Chat from the Chair – June 2025

Here we are again with another month having flown by and it’s hard to believe we are almost half way through 2025 already.

Kim Suleman has now decided to stand down from the Board of Trustees. The Board and myself thank her for all her hard work and support during the past few years. The Craft Committee will continue to meet and there is further information about this under the Craft Report further along in the Newsletter.

By the time you are reading this we will have had our first ‘Lunch with the Chairman’ at Doxford Hall with over one hundred ladies being entertained by Marie Thom.  I feel at this point that I need to explain why this and the next lunch at Hexham Mart with Mitch Bridgewater from the Great British Sewing Bee are being billed as ‘Lunch with the Chairman’.  They are replacements for Marj on the Move and then Marj on a Mission in recent years and the speakers/entertainers may come from many different walks of life whereas our Literary Lunches (also usually held at Hexham Mart) have, as the guest speaker, a new or well established published author who in the main will talk about the characters in their books and what drew them to writing.  I hope this makes it clear and also the idea, like Marj on a Mission etc was to get to different parts of the Federation. In fact we have already made a booking for next year at The Derwent Manor Hotel near Shotley and have a possible one at The Bosk in the north.  We can only hope that these are well supported by the WI members who find it difficult to get to Cresswell House.

I did mention in my last message that Yvonne Foster of Prudhoe WI had filmed for the Amanda Holden programme Inner Circle but it seems she is not alone as Janet Grout of North Gosforth WI has also been filmed but again her lips are sealed as to what happened but I am sure we will find out more when the programme airs and maybe we will have two ladies willing to share their experiences with other WIs.

I have been to several WIs for celebrations and Annual Meetings (with my Adviser hat on) but two that stand out for great news are the South Tyne Group Meeting held in Haltwhistle where I learnt that Haltwhistle’s secretary Janine will be getting married in October, so I hope you Haltwhistle girls are forming the guard of honour. I then went to Pegswood with Bothal where there are currently three generations of the same family and there was to be a gender reveal at the meeting as Amber, the youngest member in this WI family is expecting a baby. Turns out it is a girl so technically I have welcomed the youngest member into Northumberland Federation. We wish both Janine and Amber all good wishes for the future.

Finally John Lewis contacted me about a possible date for an event later this year and hopefully I may have more news on that next month but in the meantime they have sent me details of a 10% voucher which is valid until 24th December. You will have to print it off but details will be sent out to the secretaries of each WI for them to send on to members.

I hope that those of you who are delegates and those who will just be observing individually or going along to a watch party with other members of your WI enjoy this year’s National Annual Meeting.