Our Chairman’s Message – March 2022

I am writing this on Valentine’s Day and as I started to type I received a telephone call from Moira Bengston. In the middle of that call a huge bouquet of flowers from her husband arrived at her front door. Doesn’t that just cheer you up on a rainy Monday morning and so I hope many of you also have had a lovely St Valentine’s Day.
At the end of January, I received an e mail invitation to an event in Alnwick being put on by the Islamic Diversity Centre of Newcastle. They wanted to reach out to other groups and organisations to help break down barriers and build bridges. Many of you may know that we have tried over the years to engage with the different ethnic groups in the West End of Newcastle but have not been very successful so far. Anyway, I went along and was made very welcome. I talked for quite some time to members there and I can say that the people I spoke to were very enthusiastic about more interaction – so watch this space as they say! They were very aware of our non-sectarian, non- political stance but the ladies were extremely interested in some of the events we have put on over the years and what the WI does.
I had a lovely pattern in henna done on my hand and Nancy has managed to shrink down the Arabic Calligraphy version of Marjorie which is a lovely piece of artwork.
I also went down to North Yorkshire East to a Chairman’s lunch where the speaker was Tanya Arnold, who is a sports reporter on Look North (Leeds), and more importantly for me, is a touchline reporter on SKY for Rugby League. It was a lovely event and so good to chat with members of another Federation also trying to get things up and running after Covid.
By the time you receive this Newsletter, myself and some other Board members will have been along to help Seaton Valley celebrate their tenth birthday as a WI so Happy Birthday to them.
Next month you will receive an invoice for your WI’s share of the delegate expenses for the National Annual Meeting. The amount will be based on the figure of £1.70 per member.
Last week I learned that former Federation Chairman, Hilary Robson, had been very poorly over the Christmas period. She was still getting over a very nasty fall last year and became ill and had to be taken to hospital. She is back at home now and I know that you would all want to join myself and The Board of Trustees in wishing her a very speedy recovery and let’s hope that it’s not too long before we see her at WI events again.
Marj x
PS: Despite the rain it’s delightful to see the bulbs all coming up and breaking into flower, isn’t it?