Hello everyone
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the Jubilee weekend. Wasn’t it great to see all of the banners and bunting – and I don’t think I have ever seen so many ‘Queen Elizabeths’ in so many different places!
And what about the street parties—for some people bringing back memories of the Silver Jubilee (!)—the number of road closures were testament to how much we all just wanted to celebrate!
I would love to know how many tea parties were held over the Jubilee weekend. Did you have one? Please send us your photos for Middlesex News so that we can enjoy the celebrations all over again!
It was good to see some of you at the Annual Meeting in Liverpool and it was also good to get together with members from all over the country.
Several of us travelled from Middlesex; thank you all for attending and for your company in the evening. It was great to meet up with so many Middlesex members and find out what was going on in your WIs.
I think the hybrid meeting was a great success, allowing members who couldn’t get to Liverpool to enjoy and take part in the proceedings—and I was right, Jerusalem really did send shivers down the spine!
It was interesting to hear from the President of the Scottish Women’s Institutes, Anne Kerr, and the Federation Chairman of the Federation of Women’s Institutes of Northern Ireland, Margaret Broome.
The Chair told us that she doesn’t cook, bake, do crafts or flower arranging so jokingly questioned whether she should be in the WI at all! Of course we all know that you don’t need to do these things to enjoy the WI and all it has to offer—the WI is what you want it to be.
This year’s resolution was passed with an overwhelming majority. The speakers ‘for’ the resolution made their points with real passion and even the ‘against’ speaker wasn’t against the actual Resolution, just possibly the specific wording.
My WI will have information on how you can support this resolution in your own WIs.
The first main speaker, Kate Garbers, gave a sobering talk on the modern slave trade and reminded us that victims of this dreadful trade are potentially all around us, hidden in plain sight.
The second speaker was Sarah Clarke OBE, the first female Black Rod in its 650-year history; she has also held several other ‘first woman’ posts and worked in senior roles in various sports organisations. Well done to National Office for securing such interesting guests. You can also read Trustee Julia Lewis’s report on page 3, and see a few of photos of our team in Liverpool!
Next year’s meeting will be in Cardiff; it would be good to see you there.
As a Federation, we are hoping in the future to start arranging some events for you to get involved in, so look out for your Middlesex News each month for more information.
As I am writing this, the sun is shing and the temperature is rising—let’s hope Summer is here!
Hope you all have an enjoyable month.
Angela