NFWI AGM in Cardiff 1 June

Six of us from Leigh on Mendip WI were lucky to get tickets for the National WI AGM (and EGM!) in Cardiff yesterday, and we had a great time! It certainly was a bonus to have the event held so close to us! We joined with about 4,000 others to participate in the rather lengthy Extraordinary General Meeting, where debate and voting took place on the amendments to the WI constitutions at national, federation and institute levels. You may recall our November meeting, 2012, when I announced that I had read the documents and noted that the only significant change for us was that use of electronic methods for communication and decision making are permitted and acceptable provided that every member agrees. We asked if you all agreed, and the members present at that meeting did! So, we'll carry on with the emailing and blogging! That section of the day was a little tedious! However, the legalities and the opportunities for members to put their point of view all had to take place.
The other change mentioned for National level was concerning the voting on resolutions at the AGM, which (if I have this right...) would mean that delegates will continue to participate in the debate on the day but the voting will take place later once they have had a chance to report back to their Institutes. That will be so much more relevant as each institute will be able to make a decision based on the full information and a better understanding of what is actually meant by the resolution.

The speakers were cleverly spaced throughout the day, and, in my opinion, were increasingly interesting! The head of the Charity Commission headed the list and gave a detailed talk about his work - I wondered if he might have looked at our history of responding to speakers we don't like, as he was excessively complimentary to the WI! Next came Griff Rhys-Jones, who spoke passionately about his work as President of Civic Voice which campaigns for the protection of ' our green and pleasant land'.
Our final speaker, John Humphreys, gave us a fascinating insight into his life as a journalist using a very clever device to engage with us all. Early in the day it was announced that he wanted questions to answer during his talk - so Ruth Bond had a pile of questions, some pretty feisty, too, for him. So, he told us about interviewing Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher (and how she made mincemeat
of him!), meeting the Queen and asking if he could interview her - to which she said 'No!', as well as numerous humorous incidents.

The debate on the High Street resolution was fascinating - almost every speaker from the floor echoed the debate we had held at our meeting! Parking and business rates being the main culprit. Including several references to the fact that the resolutions over recent years have been worded ambiguously, making it impossible to make a clear decision. People don't want to lose their high streets (with the possible exception of High Wycombe, where members there suggested they would be glad to see it disappear and that a bomb should be dropped on it!) and recognise that people will not alter their shopping habits. It was very interesting to note that the only practical  suggestions about how the decline could be prevented came from the speaker who opposed the resolution! He
suggested that local government agencies and offices could move back into high street premises. No one else had any ideas to put forward at all apart from expecting individual WI members to support local businesses. Several comments were made regarding the rural nature of the majority of Institutes,  and the response from the resolution  proposer, Marylin Haines-Evans, National Chair of the Public
Affairs Committee, was that those of us in villages should support our villages: pubs and shops if we have them.  The voting was overwhelmingly for the resolution: in excess of 5,000 for and 700 against.

Denman College is still in financial difficulties! However, things have begun to improve and they are still very keen to encourage us to use it. In the Denman survey results a number of members suggested making donations to Denman. If anyone would like to do that, their donation will be very gratefully received! Cheques should be sent direct to Denman College.

Arrangements for the centenary AGM in 2015 are that it will take place in the Royal Albert Hall and if there is sufficient interest, the meeting will be streamed live to Federations. This means that members across the country could travel a relatively short distance to a venue chosen by their county federation in order to watch the National AGM together on a big screen. There will also be a range of commemorative items on sale, and from January 2014 a baton will be passed from Federation to
Federation around the country. ( in the style of the Olympic torch - possibly without the white track suits and media circus in tow!)

The 2014 NFWI AGM will be in Leeds on Saturday 7 June.

Up-to-the-minute WI members photographing the fabulous display of quilts!

Here we all are, looking forward to our day!