Chairman's Message Board - October 2016
Autumn Council Meeting
I’m looking forward to meeting many of you at the Autumn Council meeting in Barnstaple. It should be a great day. If you haven’t ordered tickets yet there still may be some spare seats, contact the Office and check! Please note that the Park & Ride at Barnstaple is now closed.
Congratulations to Sylvia Crocker, Lewtrenchard WI. You may recall in May that I mentioned Sylvia's campaign to encourage supermarkets to stock milk in a more prominent place, which was successful in a number of Tesco stores in Devon. An article in the September WI Life hopefully will encourage other WIs around the country to use a little 'pester power' to urge their local supermarkets to follow suit.
Hand-made Poppies. I have been contacted by Jenny Liggins who has been making poppies for the British Legion since 2011 and to date has raised over £10,000 for the Legion. She is contacting us now as she would like to prepare for 2018 which will be a very special year and wonders whether the WI would like to join her in this project in the Exeter area. The poppies are varied with knitted, crocheted, felted and polyester organza examples. If any WIs are interested in joining her group to make poppies, please contact Jenny directly for more details at jenny@gordonhurden.co.uk
WI Fair at Alexandra Palace 29-30 March 2017. In response to your requests the Federation has organised a coach trip to attend the WI Fair in Alexandra Palace in March 2017. The flyer is with your Secretaries now. To make the most of the trip we have included a visit to Kew Gardens on the way up to London and an overnight stay so we will have a full day at the WI Fair before coming home. This should be a great trip so don't miss out!
NFWI Mailings. Your Secretary should have received the latest mailings from National, which includes a couple of questionnaires on one of this year's Resolutions 'Avoid food waste, address food poverty' and a campaign action pack for the other Resolution 'Carers welcome'. Let's all get behind these Resolutions!
Talking of Resolutions I am pleased to be able to announce that 4 WIs from Devon have put forward Resolutions for consideration in 2017. Well done to Stoke Gabriel, Down St Mary, Down Thomas & Heybrook Bay and Plymouth Hartley WIs. Their proposals will all be discussed on 29th September in London and I will let you know if they get selected to go forwards.
Annual National Council Meeting. Sally Wilson, the Federation Treasurer and myself will be attending the ANC meeting on 7-9 October in Bedfordshire along with the other 68 Federations. I will be able to provide a brief report on the meeting at the Autumn Council meeting and in the next Message board. The topics included are federation success stories, the role of key federation contacts, the Resolution process review and WI membership. Plenty of scope for some lively discussion by the sounds of it.
julie.ayre@devonwi.org.uk
Click here if you would like to print or download a pdf version of this message board
