We need suggestions now for another period to study in this informal fashion. We have done Tudors; Victorians and World War One have been covered very thoroughly on TV recently. Knights of the Round Table and the age of chivalry? Could be fun.

9th November

The local WI held a quiz this evening with a simple supper of sandwiches and chips. It is our main fund-raiser for this year so it was good news that it was a sell-out. Of course the public took us right to the wire in applying for tickets so that one day we were thinking we would have to cancel through lack of support and the next the tickets had gone! The quizmaster was very good and everything ran smoothly without any arguments about the answers which is always a relief at these events.

6th November

The dreaded annual meeting of the local WI was a well attended affair. We had the benefit of a WI Adviser to conduct the proceedings because we needed a change of President and no one seemed anxious to take on the position. But cometh the hour, cometh the woman and we are looking forward to another enjoyable year of WI. We are financially secure, we have a programme of speakers booked , we have a roof over our heads so all is right with the world.