Women’s Institutes across our Federation have been oh so busy with spring things – and lots of super colourful and fun Jubilee activity – which is great to read about!
See our stories in the July-August Newsletter here.
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
Congratulations to the winners of our recent 200+ Club draw for June 2022
1st prize – £35
Linda Frise, Hampton Tudor Rose
2nd prize – £20
Lorraine Reed, Ruislip Evening
3rd prize – £15
Mary Jeffery, Stanwell
Happy birthday to WIs in Middlesex celebrating birthdays this month:
Southbourne
03 June 1953
Greenford
11 June 1985
Hayes Town
17 June 1993
Stanmore
18 June 2018
Finchley
13 May 2009
Stanwell
15 May 1919
Ladies Of The Lock
26 May 2016
Congratulations to the winners of our recent 200+ Club daws.
1st prize – £35
Elizabeth Owen, West Drayton
2nd prize – £20
Margaret Smith, Iver
3rd prize – £15
E Hutton, Manor Farm
1st prize – £35
Linda Frise, Hampton Tudor Rose
2nd prize – £20
Lorraine Reed, Ruislip Evening
3rd prize – £15
Mary Jeffery, Stanwell
Hello all,
I hope you are well – and doesn’t a bit of sunshine just make you feel better?
Let’s hope we have a proper summer this year.
In May, the Board of Trustees held its Committee meeting in the Office for the first time since lockdown began. However, in the spirit of the times, it was a hybrid meeting, with a Zoom connection available for those who couldn’t get there in person. We had a few teething problems with this set-up but hope to improve next month!
I am so pleased that we are able to do this; it’s great to see the office open again, for business as well as craft sessions and so on, and we hope to be doing more there in the future.
As I mentioned in my last mailing, we are hoping to set up some training sessions soon, so please have a think if it is something you could help us with. Members can be wary of taking on a role on their WI Committee, not knowing what it might entail, so some information and guidance would be a great help. The office is available for face to face meetings, or Zoom if it is easier. Please get in touch if you would like more information.
By the time this reaches you it will nearly be time for our National Federation Annual Meeting in Liverpool. I am really looking forward to seeing some of you there—please come and have a chat if you can, as it would be good to put some names to faces.
It seems like such a long time since we gathered in Bournemouth in 2019 and I am sure we will have a great time—I just can’t wait to hear several hundred members singing Jerusalem; it always sends a shiver down my spine! It promises to be a successful day: the speakers look very interesting, and of course we will be discussing and voting on this year’s Resolution.
This is a very timely selection, there have been several mentions in the press recently about ASD/ADHD and it seems that they are only just beginning to realise how the condition is going undiagnosed in girls. It promises to be a thought-provoking debate.
So, what have I been doing this month?
I was pleased to recently attend the Spelthorne Group Meeting. It was good to be with so many fellow members and it really brought home how much we have missed these events over the past two years. We had an excellent evening.. After the business was dealt with, our refreshments were provided by Surplus to Supper.
We had all been asked to take our own mug/cup/glass; it was good to feel we were doing our small bit for the environment! Our entertainment was provided by a very funny magician, who had us all joining in. I hope to be able to attend more of these events in the future. A full report and photos are on page 10
My own WI, Stanwell, celebrated its 103rd Birthday in May, with a birthday party at our Village Hall. As usual, a good time was had by all! Earlier in the month, several of us attended a VE Day celebration dinner at a local college.
The food was prepared and served by students of the catering department and we were pleased to meet a group from a WI in Surrey—it seems we all know where to find a good meal—and it was good to support the next generation of chefs and restaurateurs!
I have just realised how many social events involve food…
Have a great month
Angela
Here we are in late spring, and our WIs are back in full swing again with meetings, outings and special events. So much so we have a bumper ten-page Middlesex News this month!
Click here or on the image to read it.
We know our rivers are polluted—the WI has been running the End Plastic Soup campaign to protect them from microplastic fibres and many groups have been campaigning about agricultural pollution and untreated sewage.
