Here we are already half way through the year with delegates primed and ready to vote at The Annual Meeting. I do hope that for any of you acting as delegates for the first time, you enjoy the experience. I can certainly remember the first one I attended which was at the NEC in Birmingham and the sound of so many women singing Jerusalem was indeed awe inspiring (I can even remember what I was wearing). If you are attending a Watch Party do have a good time and take the time to chat with each other about your experience of being a delegate and pass your thoughts on to the WIs that you have represented as it will hopefully act as encouragement for them to volunteer at a future Annual Meeting. Next year will be an In person one in Hull and we have already booked the coach for our delegates.
On the subject of Resolutions I hope that you have passed on your vote to your delegate and also that you have given them discretion. I and several of our delegates attended the webinar last month and the speaker on the resolution for public toilets was Managing Director of the British Toilet’s Association, Raymond Martin. To start with I didn’t even know we had a British Toilet’s Association but what a man, passionate about his job. He has recently been on various TV news shows and the webinar is available on MY WI where you can hear him talk along with the speaker (Katherine Bricknell from Kings College London) about the resolution on homeless vulnerable women. They were both excellent speakers.
On a different topic giving cause for concern is the number of events we have had to cancel There have been at least five cancellations in the past few months and one or two have been borderline as to whether or not they would go ahead. We (like individual WIs) have to run events at a profit in order to maintain Cresswell House and fulfil our obligations to our members. We have tried events in different areas and still had to cancel them due to lack of support. Sometimes we have to pay a deposit, cancellations can have a monetary effect. An early closing date for applications allows us to retrieve deposits without cost if the event is cancelled. It is therefore important that you let us know as soon as possible if you wish to attend in order that we can be sure the event will go ahead.
We are now hopefully coming into the Summer season of holidays and WI trips so I hope that whatever you are doing or wherever you are going you all have a lovely time.
Marj x
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