Our July meeting was Prosecco and strawberries at our first in person meeting for 16 months! 18 members had a wonderful time at our welcome back social. June brought shortbread, Ching savoury snacks and Elisa lemon polenta cake.
The most emotional point was when members spontaneously broke out in applause: it was quite a moment! Friendship and camaraderie prevailed and found a way!
We were really hoping to be back in the community centre for our June meeting but sadly it wasn’t to be as lockdown restrictions were not lifted. We also planned to meet in the park on the fifth Tuesday of June but we were unfortunately rained off. June was not our month it seems.
Instead of meeting in person, we held a scavenger hunt where people had to show us something they had made that they’re proud of and something that hangs on the walls of their house. We loved seeing everyone’s contributions, especially the imaginative contributions from the non-crafters.
Katherine showed us a picture of her pride and joy – her six children – and Sue showed us her perfectly organised collection of boutique chocolate wrappers from her job as a food judge. People had touching and personal stories about each of the items they shared and it was lovely to learn a little more about our members.
We’re hoping that for our July meeting we will finally be able to meet in person – we can’t wait!
Stanwell WI once again took part in the annual Charter Fair held on Stanwell Village Green on 26th May, all following covid rules.
The Mayor of Spelthorne attended with his wife, alongside Stanwell WI member Sue Doran who has been appointed deputy Mayor: Many congratulations to Sue.
President Mary Jeffery and members baked cakes to sell, raising money for our local charity.
Harlington ladies met twice on 2nd June: it was our 89th birthday after all! We met in the afternoon in Cranford Park and on Zoom in the evening to ensure those who couldn’t come to the park ‘met up’.
Firstly we were put through our paces by Gill’s workout, we all felt a bit fitter afterwards. We are so fortunate having our very own Green Goddess, she is used to hearing the orchestra of creaky joints.
We had decided that as a way to reintroduce everyone to each other after the long gap of this latest lockdown, we would do a form of ‘Speed Dating’.
This was a very entertaining experience in organisation to try and ensure everyone spoke to everyone, we mainly achieved it and any gaps were easily covered at Tea and Birthday Cake time, such delicious cakes.
Everyone enjoyed the Speed Dating and found out some surprising things about each other, we are planning to do part two as there were more things to talk about than time allowed.
Our most talented Secretary showed us the Emotion Puppets she had knitted, a very diverse selection with a grandma with curly hair! Very inspiring and as a result I’m sure this will be the trigger for more.
Our raffle and competition are our favourite regular features and our birthday didn’t disappoint with a clever and elegant hand made Meerkat card winning the competition and a beautiful bunch of flowers as star prize in the raffle.
It was lovely to see more members in the evening meeting and we did the final part of our Scavenger Hunt, which revealed yet more household treasures with some amazing Mrs Beeton cookbooks and hand signed cookbooks. There was as expected a selection of WI cookbooks.
The Post-It Notes hunt revealed Post-It Tape; this generated some Post-It Note envy, in the nicest way of course. We really enjoyed our Scavenger Hunt and would recommend it as a Zoom fun game. Roll on our 90th!
Several of our talented members have been using their lockdown time knitting, crocheting & making pompoms, to celebrate yarn bombing day and decorate the trees in Barra Hall Park for our 28th birthday on June 17th. Unfortunately the weather with threatening skies, we reverted to ‘plan B’ and used the 1928 cast iron bandstand, with the beautiful trees all around us.
We attracted many walkers taking photos & waving, especially when singing Jerusalem. One five year old boy wanted to come inside our “fairy castle” and join us for birthday cake. His excited mother told us that her mother had been a WI member till she died at 106 years of age!
We did use some of the knitting around the bandstand poles etc but it proved difficult in the windy conditions, so have decided to keep it all for our very first meeting when we can all be together in our community centre—hopefully August?
The setting of the combined Middlesex Federation 100th, Harlington 89th and Hayes Town 28th birthday lunch was the peaceful WatersEdge restaurant by the canal in Uxbridge, and the weather was perfect.
46 members of Harlington & Hayes Town WIs, and some MFWI trustees glammed up for the occasion with hats, fascinators and pearls in abundance: beautiful! Everyone wanted to ‘dress up’ for the first occasion following relaxing of the lockdown rules, and it so lifted the spirits, seeing so many smiling faces!
Our chair Lorraine cut the birthday cake, with Presidents Linda Lawrence, Anna East and Pauline Dickinson. Lorraine, resplendent in a sparkly pink ‘100’ tiara, and Middlesex Centenary with dolls Milly, Molly and Mandy by her side, spoke on the difficult times of the past year and accepted a thank you bouquet from the members of Harlington and Hayes Town WIs, for giving her time to the many months of craft and Zoom meetings.
Finally, a surprised long-serving Harlington WI member and one time Federation Secretary Sarah Wilson was presented with a 25 year certificate celebrating WI loyalty by President Pauline Dickinson.
After a beautifully cooked lunch, we were entertained by singer Stuart Wilson, and then it was time to end the afternoon with Jerusalem: we had the words printed on the back of the invitation so everyone could join in.
