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.
Middlesex News – June 2022
MFWI News
Protecting our Rivers
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.
Trustees farewell outgoing Chair Lorraine Reed
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.
Chair’s Chat – May 2022
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
Middlesex News – May 2022
As our WIs get back into the swing of in-person meetings and events, there’s so much more to read about in our monthly newsletter. Click here, or the image, to take a look.
A Buckinghamshire Science Day Out
On a bright spring day in March I drove to Aylesbury for a day of Investigation and Discovery put on by Buckinghamshire Federation Science and Society team. What a marvellous day! There were four speakers, all experts in their own fields. I was swamped with very interesting information—I just lapped it up! (Unfortunately, I haven’t retained all of it—should’ve taken notes!).
Carbon capture was about sending hydrogen from oil fields, and converting it into the national grid, and taking the carbon emissions back to be stored underground safely. The aim is that by 2050, we will all be using hydrogen to replace gas, though we will have to continue using fossil fuels until we have enough bio-fuels to build the manufacturing plants. I was interested to learn that although great Britain is good at reducing carbon release, aeroplanes release the most carbon, over the oceans, and this is a global problem.
A Life in Astrophysics was presented by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, an astrophysicist who, as a post-graduate student, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. This discovery eventually earned the Nobel Prize in physics in 1974; however, she was not one of the recipients of the prize. She was the only woman studying a degree in Physics at Glasgow University and had to fight for recognition throughout her student career.
Robotics and artificial Intelligence was about automated and autonomous robotic development. Automated robots are widely used for manufacture and surgery among other things, but autonomous robots such as driverless cars are only in the early stages of development. All robots are only as good as their programs, and this development is ongoing.
Rebel Cell: Aspects of Cancer was all about the rebel cells in our bodies. The cells mutate very early on in our lives to become rebels (they re-configure to escape our immune systems) and cause cancers. Research has led to discovery that some rebel cells can be controlled, and unfortunately they soon learn to re-invent themselves and continue to cause trouble.
I learned that though we can make choices to reduce the risks, life is really a lottery—some healthy people get cancer, and some unhealthy people don’t.
The speakers were excellent at presenting their topics in a lively way, particularly the ladies, who spoke slowly and clearly. They had all been heard on Radio 4, were contacted by the team and ‘interviewed’ to make sure that they could present their topics in a way that we would understand.
As Science Representative, I will try to organise something smilar for us in Middlesex. So watch this space!
Middlesex News – April 2022
It’s newsletter time again, and the first newsletter for our incoming Chair, Angela Chessman.
Our WIs are really getting back into their meeting vibes – lots of great speakers, crafts, food, ideas. read about some of them here!
Women at COP26
As I’m sure most readers will know, NFWI was at COP 26 in November 2021. That wasn’t the end of a story, but the beginning of a new chapter—the UK is president until next November and there is still plenty of opportunity to put pressure on the Government to do what’s needed. The WI is keeping the momentum going—we had Show the Love in February, there will be the Great Big Green Week in September and NFWI and WI Climate Ambassadors are continuing with activism, craftivism and events.
The WI was not the only women’s group present: there were many gender-focused events. Not only does climate change have disproportionate impacts on women and girls around the world, but women are important as leaders in their various communities.
One organisation, the Malala Fund, organised an event about education. Its report says, “In 2021 alone, climate change impacts will prevent four million girls from completing their education. If current trends continue, by 2025 climate change will be a contributing factor in preventing at least 12.5 million girls from completing their education each year.”
In the areas most affected by climate change, families will often take girls out of school to help cope with chores or to marry them off . Yet Malala’s research has found that every additional year girls spend in school leads to a significant improvement in the country’s resilience to climate events.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Met Office hosted an event on What women bring to climate science. This showed some of the outcomes of education for girls via a panel of very senior female scientists from global organisations involved in meteorology and climate change. They discussed why diversity is essential for climate science, the importance of equality in education and how to ensure representation from those countries most affected. There is a recording on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zt4MHDNVYHQ
One key subject is the importance of mentoring and role models, to give younger women and girls the courage to step forward into the sciences, being supportive of them and of collaborative approaches to leadership to make this happen.
Empowering women is, of course, very much part of the WI’s ethos. There is a lot we can do, each in our own way.
The website https://unfccc.int/gender has an overview of gender and climate change with lots of interesting links.
The WI climate action pages are here.
Annual Council Meeting 2022
For the third year running, our Middlesex Federation Annual Council Meeting was held online, following a poll of our members. It was disappointing for us as we hoped to begin or end our centenary year in person, however we were pleased to have a healthy turnout online.
Outgoing Chair Lorraine Reed-Wenman, in her final ACM, welcomed Zoom attendees and spoke of the challenges of the past year and her period as Chair as a whole, while Treasurer Sarah Endersby presented the Financial Report.
We were very pleased to welcome an excellent speaker, Petra Wenham, a member of Cake and Revolution WI in Ipswich, Suffolk. Petra was the first openly transgender WI member to appear on the cover of WI Life magazine (July-Aug 2021). Petra shared her personal journey, of coming out to her wife Loraine in 2015, to living full-time as a woman in 2018, and joining the WI.
We hope you enjoyed the meeting if you were able to attend, but very much hope for a fabulous in-person meeting in 2023!
Congratulations, Angela!
| Following the ACM, the Board of Trustees, without departing Chair Lorraine, continued the online meeting to elect a Chair to lead us through the next three years, assisted by Hertfordshire Federation Trustee Maggie Eccleston. We congratulate Angela Chessman on her appointment! Angela, a member of Stanwell WI, was co-opted onto the Board in 2016, enjoying her role as Denman Ambassador while Denman College was operating. More recently she ran the 200+ Club. Good luck Angela: we wish you well for your term as Chair! |
200+ Club – February 2022
Congratulations to the winners of our February 200+ Club draw!
1st prize – £35
West Drayton WI
2nd prize – £20
Pat Hook, Hillingdon
3rd prize – £15
Trish Quinlan, Greenford