Hello everyone and I hope you all enjoyed a lovely Easter whatever you were doing and wherever you were.
Some of you may by now be aware that Karen Coleman has resigned from the Board of Trustees after several years as both a Vice Chair and as a joint Treasurer along with Barbara Kilkenny, a role which has taken up a significant amount of time for both of them during the period of no secretary at Cresswell House. Her resignation meant that by default of the Federation Constitution she can no longer hold the position of Chair of the Craft Committee but she does remain a member of that committee. The Board of Trustees and myself thank her for all her hard work and support over the years, and in particular this extremely difficult past nine months, and we wish her well for the future.
Karen’s resignation also triggered a ballot for the role of Vice Chair and I am pleased to announce that following a secret ballot at the last Board Meeting Dee Ward is now a Vice Chair alongside Barbara Kilkenny and again we wish her well in her new role.
I am also delighted to tell you about the role of secretary for Northumberland Federation and while I wish to thank those WIs who sent messages saying that they had members showing interest in this position, it is the policy of our Federation not to employ a fellow WI member in this role. Many of you know that in the prolonged absence of Nancy we employed the services of a young lady called Jodie Brownlow who has experience in finance and particularly Sage software. Her time with us was on a professional freelance basis for which she submitted her invoice for the hours worked. She has now been with us for several months and during this time she has brought the finances up to date and has also answered calls and callers when we have held meetings and she subsequently expressed an interest in joining us on a more permanent basis in the role of Federation Secretary.
In agreement with our HR consultants we have offered Jodie a six month probationary freelance contract whilst we establish the role and what it might entail moving forward. This period will begin on Tuesday 6th May, so, from that date the Office will be open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The hours open to members will be as 10.00 – 2:30 (closed for lunch 12:00 – 12:30). I am sure that you will be supportive and helpful to Jodie in her taking on this role. Dee will continue as our Newsletter editor and she will also look after the website and any other social platforms which we use or intend to use in the future.
Well that was quite a full on message re the Board etc for you – so now on to other news. We have had a good response for the Lunch at Doxford Hall. Several Board members have now been lucky enough to hear Mitch Bridgewater’s presentation at neighbouring Federation Council Meetings so we can certainly confirm that you will enjoy his talk on The Great British Sewing Bee (where he was a contestant) in October at Hexham Mart. We even have one firm booking for a lunch in May next year and we are poised to make one for the Autumn of 2026.
I am sure that you will recall the flyer that came out to all WIs about a new daytime quiz show to be hosted by Amanda Holden and inviting WI members to apply, well this week I was at Prudhoe WI for their Annual
Meeting and I am delighted to tell you that one of their members,Yvonne Foster did apply, was selected and has now returned from two days filming in Glasgow. She cannot tell anyone how she fared in the quiz but hopefully we will be able to let you know when “her” programme will be on TV
Once again can I thank everyone for the patience that they have shown during the past nine months.
Marj
Recent Comments