What’s On?

 

Half term week!

 Probably many of our members will be spending time with family during the coming week! 

Ask them what they think about gender fluidity! Get some opinions from the next generations on this topic - look at our burning issue through different eyes.

Coach trip, anyone?

Friends of Churston Library have posted on our Facebook page! As lots of our members love a coach trip, and Hestercombe Gardens are fabulous, I thought I would copy and paste it all here, too.

If walking on paths up and down through wild and tamed gardens is not your favourite, you may like to investigate the Hestercombe website https://www.hestercombe.com/ to get a bit more information.

New from the WI learning hub!

VIA launches Monday 9th February - and with it, a completely new chapter for learning. If you've been with us on the WI Learning Hub, you'll recognise the heart of what we do. But VIA? It's been reimagined from the ground up. Clearer navigation. Smarter course formats. A platform that works the way you do - whether you're squeezing learning into a lunch break or settling in for a Sunday afternoon deep dive.

Keep an eye on our social media channels and the WI Learning Hub website, where the link to VIA will be posted on Monday afternoon.

 

What’s On?

 

From NFWI

 Watching the news or looking at your social media feed, it’s easy to believe that the UK is more divided than ever. The voices of those who seek to spread hate, harm our communities and separate us are loud.

But the reality is millions of people across the UK show up for each other, their neighbours and their communities every single day. From monitoring our river health and helping keep our environments clean, to donating to food banks, raising money for charity, and extending the hand of friendship to refugees - acts of hope and kindness happen all the time.

These stories are too often left untold. So, in May 2026, The NFWI, alongside community and faith groups, and other charities big and small, will come together to celebrate and inspire A Million Acts of Hope across Britain. There is far more that connects us than divides us. We hope you’ll join us.

Devon News from DFWI

What’s On?

 

 

National Federation of Women’s Institutes updates membership rules in light of Supreme Court judgment

In April, the Supreme Court in the UK ruled that the legal definition of a woman under the Equality Act (2010) refers only to biological sex. Since the ruling, we have reviewed our long-held practice and membership policy to ensure we are compliant with the law. Today (Wednesday, 3 December), we have announced we can no longer legally offer formal membership to transgender women in light of this judgment. However, we will bring forward programmes to continue to extend fellowship, sisterhood, and support to transgender women. Read our full statement below from CEO Melissa Green:  

It is with the utmost regret and sadness that we must announce that, from April 2026, we can no longer offer formal membership to transgender women. As an organisation that has proudly welcomed transgender women into our membership for more than 40 years, this is not something we would do unless we felt that we had no other choice.

To be able to continue operating as the Women’s Institute - a legally recognised women’s organisation and charity - we must act in accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment and restrict formal membership to biological women only. However, this change is only in respect to our membership policy and does not change our firm belief that transgender women are women.

We know that many of our members will find this decision extremely painful. We have been actively seeking alternative ways - outside of formal membership - of continuing to extend fellowship, sisterhood, and support to transgender women, who have been such an important part of our WI family.

In April 2026, we will be launching a national network of local WI Sisterhood groups, which will offer monthly opportunities for all people, including transgender women, to come together to socialise, learn from each other, and share their experiences of living as women.

Our activity outside of formal membership has always and will continue to play a vital role in creating welcoming spaces where all women can come together to learn, share ideas, and work together to improve lives in our communities. We remain absolutely committed to delivering on that mission.

Why are you announcing this now? 

• Since the Supreme Court’s judgment, we have been working closely with legal advisers to understand the impact of the ruling on our organisation and what we must do next.

• Due to the impact we know this will have on our members, we have considered the issue extensively to ensure we have explored all options available to us before making any changes.

• We have now finished that work and have regrettably concluded that we have no other choice but to make these changes to our membership criteria if we are to continue to operate legally as a women’s organisation and charity.

• Although we are still awaiting formal guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on how to apply this judgment in practice, we have done our due diligence as an organisation and taken independent legal advice.

• We also owe it to our members to be upfront and honest with them about the issues that might affect them, so we wanted to inform them as soon as we could. We also want to ensure that while our legal change is clear, our intention to maintain our sisterhood with transgender women is equally clear.

What would happen if you didn’t make this change?

• While we are still awaiting formal, comprehensive guidance from the EHRC on how to apply the judgment in practice, as a charity, we must abide by the law.

• Not doing so would leave us at risk of costly legal challenge and potential regulatory action from the Charity Commission. We have a public duty to ensure our charity is not in breach of the law.

What happens now to existing transgender women members?

