Hello all
Well, where has this year gone? This is our last Newsletter of the year and by the time it reaches you I am sure a lot of us will be making our Christmas plans.
I am aware that this year the holidays will be challenging for many of us, the cost of energy and food is rising rapidly and at the moment there seems to be no end in sight.
I hope things aren’t too difficult and you can all enjoy yourselves in whatever way you choose.
I have been pleased to able to meet some of you over the last few months—many thanks for the birthday invitations—and hopefully I will get to join in some of your meetings next year.
It has been great to see how different WIs work, but they all have one thing in common—they know how to enjoy themselves!
It was also good to meet up at the Annual Meeting in Liverpool. Fewer members attended the meeting this year hence next year in Cardiff will be a smaller affair, but hopefully a few us of will still be able to attend. The Annual Meeting gives us all a chance to meet other members and I truly feel that meeting face to face is a major benefit of the WI.
As you know, our last few Annual Council meetings for Middlesex have had to be via Zoom—including, unfortunately, for our Centenary. However, we are planning to get back to a ‘live’ meeting next year—hopefully in March. As soon as the date is confirmed we will let you know and I really hope you will be able to attend.
Leading on from this, I would like to ask you all to think about joining your Board of Trustees. Although there will be no elections next year, we would love to hear from anyone who is interested in becoming more involved in the running of the Federation. Do please get in touch with any Board Member if you would like more information. The main commitment would be attending our monthly Board meetings; this can be in person or via Zoom, so it doesn’t matter where in the Federation you are based. We really would welcome your ideas, so please give it some thought.
We are conscious of the fact that the restrictions of the last few years has meant that we were unable to provide many events for our members and that is something that we are hoping to change very soon. Watch this space—and if there is anything you think we could be doing, or if you’d like to be involved in hosting an event, please let us know.
Unfortunately, there were no Middlesex winners from the National Raffle, but did you know that a small portion of the proceeds is shared with the Federations? I would like to thank everyone who bought a ticket, as it all helps.
From the Trustees, WI Advisers and Representatives at Middlesex I would like to wish all of our members a Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Angela