Friday 9 July 2010

Dipping my toe...

I had been thinking about it for a while, but after a (slightly tipsy) conversation with my (much younger) friend (M), we decided that we would give our local W.I a bit of a whirl. One of my (slightly older) friends (L) plays a big part in her local W.I. which is in the next village. Their W.I. is fairly modern and quite good fun, whilst the one in my village is very typical of what you think the W.I. is (Think the fab tv series "Jam & Jerusalem"). I decided I wanted to attend the one in my village for a couple of reason. A) I can walk to it - I am fed up of having to take the car and B) When my kids were little, I was very involved in my local community, running a toddler group, helping at school and nursery etc, but since the kids have grown, I feel a bit "out of it", so this way I thought I might get back into the swing again.

They only meet one evening each month, and my friend and I were the youngest there (by a fair few years), but all the ladies were very nice to us. I also met up with three ladies that I had worked with thirty years ago, so that was lovely.


I don't think that they are a creative bunch - they seem to have a guest speaker each time . They do seem very into eating though and several meetings seem to have a party theme (Ive been volunteered to make a quiche!).
The lady speaker this week was a lovely lady called Sheila Spencer who left a teaching job to become a potter. She was very amusing, and her pottery was stunning. My photo does not do it justice.
One of the ladies I used to work with could see me struggling with the words when we sang "Jerusalem" and handed me a card with the words on!!! I must admit that I didn't think it would be very well attended and was amazed when they seemed to have around fifty ladies there.
We'll see how we go.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I think I'd enjoy the WI. When we move into something more permanent, I'll definitely look into it further.

That plate is absolutely stunning - I love anything alittle different from the norm. It would look very nice sitting next to a couple of my Poole plates :0)

Jill x

Rowan said...

I've been in the WI since my late 20s, first at Goff's Oak in Hertfordshire(got to be President there!!) and when we came to Sheffield I joined Grindleford WI.Dore had Townswomen's Guild, tried it but not my scene. I'm certainly one of the youngest members at Grindleford but believe me some of the older ladies are incredible. At least two of our committee members are 80 but you'd never guess. One of them completed the second half of Wainwright's Coast to Coast walk earlier this year, she did the first half last summer!

Ma Larkin said...

I keep thinking about it too but haven't yet dipped my toe. Will wait with baited breath to hear your experiences me thinks!

Twiggy said...

That is so funny. I have been toying with the idea of joining the WI for 2 years now. I received a newsletter and info today. I live in a rural area and did contact a local branch last year but was scared off when I asked the average age of members (as I'm 40) and was told, oh we're young at heart !! Should I go for it???
Twiggy x

Twiggy said...

PS I do know most of the words to Jerusalem already :)
Twiggy x

noelle said...

I'm thinking "calendar girls" !!!!!

Deb from WhatsInMyAttic said...

Am I being too forward in asking what is "WI"...I'm an American girl and don't have a clue! I live under a rock over here! lol!

Gilly said...

I'm sure Diane will be along to tell you about the WI, but it stands for "Womens Institute" and has a long and venerable history!

I had to laugh about the eating - I was a speaker at one of our (then) local WI's and I could see them getting fidgety and clattering a bit at the back so I hastily ended my talk, to discover tea, and HUGE cakes at the back all ready for consumption!

I thin k most of them, who were getting quite elderly, went there for the socialising and the cakes. Not much interested in the speaker!

That is a gorgeous plate!

Rosie said...

My Mum used to be a member of the WI in the village we lived in - she got to go to the conference at the Albert Hall one year and a couple of years later was chosen as one of the representatives to go to a garden party at Buckingham Palace - she was thrilled - I still have a photo of her in her outfit - hat, gloves loads of dos and don'ts in her instructions - this would have been in the late 60s or early 70s. We don't have WI round here - I love the thought of a village WI you can walk to from home:)

The Girl said...

Ooooh this is very exciting!! You can give us an inside view into the WI - you have to let us all know how things develop and if you progress from dipping your toe to full on immersion!

lesley said...

I'm interested to see how this goes Diane, my friend & I went swimming after work yesterday...they had an over 50's lane..we thought "blooming cheek we're not old" then after all the kids splashing us, we thought ,"well maybe we'll use it" lol!