Exciting news this month as Moira Bengtson and I opened a new WI in New Hartley in April. They are New Hartley Hunnies and we all wish them the very best as they begin their journey as part of our wonderful organisation here in Northumberland and nationwide.
I hope that you all enjoyed the Easter break. Barbara Kilkenny and I joined the ladies of Shotley for a celebratory meal on their 95th birthday and had a wonderful evening with them all. I have also attended a rather unusual “celebration” with Hedley on the Hill because this year they not only celebrated their 90th birthday but also very sadly suspended, so something of a bittersweet celebration.
Annual meetings are now in full swing, and my thanks go out to all the Advisers for their continuing hard work in this area of conducting meetings, doing workshops, and taking on this year’s resolution discussions at the meetings. More details of this year’s resolution can be found on MyWI.
Annual subscriptions are beginning to arrive at Cresswell House and a gold star to Cornhill WI for being the first WI to get their cheque to the Office, well done and thank you. As most of you are aware, the Federation relies on our portion of the subscription and fundraising to keep functioning. Obviously for two years, we were unable to do any significant fundraising and, unlike halls who received Government help during the pandemic, we did not qualify for any assistance.
Unfortunately, we have recently had to cancel some planned events in the north of the County due to lack of support. This is a great pity as I know there are many in this area who would like to see more events near them, but all events are costed out by the Committee Chairman and a minimum number is needed at every event to make it a viable proposition. So do please try to support these events.
About events then, I hope that I will see lots of you at my Roadshows. Details of the first two were in last month’s mailing and the forms for the last two are with this month’s mailing.
Finally (hurrah I hear you all say) many of you entered recipes for the Jubilee Biscuit Competition which was great. The recipes were whittled down to three by the Officers. Sue Malloy baked these three as per the instructions given which were then ”blind” tasted by the Board at the April meeting. I would like to stress here that I was the only person who knew the name of the person submitting the recipes and I did not participate in the voting. It now gives me great pleasure to announce (drum roll please) that the winner was Jen Dover of Chollerton WI with her oatie biscuits. Congratulations Jen! The rest of you will be able to taste these fabulous biscuits at one of my Roadshows.
Once again thank you to everyone who sent us a recipe, you are all stars to me. It wasn’t an easy task (but it was an enjoyable one).
See you all very soon
Marj x
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