Kay Crone, secretary of West Drayton WI, was asked to display a parasol which she had made, at the ACWW.
Kay, along with others members, received a certificate in recognition of her contribution to the arts and crafts showcase held at ACWW Central Office on the occasion of the official state visit of her Majesty Queen Azizah of Malaysia, in December 2019.
This beautiful parasol was designed by Kay for her daughter’s wedding. It is full umbrella size and she made five for the bride and bridal
squad.
They are crocheted with fine thread using a 2mm hook and it took approximately three weeks to make each one. Congratulations to Kay for the recognition of this beautiful exhibit.
For the second year running, our Middlesex Federation Annual Council Meeting was held online, following a poll of our members. It was disappointing for us in our centenary year, but our members’ wellbeing is always our highest priority. In addition, we were thrilled to have several guests from NFWI and other Federations, something meeting online allows us to do with such ease: it was lovely to see you all!
Middlesex Chair Lorraine Reed-Wenman welcomed Zoom attendees and spoke of the challenges of the past year, while Treasurer Sarah Endersby presented the Financial Report and Anna East reported on the year in Public Affairs.
We were thrilled to have two excellent and engaging guest speakers. Newly-elected NFWI Chair Ann Jones. Ann, a dual member of Llanddewi Brefi and Tregaron WIs, Ceredigion Federation. Ann, who grew up in a Welsh speaking household, reminded us that the NFWI brings together the women of England and Wales. I think we were all impressed with her warmth and welcome and look forward to her term as Chair.
Our principle speaker was Dr Katy Willis, a general practitioner and Ambassador for charity Hope for Justice, an international charity which exists to bring an end to modern slavery by preventing exploitation, rescuing victims, restoring lives, and reforming society. Katy provided an excellent summary of the issue, which was adopted as a WI resolution in 2020, reminding us of the various types of slavery, and how we can identify potential cases in our communities.
Thank you to everyone who attended: we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Our in-person Centenary ACM is now planned for March 2022 to round off our Centenary year, and we’re all certainly very much looking forward to it!
Congratulations to our
June 200+ Club winners!
Dallas Barnes-Hughes, Halliford
2nd prize – £20
Sarah Endersby, Sunbury on Thames
3rd prize – £15
Christine Newell, Hillingdon
Keep your eye out in your email for the application form for the next 200+ Club year: applications close 30 September 2021.
So, what have I been doing for the past month? It’s been busy as usual but there have been some opportunities to be a little more relaxed on meeting up with others. I have had a birthday lunch with Hayes & Harlington WIs, an afternoon tea and chat with my own Ruislip Evening WI, a Public Affairs meeting, a Board meeting, a lunch with ex colleagues, 10 of my regular days with my dad, four Craft Inns, a Craft Pop In and an Annual Council Meeting plus one rare day out with my very supportive husband.
Talking of the ACM, is was an extremely hot day and every one of us was melting. Despite that we carried on and Ann Jones, NFWI Chair was very well received, was inspiring (a bit of a misused word these days) but she really was, and I know dispelled some ideas of who an NFWI Chair is—they really are just like you and me!
Dr Katy Willis, Ambassador for Hope for Justice gave a very good and informative talk. Dr Willis also donated her fee to Hope for Justice and gave us links to resources (which I will send out in a mailing) to help understand and spread the word on the issue of Modern Slavery which can be used in conjunction with our own NFWI resources on MyWI.
In short, we can each do our bit to raise awareness without having to get personally involved or putting the victim or anyone else at risk. We can check where we buy our products from as ethical consumers by looking at the supply chain and if companies are signed up to the Slave Free Alliance.
I have had a lot of feedback from the meeting and despite the spinning of many plates, everyone seemed to think it was well run. This came as a surprise to me as not only do I dislike public speaking, but I was also operating two laptops, an iPad and my phone all at the same time. I will do my best to edit the recording and produce the video clips of each of the speakers for viewing in due course for anyone who was unable to attend.
Here are a few of the comments that were in the chat. There are too many to list, but the consensus was that all the speakers were both well received:
I’d like to thank Lorraine and the Board of Trustees for organising the council meeting under difficult circumstances that covered all the ‘business’, was informative, educational and enlightening. Well done to everyone.
It was lovely to meet you, even if only virtually. It was super also to hear our new NFWI Chairman Ann Jones speak, what a delight she is. I also thought your speaker Dr Katy Willis was excellent too. Altogether a super morning!
I just wanted to say well done on today’s meeting, you all did really well, and the Modern Slavery speaker Katy was excellent and of course it was great to have Ann with you as well. I’m sure everyone found the meeting really interesting. Thank you again I enjoyed being with you.
Loved the meeting on Thursday, disappointing that more members didn’t ‘book’, they missed a treat!
Thank you to you and the Committee for a very interesting and well-run ACM last Thursday.
Thank you for a great meeting, well done Middlesex.
Thank you for a great meeting. I joined in from the paddling pool.
Thank you for an informative meeting.
Thank you for a good meeting and an excellent speaker on a challenging WI resolution
Thank you for a really thought provoking and interesting meeting.
Take care and hope to see some of you soon.
Lorraine
