Denman College - Somerset Fed. Weekend

The bedrooms have been decorated by the Federations, each adding their own regional touches.
 Ann stayed in the Guernsey room.

Denman is as welcoming as usual! Enhanced by the fabulous weather and beautiful autumn colours in the grounds. We've enjoyed a cup of tea and a bite of cake... What will this evening hold for us?
A lovely meal followed by an introduction to our chosen courses. Ann will be walking along the Thames Sue embarking on some delectable French cookery and I shall be trying to create some silk jewellery!

Sunday morning has come all too quickly! Yesterday was jam packed! After a tasty breakfast we all set off for our various courses. The silk dyeing and jewellery making had us all totally engrossed; no one really wanted to stop for a coffee break, and several of us came back early after lunch!
Ann enjoyed her walk in the balmy November (!) weather, and the interesting tour around a National Trust property. Sue cooked sea bream and salad for her lunch, and enjoyed a delectable endive, pear, walnut and Roquefort salad prepared by the tutor.
After our evening sessions we all gathered together for the very professional entertainment put on by our Somerset members. Paulet WI put on a short version of Cinderella, which had us all in stitches!

Denman College: waving at us is the Ukelele teacher!

We seemed to spend quite a lot of time enjoying the excellent food in the dining room!

Somerset Federation Annual Meeting

Seven of us attended the SCFWI Annual meeting in Yeovil on Saturday; luckily we arrived early as the hall was packed! There were more WI members present than I have ever seen at that event! The main speaker was Michael Portillo, and he gave a fascinating, humorous and self deprecating talk which had us enthralled! In the afternoon we were able to listen to the nurse who works with organ donors and their families in the south west; a very telling and emotional insight. We also heard from the founder of a charity which supports women who have reconstructive surgery following breast cancer.
It was a very informative, fun and interesting day, as usual an opportunity to catch up with many friends and to appreciate the work done on our behalf by our County Trustees.

Ballroom Dancing Rocks!

Fab-u-lous evening, Dahling!
Paul Parsons and his dancing partner, Jane, from Castle Cary demonstrated so beautifully the art and skill of ballroom dancing! Then we were lead very carefully through the steps of the cha cha cha which we practised without music to begin with.
As Paul walked over to switch on the music I suddenly wondered if he was going to play the 'Tea for Two' cha cha cha we used in our Olympics routine! Luckily it was not!

We had plenty of fun, concentration and exercise! I wonder if anyone will be tempted to take up ballroom dancing lessons?
Another great evening!

October's sunny lunch date

A select group of us met in The Bell for a delicious lunch on Friday. It was so sunny and warm!
Lovely company and good conversation! I wonder what the weather will be like for our November lunch date?

#iamwi update!

This is taken from Cambridge WI's blog (camcitywi.blogspot.co.uk) and explains much better than I can what the #iamwi is all about:

The hash-tag (iamwi) campaign was set up to give people a look into the many faces of the people who join the organization. In the UK, the organization is often seen as an outdated gathering only for ageing housewives, WWII survivors and "girly girls". When I mention I'm in it, I sometimes get the response, "Why would you want to hang out with old ladies?" or "Good lord, you're young still, do something with people your own age!"

However, the WI definitely has a very diverse membership including many from my generation and younger! Yes, some of us knit and bake. No, others don't. Some of us enjoy political debates about mandatory organ donation. Others cringe at the mere mention of the word "birth control". 

The campaign was a way of trying to break some stereotypes while encouraging women to show their true selves. It was designed to be empowering, engaging and (hopefully) intriguing -- in an effort to welcome new members. If you fit the old stereotype, good on you! If you don't, that's great too! What draws the WI together is a wild assortment of shared interests, shared skills, and a nearly boundless desire to learn more about the world we're in: whether it be new or old.So: while I don't generally love rocking the boat, and I certainly don't love posting pictures of me to the entire world ... I figured if I was going to show "what makes me a member of WI", then I should show my true core and what really empowers me. That's exercise and owning up to the fact that I like to rock the boat a little. Just a little. Teeeeeeeeny little bit. Ok. Maybe I'll just go back to posting only to friends now. 


Do you tweet? Are you on Facebook? If yes, today is the day to show the world who we are! Challenge the stereotype image of the WI! Take a photo of yourself with a card saying "I am W.I.  1st October 2014" and post it along with ' #iamwi '.
I think you will find it if you search for Women's Institute on Facebook (not the official NFWI page) or if you google #iamwi

There are plenty of smiling faces to see!
Here's a tweet, randomly selected from many:

If you think, like a lot of people do, that the Women's Institute is old hat, have a look at the #IamWI tag today! We are pretty fab

Have a look at these links, too, to see what people are saying about the WI:
The yorkshirepost.com  'The WI proud of it's past and looking to the next 100 years'
And this blog: annefoweraker.com/2014-so-what-does-a-typical-WI-member-look-like-#iamwi

here is one of the photos posted on Facebook, how great is this? 

Women in World War I - Autumn Group meeting

We were taken on a very detailed and emotional journey into the varied roles undertaken by women during the First World War. It is really fascinating to hear about the home front and the social history of the time. How lucky we are to be born now!
As a little aside I'm wondering if all of our spin doctors and PR companies have the Suffragette movement to thank for inadvertently causing the birth of their careers! It is quite plain now, with the benefit of hindsight, so see just how the government of the time was able to manipulate public opinion and behaviour. Hmmm.....