Time to WOW......

I have been a secret member of an organisation for 6 months now. From 11th February until now.... and now I've decided to go public.

Am I a spy?

Am I a secret shopper?

Do I spend the day listening in to GCHQ?

No, it's more esoteric than that.

I joined the WI.


Woolton now has its own WI, called WOW (Women of Woolton). And I love it. A lovely lady called June set it up, because the waiting list for another local WI was too long. We have 95 signed up members and more waiting for a chance to join. That must show a local need for an organisation whose avowed intent is to inspire women and to campaign for a better world. We need jam and Jerusalem, as well, but the modern WI wants to be involved in the community and I like that avowed intent.

So far our meetings have included a talk on a local victorian priest who set up a local care charity, the care and upkeep of bees and how to do felting. The group try to alternate between a crafty creative meeting and a   talk about anything relevant to the locale.

 I made this bird, who takes pride of place over my fire after a session on birdy crafts led by two members. I love how the skills and contacts of the women who belong are being used. We already have a walking group who walk once a month at least and a monthly quiz group who are hoping to enter the heats for the national competition. And I have dreams of a craft session and a bookclub. Just need a venue....

The National WI pages are here and the Lancashire Federation (how lovely to be part of Lancashire again) are here.  Woolton WI has its own website with a very skillfull administrator who set it up (ahem; that would be me then) and you can find it here. We are on Facebook and enjoying combining what is sometimes seen as an old fashioned organisation with modern technology. I love the idea that at a time of national stress and austerity the WI comes back into its own. Certainly the resurgence of crafts and interest in skills means that 'cool' people who might once have run a mile are setting up and running WIs as a way of passing on skills and meeting friends. See here from the Telegraph, and these cool members from New York! 2015 is the centenary year of the WI and it is brilliant to see a society that started in response to the international crisis of the First World War as a means to unify women and coordinate their war effort still going strong and wanting to make the world a better place. That's why Jerusalem still has relevance as the going forth song. I could do a whole post on what that song means to me....... Now that's a good idea!