Why become part of the Women’s Institute?
Following my retirement, I joined the WI as a way of getting to know people, and be involved in village life but it’s turned out to be so much more than that. If you were to ask people their concept of members they would most likely answer, it’s silver-haired pensioners sipping tea, well yes some of us are and do, but many of the ladies from young women have been members for years, and the silver hair has appeared along with the choice of coffee, but never forgetting the sipping of tea.
A few words to describe what being a member can bring – exciting, learning, funny, opportunistic, taking part, but most of all enjoyable and being part of a group. People often who are newly retired or thinking of retirement join the WI, however, joining as a younger member of the community will give you years of enjoyment and ultimately will help to shape the future of the WI. Why not try a new enjoyable life experience, taking part, learn new skills, even impart your skills to our members, and ensure the continuity of the WI?
At our monthly meetings we have entertainment which could be a speaker, visiting WI groups and even singers, there is time to chat and yes to have a cup of tea and a biscuit or a slice of cake – some members make wonderful cakes, and the rest of us do our bit by eating every morsel. Our past has always been linked with jam making, however, the only jam I have seen is in the cakes we eat.
One of the popular events is the quiz night, it is fun and often funny listening to the various groups trying to work the answers out but most importantly the winning team gets to keep the coveted silver salver to display for a year. Carrying on in the same vein, at the monthly meetings you can, if you wish, enter the competition, some of the categories last year were; necklace made from sweets, corsage or buttonhole, and a snowman made of cotton wool, (following the announcement of the winner of this competition the snowman’s head promptly fell off). The competitions for this year include interesting photo of the fens, autumn flower arrangement, and handmade craft item this is on the evening of our bring and buy stall helping to raise much needed funds. I’m rubbish at crafts so an objective for me this year is to win one of the competitions.
There is the opportunity to join one of the sub groups, jigsaws mornings, craft group – bring your knitting , embroidery etc. or learn something new, these are smaller groups more chat and yes the inevitable cup of tea, some of the ladies are very expert in their crafts so take the opportunity to observe or learn from them.
The WI is based on the ideals of fellowship, truth, tolerance and justice. We invite you to come along to our meetings and see for yourself and have an input into the WI, enjoy our range of activities but most of all enjoy yourself, we meet on the 2nd Tuesday of the month 7.15 pm in the village hall, we hope you will join us.