Women's Institute
Secretary: Mrs Jean Mills 01886-888 475
ALL ABOUT W.I..
Little Witley WI has 36 members and belongs to the Worcestershire Federation of Women’s Institutes (WFWI) which is part of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI). Meetings are held at 7.30 on the 2nd Wednesday of the month in Little Witley Village Hall and the WI arranges visits, trips, classes and other activities for the members.
Meetings - The main part of the evening is a talk or demonstration (sometimes with ‘hands on’ experience) preceded by some brief WI business. Refreshments are served by members on a rota basis.
Subscriptions – For 2009 this is £29, which is divided between Little Witley WI, WFWI and NFWI and will also cover the cost of “W.I. Life.”
The Woodbury Group – Little Witley belongs to this group which is made up of six local WIs. Group meetings are held twice a year. Jean Mills is also Group Co-ordinator. The function of the group is to encourage members from neighbouring WIs to get to know each other and enjoy excellent speakers or activities.
WFWI – acts as an umbrella for all the WIs in the County Federation and has a County Chairman (Julia Roberts) and Secretary (Heather Jefferies). There are several committees that arrange events and activities to cater for the needs and interests of members.
NFWI – is an even bigger umbrella for all the WIs in England and Wales and has a staff in Fulham, London (Tel 0171 3719300). Intermediate General Meetings are held at which 1 delegate represents 4 WIs. Members can apply to attend General Meetings as observers.
Resolutions on social and topical matters submitted by individual WIs are selected and discussed thoroughly at all levels. If carried at a General Meeting they empower the WI to influence local and national policy making.
Denman College is the WI’s own residential college near Oxford. Little Witley has a bursary for members every other year which is drawn for at the AGM in November. You can look at the College Programme at the WI meeting – there are courses to interest everybody! The NFWI Training Unit is housed within the grounds.
ACWW (Associated Country Women of the World) is a World-wide organisation to which NFWI belongs. Each WI donates small amounts to ACWW. This money is used to help underprivileged women in third world countries. There is a box at meetings for voluntary donations called ‘Pennies for Friendship’.
Country Markets - our nearest markets are at :
Droitwich - Old Library – Friday 10.00-1.00
Evesham - Wallace House, Oat Street : Friday 8.30-11.15
Hagley - Community Centre: Friday 8.45-11.00
Malvern - Lyttleton Rooms, Church Street: Friday 8.30-11.00
Pershore - Navel Assoc. Room, High Street: Saturday 9.00-11.00
Tenbury Wells - The Scout Hut : Tuesday 9.30-12.00
Worcester - St Clements’ Parish Room, St.Johns: Friday 9.00-11.00
WI Publications – There is a County Newsletter " Worcestershire W I News" which Little Witley WI orders for its members.
WI House at Hallow has an excellent range of gifts and cards etc. for sale throughout the year. WI diaries and calendars are also available each autumn.
Press reports of our activities are sent to local papers.
Activities – Little Witley WI organises other events and outings for its members.
2008 PROGRAMME
December 10 – Mike Jackson CHRISTMAS STORIES
SECRETARY’S ANNUAL REPORT ON BEHALF OF THE COMMITTEE
Another year has passed and the old cliché " the older you get, the faster the years go" never seemed truer. It’s hard to believe Vicky has been President since November 2005. It seems to have gone in a flash though perhaps Vicky doesn’t feel the same!
Another poor summer could have dampened our spirits but there was always a cheerful crowd at meetings with an average attendance of 25-30.
This has been a memorable year for Worcestershire Federation and for Little Witley. In March we celebrated our 60th Anniversary when County Chairman Chris Marriott and W.I.A.’s Christine Hickman Smith and Pauline Briggs together with the Presidents of all the Institutes in the Woodbury Group joined us for a superb three course meal. A celebration iced fruit cake made by Vicky was ceremonially cut by founder members Phyllis Colwill and Mavis Drew. You’ll remember we were hoping to see Wendy Turner-Coates our guest speaker but she failed to appear. However, we all enjoyed the extra time we were able to chat with our friends and fellow members.
A special anniversary bursary was won by Vicky and she has just been able to spend time at Denman on the Worcestershire Weekend.
Federation celebrated their 90th birthday with a dinner at the Three Counties Showground with Eve Pollard as guest speaker.
On a National level Jean Mills attended the AGM in Liverpool in June as link delegate representing Great Witley and Abberley as well as ourselves and we met up with Abberley for a joint meeting to discuss the two resolutions Jean would be voting on.
The speakers this year have been excellent. We’ve travelled to the other side of the world with Trish and enjoyed hearing about her holiday in Western Australia and New Zealand. Then David Barrie invited us on a steam train from Darjeeling to Calcutta to experience life in India. From there Phillipa Charlesworth took us to Kenya and brought back some of the bags, jewellery and leather goods being produced at the village workshops. Should we wish to retire in the sun, Ed Shore practically sold us on the idea of moving to Green Valley, Arizona near the Mexican border where we could enjoy the swimming pools, the sports and classes on every imaginable topic. The only drawback the snakes and huge spiders but he did make us laugh. If we were clever enough we could have drawn on these experiences and written short stories for women’s magazines as Sue Johnson told us she had done for many years.
We were lucky with the weather when we were invited once again to Trish Law’s sister’s nurseries at The Bothy where we planted our hanging baskets and again on our visit to Stockton Bury Gardens but not so lucky when it came to admiring Mavis Drew’s lovely garden as the weather let us down. However nothing fazed Reg Moule the speaker who had an answer to every gardening question.
It was a bit grey to say the least when we boarded the farm trailer for a tour of the asparagus fields with Andrew and Philip Owen but we learned so much from their excellent commentary. Our twinned Institute, Habberley, joined us and enjoyed excellent refreshments in the barn afterwards.
Food is a very important part of W.I. and Liz Osborn organised an excellent annual dinner at the Manor Arms at Abberley. The strawberry tea turned out to be a firm favourite with all who attended and may be an annual event. When Jenny Ablett came to demonstrate Christmas cooking we had our biggest attendance when everyone was happy to taste the goodies she cooked for us. In fact refreshments throughout the year have been superb and members are thanked for taking time and trouble to make the coffee break enjoyable.
Two jumble sales have seen members working well together to raise funds and we have had no worries about going into the red. All the costs of the 60th birthday party were covered by fund raising.
There have been so many activities we could have joined in organised by Federation that we have been spoilt for choice and there has been no chance of being bored as a W.I member. We’ve entered into the spirit of playing skittles and won some and lost some but had a good time. In her first year new member Freda Lamb has walked the Worcestershire Way with Federation and is now an expert chutney maker which you will be able to witness in social time after close of the AGM.
I shall be stepping down as Secretary after seven years good and faithful service to three Presidents and I wish my replacement every success. She knows I will still help in any way possible but I look forward next year to sitting the other side of this table and enjoying what I am sure will be an excellent programme of speakers for 2009 organised by Trish and Jean Walker.
Pam Plumridge
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