• While we can no longer offer transgender women formal memberships from 1 April 2026 (the start of our new subscription year), we remain committed to continuing our support for transgender women through other activities outside of formal membership.

• We are encouraging members with concerns or questions about the new policy to contact us directly at inclusion@nfwi.org.uk so that we can provide support.

• We will be working with our transgender members and our wider membership between now and April 1 2026, to support them and to clarify the details of our new membership policy.

How will you continue to support and engage with transgender women outside of traditional memberships?

• We remain clear that our strong belief is that transgender women are women. They have been part of the WI family for 40 years, and they will remain part of that family.

• We know that many of our members will find this decision extremely painful, but we have been actively seeking alternative ways - outside of formal membership - of continuing to extend fellowship, sisterhood, and support to transgender women.

• For example, in April 2026, we will be launching a national network of local WI Sisterhood groups, which will offer monthly opportunities for all people, including transgender women, to come together to socialise, learn from each other, and share their experiences of living as women.

• This is just one of several things that we are working on developing into full programmes with the support of existing members, NFWI staff, and trustees. These will be launched from April 2026, and we will provide more details on the full range of programmes in due course

Tuesday Craft afternoon

January Tuesday afternoon craft session was a great success! Thank you to Anj and Jenny B for organising, and to our tutors, Cathy and Zoë.

Everyone enjoyed it and produced some fab results.

Thank you to all the furniture movers!

With apologies if I didn’t take a photo of your creation.

Next one is on Tuesday 24th February. Organised by Barbara.

Conservation with LotE

 

What’s On?

 Another busy week ahead - all welcome to join in with each activity, just let the organiser know! 

A message from our membership officer

In April the new WI year starts,  and in most years a few women do not renew their membership.   In case of that happening,  we would like to ask for expressions of interest for women who would like to join us. This will give you the opportunity to come to a couple of meetings before the year starts, to let you see if you like us.
As our meeting is on the afternoon of  3rd Wednesday of the month, it is important that you have that afternoon free so that you can fully participate in our community.  

Membership fees for 2026/27 are £54. 

Look after your heart! ❤️

 The WI (National Federation of Women's Institutes)

In the spirit of Valentine’s season, as part of our Bystanders Can Be Lifesavers campaign activities we are excited to host our webinar: ‘Put your heart first this Valentine's: Everyday habits for lifelong heart health’, taking place on Friday 13 February, 12:00-13:00pm.

This webinar will focus on ways to nurture your most important muscle, your heart. Learn simple, evidence-based lifestyle habits that can strengthen your cardiovascular health and promote you long-term wellbeing. We will hear from healthcare experts on the importance of nutrition, physical activity, stress management, and preventative care, as well as quick tricks for how to easily increase your heart resilience in your everyday routine.

You can register here: https://learninghub.thewi.org.uk/at-home/courses/wellness-put-your-heart-first-this-valentines-everyday-habits-for-lifelong-heart-health

Conservation

 A message to those of us who are interested to continue working with the LotE project: next event is 29th January, 1.15 at Shoalstone Pool - please refer to the previously published poster for all details.

If you are interested, please follow the instruction below.

More support from Brixham for Ukraine

This is from an email received from John Brennan of Brixham Future CIC

 “For your interest, a Brixham Future CIC initiative, in conjunction with Brixham Fishermen, is finding a new use for redundant fishing nets to help Ukrainians defend themselves.  The nets will be extremely useful on the ground as anti-drone netting and camouflage.  This initiative will prevent nets being abandoned at sea as disposal costs on land are high and this is a very beneficial way to recycle nets.  Brixham Future, which has delivered several vehicles of aid to Ukraine, collected four dumpy bags of nets from Brixham Harbour on Friday 16th of January 2026, thanks to local fishermen and Torbay Harbour authorities.  The team at the harbour were very accommodating and we hope that there will now be a regular supply.”

Boom! It’s party week!

 

Outdoor life beckons you?

 Keen conservationists, this is for you!

Those who made the most of the LotE project, this is for you!

Monthly coffee morning.

 We enjoyed a really sociable coffee time this morning at the Berry Head Hotel. I do hope no-one was sitting on their own in the café at Lupton House!

Thank you all for coming and having a chat!

No photos from today - these are from a Christmas coffee morning at Lupton House a while ago. 

What’s On?

Two amendments to the calendar! 

So far, two people have said yes to meeting for coffee at the Berry Head. 

You may notice a question, a decision to be made! Answers on a postcard please (aka WhatsApp)

January Cribbage is cancelled!

See you all next month, first Wednesday afternoon. 

Practise adding up to 15!