FEDERATION NEWS 2019
HFWI CENTENARY SERVICE
Hereford Cathedral
Sunday 9 February 3.30 (Evensong)
All WI members are very welcome to attend this service. Presidents or their representatives have an invitation in this monthly mailing to join us for refreshments afterwards.Banners will be displayed at the Cathedral.
The actual date of the formation of the HFWI was 7 February 2020.
CENTENARY CAROL CONCERT
Members and friends of Herefordshire Federation of WIs gathered in Holy Trinity Church Hereford on Monday evening 9 December for the Centenary Carol Concert. Some WI's brought their banners to display, carols were sung and in between the readings there were musical items from the Hereford Rail Male Choir, Lu and Robin, and the musical WI Advisers, Cherril Watkins voice and Alison Lord piano who performed a Christmas song by Pietro Yon. The successful evening concluded with mince pies and mulled wine.
05.12.19
CREATIVE ARTS DAY
SATURDAY 28TH MARCH 2020
WELLINGTON COMMUNITY CENTRE
Come and join us for a day at Wellington Community Centre on Saturday 28 th March 2020 from 10.30am until 3.00pm. Cost £25 for the day including hot and cold drinks. Please bring your own packed lunch. There is plenty of parking at the side and rear of the Community Centre.
Choose one of the following workshops:-
1. Construct a willow obelisk, perfect for the Spring garden with Elaine Shears.
2. A creative workshop with Ginn Downes. Practical ideas for helping children discover their creativity. Ginn is passionate that everyone should be given the opportunity to discover their own creative potential and pass this on to the next generation.
3. Create a foxglove felt picture with Maggie Davies. Maggie is a designer and author and known worldwide. There is an additional £5 to pay on the day for materials in this workshop.
Please note that as places are limited the workshops are open to Herefordshire WI members only.
10.11.19
THANK YOU ANGELA AND RUTH!
Herefordshire WI Advisers Alison Lord and Cherril Watkins, plus trainee Adviser Joy Edwards took long serving Advisers Angela Southwell and Ruth Thomas for a thank you meal today at the Cider Barn Pembridge, to mark their retirement at the end of the year after many years of service. We will all miss their wise advice!
6.11.19
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2020
TRIP TO ENVIROSORT
On Monday, 30 March 2020 and 6 April 2020 there are trips to EnviroSort, a large recycling plant, where we will be taken on a tour and discover what really does happen to all the items which we think we have correctly put in the recycling bin. I am sure that most of us wonder whether or not certain items can be recycled and here we can find out.
On the way to EnviroSort we shall visit a garden centre to find ideas for the spring garden. Full details from Margaret Simcock on 01995 400700 and margaret.norbrook@gmail.com
6.11.19
INTERNATIONAL EVENING 2019
Monday evening in The Lady Emily Community Hall at Tarrington saw 65 ladies and a few gentlemen enjoying a typical Jamaican chicken meal prepared the few members of the Education Committee. Desserts followed the main meal which was accompanied by Wine or a soft drink of Orange juice, and these were a choice of either Sherry Trifle, Banana in a Rum sauce topped with homemade Ice Cream, a Fruit Crumble or Rum Torte also covered in cream and decorated with caramelised Almonds.
We were entertained by Pedro who introduced himself and gave us an insight into his life of travel, interest in musical instruments and how he put this talent into practice playing purely by ear. He demonstrated his various instruments from around the world, and then came the fun when he called on members to 'make' music with accompaniment on the xylophone. He had us all tapping our feet to the various rhythms and also a group twisting in aisle.
Once again, as in previous years, everyone went home in a happy frame of mind.
EMMA TOMLINSON – CLIMATE AMBASSADOR
As a busy mum of two young girls you’d think Emma had enough on her plate – or maybe it’s because she’s so passionate about their future that when she saw Ann Jones, NFWI Vice Chair, on BBC Breakfast in May this year, she jumped at the chance to become a Climate Ambassador herself.
Discussions and campaigns about the climate emergency we find ourselves in can seem overwhelming – but as Ann said, the WI is the voice of reason, we are the consumers and we can help make change happen.
It’s a huge topic and Emma is fully aware of the need to manage her own time and achieve what she realistically can. And so far she has achieved so much – from taking part in and encouraging fellow WINGS members to take part in Plastic Free July, to writing to her MP (Bill Wiggin) to find out more about what we are doing about recycling in Herefordshire. The NFWI has many great initiatives in which we can all engage and part of Emma’s role is communicating events to fellow members – Fast Fashion certainly made us think about our shopping choices. Her next project is the Show the Love Campaign … watch this space!
Emma is engaging not only with WINGS fellow members but is reaching out to neighbouring WI’s in Herefordshire. Emma is the only representative in the county and it would be fabulous to meet other like-minded WI members to work together and perhaps help focus on what a Climate Ambassador in a rural setting can achieve. With so much activity being centred around London it’s easy to feel removed – but we are ALL a part of this emergency and we can all ‘do something’.
If you’d like to find out more Emma would be more than happy to discuss this with you and she can be contacted on ektomlinson@hotmail.com
100 Years of the WI in Weobley
The present Weobley WI is only 3 years old, having been re-formed in February 2016, but has a much longer tradition. We will be celebrating the centenary of the founding of the original Weobley branch on September 29th 1919 at our September meeting and plan to mark the occasion with a party of course, but will also take time to look back on how the lives of women, the WI and the village have changed over the past hundred years with an exhibition and a talk on the life of our first President, Ella Mary Leather, author of The Folklore of Herefordshire. Members of the group are trying to fill in some of the gaps in the archive and put names to faces and date old photographs. It will be an opportunity for current members to view the work of their predecessors, including the Weobley Screen, showing views of the village, church, houses and farms, which was embroidered by 26 members in 1933 and exhibited as an example of co-operative work for a Country Federation show and in London.
The WI first met in 1919 in the Territorial Army Hall "by kind permission" of Colonel Wood. Renamed the Hall of Remembrance and donated to the village by Col. Leather in memory of his wife after her death in 1928. it continued to be the regular meeting place for the WI and other clubs and societies village until 1976, with a break during World War 2 when the school was used. Now we enjoy the comfort of Hopelands for our meetings on the second Monday of the month. The format of the meetings has changed very little over the years: short business meetings followed by a talk or demonstration and then a social half hour over tea and coffee, but the subjects have changed reflecting the changes in women’s lives. Talks on home and country crafts in the 1920s and 30s gave way to informative talks on health, child welfare and housing after World War 2, while there was more emphasis on learning about consumer goods and products in the 1960s and 70s. Illustrated talks on people’s travels whether far or near have always been popular. Current WI members seem less interested in competitions and country dancing than their predecessors, but they are just as generous when it comes to making and donating items and fund-raising for charities and people in need, whether displaced people in 1946, the victims of flooding in 1953, the UN appeal for refugees in 1957 or People in Motion in 2018.
The WI has always been up for a party or celebration. In 1920 they held the first of many summer picnic teas and a New Year’s Eve dance and the tradition of a summer outdoor event and a Christmas party has been kept going ever since. And WI anniversaries were always marked with cutting a cake, if not a dinner or tree planting. The centenary of our foundation will be no exception.
The Weobley Screen
At the September meeting of Weobley WI celebrating 100 years of the WI in Weobley a magnificent centenary cake was cut by Sheila Wall (member of the previous Weobley WI and of our new one) and Hazel Anderson (President of the previous Weobley WI when it folded in 2013).
September WI Life Magazine
Federation Chairman Val Lewis' trip to Buckingham Palace
Picture Gallery from the Three Counties Show, Malvern Showground, 14 - 16 June 2019
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