But there is another cause of pollution that doesn’t get mentioned so much: surface water run-off from roads, towns and cities. This contributes nearly a fifth of pollutants.
Surface water drains are intended to take clean rainwater, and in many cases end up in water courses with no treatment. But the rainwater picks up dust, microplastics from tyres and brake pads, detergents from washing cars, oils from the road and a whole range of other chemicals, damaging biodiversity and the health of rivers. When there are periods of heavy rainfall, the drainage systems can be overwhelmed, and we end up with flash flooding; water treatment companies have greater volumes of water going in than they can treat, as surface water combines with foul water – one of the causes of sewage overflows.
However, there are ways of capturing much of this water before it reaches the drainage system: adding sustainable urban drainage systems in urban areas and beside roads. Features such as rain gardens, swales, reed beds and green roofs collect water and slow the flow, allowing it time to soak into the ground, and the right planting cleans it.
As climate change drives more periods of heavy rain, this is important. Such schemes can make the streets look nicer, too, with attractive areas of greenery. This video explains it all in just over 3 minutes: https://youtu.be/LMq6FYiF1mo. Asking your local councils to bring in or support such schemes can make a big difference.
If you have a garden, as well as using water butts to collect water you can build your own rain garden to catch the excess—a surprising amount of water comes down from the roof after heavy rainfall and rain gardens can soak up 30% more water than a lawn.
These links show you how to make two different kinds: https://www.rhs.org.uk/garden-features/rain-gardens and https://permaculture.co.uk/videos/how-build-rain-garden.
Green roofs also slow down water flows, and can be added to sheds and garages if you want to leave the house roof clear for solar panels.
Even simple steps, such as avoiding paving over large areas of garden with impermeable surfaces, make a big difference to flood protection. If you have a driveway, areas of low-growing plants or even gravel will slow down rainwater run-off.
Some of the surface water contamination comes from misconnections—when washing machines, sinks and other domestic water outlets that should be connected to the sewer system have been connected to the surface water system by mistake. This happens surprisingly often, so it’s also a good idea to check where your pipes go.
In April 2022, the Board of Trustees said our own thank you to Lorraine Reed who stepped down from her role as Federation Chair in March. Lorraine did a brilliant job steering the Federation through the difficult Covid period, even staying on for an extra year in the hope of sharing our Centenary celebrations.
Unfortunately, this was not to be, but we all just wanted to show our gratitude to Lorraine—so we treated her to a lovely lunch on the South Bank.
It was good to get together face to face, as the majority of our meetings are still via Zoom, and while Zoom is very convenient it’s not the same as actually meeting up. The meal was delicious (and so was the wine!) and a good time was had by all.
Thank you to all of my colleagues for a lovely meet-up—and especially to Sarah Endersby for making the arrangements.
Hello all,
I hope you are well.
Can I first of all thank everyone who has sent their best wishes to me following my appointment as Chair. Your kind thoughts mean a lot and I am sure will inspire me going forward.
By the time this reaches you, Easter will have come and gone, and do I hope you had a pleasant time. Did you do anything to mark the occasion? Maybe an Easter Coffee morning, or an Easter Bonnet competition? Do let us know—and send some photos!
You will remember that in the last issue I suggested a Federation-wide Tea Party to celebrate our Centenary—and anything else, really! Well, I am pleased to say that a few WIs are already planning something. Please let us know if you are too – and if we can do anything to help.
I know some of us are still anxious about meeting up, so please don’t do anything you are uncomfortable with. Hopefully, as the weather improves, we will all start to feel a bit more confident, especially outdoors.
Have you seen the mailing from NFWI Wales regarding their 2022 Not in my Name competition? The competition is to ‘Design and Make a Scarf’ depicting the Not in my Name campaign to end violence against women. Full details can be found on My WI.
As you probably know, the National Annual Meeting is being held on 11th June, in Liverpool. I am really looking forward to attending—especially after missing out for the last two years—and I am looking forward to meeting some of you there.
Finally, the National Federation raffle tickets for this year are now on sale through your Secretaries. Tickets cost £1 and the first prize is £10,000. Good luck!
Angela
