That title had you going for a minute, admit it!
I enjoyed a lovely meeting with my WI this morning, it was nice to see all our friendly ladies again and we're still growing! When we started in November 2009 we had 12 founding members. Subscriptions are renewed in January, and if all existing members renew, added together with the 5 new members this morning, then our register will stand at 64!!! In the words of Julia Donaldson (author of The Gruffalo, and others), it's 'A Squash and A Squeeze'.
Two things make us unusual in the world of Women's Institutes: We don't sing Jerusalem. We meet in the morning.
When we started with 12 we'd only just met, and were too embarassed to sing Jerusalem, and that's the way it stayed. There's no hard or fast rule about singing, and if our members really want to, there's opportunity to sing at twice yearly group meetings, or by attending the annual meeting of the National Federation. I've heard reported that 4000+ women singing Jerusalem is something to behold and stirs the blood! Whether it's blood stirring in a good way or like bagpipes I don't know...
We meet in the morning. Oxfordshire Federation may have been being experimental by trying a morning group, but for our ladies it makes sense. It makes sense for me also as when I joined my husband's hours of work meant he was unreliable in his evening availability to be at home. I'd previously joined the badminton club but could't initially get there on time, and then latterly needed to be home sooner than the badminton finished, so it didn't really work. The daytime aspect worked for me even when I was working part-time as I'd work my hours around WI.
In my new job (start date postponed as references stuck in the xmas backlog) the library is closed on Wednesdays, so I'm still OK for WI.
Wednesday morning suits our ladies as it's market day, and most of our ladies are of an age where they don't want to be out late in the evening. Win-win. They get to meet up, make friends, have interesting speakers, social time and a bit of fun. We also organise outings - the Houses of Parliament and Cabinet War Rooms is coming up in April, and Bletchley Park in March, run raffles, and have dabbled in a cake and jam stall at the Royal Wedding festivities last year.
On the subject of raffles, we're trying something different this year. After a lively debate this morning we're cutting down the number of raffles and not bringing in 'prizes' (something rubbishy we were given that we don't want). Instead when the seasonal raffle comes round everyone will bring 1 item of fruit or veg, and we'll make up 3 or 4 hampers to be raffled. We'll have a variation in the Winter/December raffle and will aim to bring a nice item to make up a food hamper or 2 - something we'd like to win!
Enough. On my way into town this morning I popped by the police station to report a break in at the Bowling Club. Roly the dalmation gets short-changed on WI day as I whizz him round the park opposite us, instead of letting him have a leisurely romp around Faringdon Folly. Anyway, on the return leg of the park circuit we pass by the Bowling Club, and the cheek of it, they've cut through the chain-link fence (5ft high) about half-way down, and then VERY neatly cut a 18"-2ft square hole in the back wall of the green shed adjacent to the club house. So I'm mulling over whether this was a recent incident, and it seems to me that it is, because if the Bowling Club were aware of it they would surely have made some attempt to repair the damage... So I took photos (on my phone) and popped into the police station to report it on my way to the WI meeting. It hadn't been reported to the rozzers, so I felt I earned my civic duty brownie points this morning. Ker-ching!
That's it for now, keep it sweet! Kat
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