Hello ladies and a Happy New Year to you all, and what an exciting year I think we are going to have!
It seems quite some time ago now that we were all at the Cathedral and wishing each other peace and joy and I am delighted to tell you that our retiring collection raised a magnificent £1,420, which has been equally split between the Salvation Army and the Cathedral’s Lantern Project. Thank you all so much on behalf of those two very worthy organisations. Also my very grateful thanks go to Kirkheaton WI who sent in a very generous donation to Federation funds.
From March this year all Federations must have a Safeguarding Officer in place. This is a requirement in all organisations now and so if anyone has an issue that they feel they cannot discuss within their own WI, then that person should either telephone or email the Office and ask that the Safeguarding Officer contacts them.
Many of you will know about the banners / tapestries that were created by Northumberland and Tyneside many years ago. Our Archivist Jackie Wylie has worked tirelessly to try and get these items either permanently displayed in a museum or at least stored in appropriate conditions, as they are an important part of our social history. I am delighted to tell you that due to their significance, Woodhorn will be accepting them on permanent loan from the Federation so well done Jackie and thank you.
I hope that you can all remember that before the pandemic struck, we were going to hold a fundraising event in partnership with John Lewis in Eldon Square. I am very delighted to say that we are now back on track albeit a few years late! The event will take place in June or July this year and will be an evening event of fashion and beauty exclusively for our members. There will be fizz, demonstrations, fashion show maybe and goody bags plus more and details and applications will be in next month’s mailing.
We are having a Coronation this year. To celebrate there is a competition for a card to send to His Majesty King Charles and an open event at Cresswell House on Wednesday 3 May where you can come along for tea/coffee/cakes/scones from 10.30 am to 2.30pm. We hope to plant a tree at 11.30 which will sit with our rowans that celebrated 100 years of Northumberland and the four whips for the late Queen’s Green Canopy. Maybe we can call them all the Cresswell Copse.
Finally, below you can see that we have received a message from His Majesty, King Charles thanking us for our card following the death of his mother. Also, talking of cards, as I was sitting surrounded by the Christmas cards I had taken down, I had a thought about a competition to design a Christmas card for Northumberland Federation which could be produced and sold to our members for Federation funds. Now I know that there are some very talented ladies out there and the only brief to my challenge is that the card must be square and has to feature a tree in some form. We are looking into pricing etc but at least this gives you chance to start getting your creative juices going in plenty of time. More details will follow.
This year, 2023 will be a very significant year for some of our WIs and myself and a few Board members will be attending Otterburn’s 100th birthday at the end of January. Happy Birthday to them.
Marj x
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