Wet and dry

31st January
There are some good things happening down in the West Country at the same time as these dreadful floods. The national press is full of reports of huge new WIs opening in Bristol so the one which attracted a queue of 300 people was not just a flash in the pan.I remember when the northern counties were affected by the foot and mouth epidemic many federations from other parts of the country sent letters of support and sympathy to the rural WIs who were suffering. I know we cannot send money to another charity such as the Agricultural Benefits fund but I feel we should acknowledge the suffering of the farmers whose land is under water by at least sending thoughts to the WIs in the affected areas.
Members of the local WI sheltered from the rain in a member's house this morning where they drank coffee and swapped jigsaws in order to raise funds for Adoption Uk. It always amazes me how many people do jigsaws but let's face it--It passes the time in these dark and miserable days.

28th January
A busy day locally for WI members: in the afternoon we met for the Book Group and in the evening we went went down to the local pub to play scrabble.The novel we had read during January was "The Thread" by Victoria Hislop which proved very popular. It is set in Thessalonika tracing events from before World War II to almost the present day.It is a sad story because it tells of the break up of a mixed community which is torn apart by the ideologies of the outside world with heart-breaking results for the families.Natural forces such as earthquakes and fires play their destructive parts too. We liked the background information about dressmaking and embroidery and we learned a lot about the different practices of the religions followed by the characters. Victoria Hislop certainly knows how to portray characters and the landscape in which she sets them.
We are bursting at the seams with numbers in the Book Group now and may have to consider forming a breakaway section: the other alternative of hiring a hall would not be so conducive to talk about books and would involve costs.I think the next title may see a drop in numbers anyway but that is only short term. Honestly I don't know what we will make of our next choice which is a very different undertaking altogether.
I don't think our WI will be fielding a team for the county scrabble competition as frankly I think the real devotees would make mincemeat of our scores!

27th January
The craft group is settling down to planning a new WI cloth for the top table at meetings. We have been sent away to think of what we want to display on this and what skill we want to use. Last time members were shown how to do slash patchwork and these were appraised at the gathering. Some people are doing other crafts while they watch what is going on. Lots of talk and cross-discussion on other developments in WI goes on. Apparently quite a few members and people from the town have been seen using the new exercise equipment in the sportsfield which is good news.