We have the Power!

The Women's Institute has a special kind of power. You campaign for the things you believe in and the WI is renowned for taking on tricky issues. Much of this reputation stems from the WI's resolutions process and the innovative campaigns that evolve from it.

Through the resolutions process, every WI member has a unique opportunity to turn a concern into a national campaign every year, backed by the weight of the whole of the WI movement. The resolutions process is democratic, educational, and member- led.

And so it came to pass that on a beautiful, sunny May evening, after a day of hard grafting in our gardens, followed by the odd game of tennis, a bit of a swim, the odd cataract operation and a relaxing glass of wine, over forty five of our members turned up for one of the most important meetings of the year- yes, our beloved President Lin Nicholas (see top photo) was going to give a talk on SSAFA! Oh, and also we were going to debate on this year's WI Resolutions. Our combined brain power can be lethal in debate!

The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off, and it's true to say that the last few weeks had not been the greatest for us ladies as we have had to face the fact that we may be getting older as all the celebrities we once fancied as a teenager have started dropping dead!

I've also noticed that at our stage of life it's harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary as in our book ageing is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength and we're not getting older, just marinating, preferably in red wine, but we're not fussy!

We ladies know that this helps us to come up with superior ideas, one of the latest is to propose we add a new day to the week and call it 'Someday!' Just think of all the stuff that would happen on that day!

Back to the meeting. Daphne Mounteney turned up, having raided her greenhouse, providing a variety of leafy seedlings- don't ask, some were suspicious looking but what do I know? (Please click on photo to see correct format)

Daphne does a sterling job as she raises funds for our WI, not only by growing plants, but by selling other bits and bobs. It all counts and we all really appreciate her endeavours.

June Perry, our esteemed pianist, was absent (with permission) and so it was that Margaret Phillips foolishly offered to play 'Jerusalem' for us! Margaret is a newish member and hasn't realised that once you volunteer to do anything in the WI, you are classified as 'expert' and will be called upon again- she'll learn!

Once again the microphone was thrust aside with disdain, just avoiding the beautiful table flower arrangement, courtesy of Ann Pearce, as it appeared to be failing again, and our President, Lin Nicholas, commenced the evening's entertainment by signing the minutes before we had agreed them! An easy mistake Lin, we all like to think we're ahead of the game! Life is too short to be serious all the time so if you can't laugh at yourself, the rest of us will!

First on the agenda was the debate on one of the two resolutions that the WI will be voting on at their AGM: 'The WI calls on all supermarkets to sign up to a voluntary agreement to avoid food waste, thereby passing surplus food on to charities thus helping to address the issue of food poverty in the UK.'

We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels and free thinkers. It's overrun with sheep and conformists. It's no good saying 'Somebody should do something about that,' we all are 'somebody.'

First up to debate was a highly esteemed WI member, now handed the heavy duty of standing in front of some very astute ladies to support the motion, which she did with great aplomb, supporting her arguments with some astounding facts and figures on food wastage and food poverty.

The debate against the motion concentrated more on the wording of this resolution, giving supporting evidence to the fact that 'a voluntary agreement' was not making a strong enough case, in our opinion- we don't do wishy washy- we are the WI after all and there is strength in numbers and I'm sure I read somewhere that women are scientifically proven to be right even when they're wrong, but in this case we knew we were right!

After lengthy debating, changing the wording from 'Voluntary,' to ' Mandatory' gained the full support of our members and Head Office will be getting a well constructed email from Doreen Hubbard, our secretary, requesting a change of the wording in this resolution- you don't mess with Audlem WI!

Then came a bit of light relief, after the cut and thrust of the previous debate, and Lin Nicholas stood up to talk about 'SSAFA.'

I must confess, that I had heard of SSAFA, but had no idea what it was or what it does, however Lin enlightened us all explaining that it was an Armed Forces charity, formerly known as Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association that provides lifelong support to serving men and women and veterans from the British Armed Forces and their families or dependents.

Lin is a volunteer for SSAFA and she helps in work ranging from practical and emotional help, such as visiting veterans who need assistance or offering a listening ear to families during operational deployments or times of crisis.

It must be hard to adapt to a mundane life after retiring from the adrenaline factory known as the military, although you can never completely retire because there are always communities and neighbourhoods to guard and patrol! Thank goodness for 'Neighbourhood Watch!

Lin recounted a few amusing stories with informative contents, which showed us the breadth of responsibility that SSAFA cover.

One was about 'Big Archie,' a road worker, who had done National Service and suffered from varicose veins. One day he knocked his leg and the vein burst scattering blood all over his carpet. He was just managing to live on the state pension and because he had once been in the forces SSAFA arranged for him to have his carpet replaced.

Another was about a single mother who had been in the Royal Observation Corps, and had not received any maintenance for three months and was unable to pay her winter fuel bills, causing her to be fearful of being cut off.

SSAFA approached the RAF Benevolent fund who paid the bills for her and advised her on restructuring her finances, so that hopefully she would never be in the same situation again.

The help that SSAFA give is not just financial, but educational and informative, and even if you only ever worked for the military for one day, you would be entitled to their help!

Pat Smith gave the vote of thanks to Lin for an enlightening talk, and we all agreed that she should be on the speakers circuit as she had that unique ability to amuse whilst communicating on such a worthwhile and important subject.

This month's competition was 'A Forces Memento,' and an amazing array of memorabilia was on display. The winner was Jess Trudgill, second was Helen Dunlop and third Joyce Clydesdale.

I failed yet again in my constant endeavours to get that end of year silver cup, however I console myself with the thought that I won't have to clean it.

Beautiful birthday flowers- thank you once again Pat Smith- were presented to our May birthday ladies, and Lin thanked everyone for coming. Several of us took the short cut through The Lord Combemere on our way home. We had been debating after all!

FOOTNOTE: Our diligent secretary Doreen Hubbard has contacted Public Affairs at The National Federation of Women's Institute and our amendment to the Resolution has been forwarded to them and will be presented to the Board of Trustees next week.

It is up to them to decide if it meets the criteria for an amendment. 'We have the Power.'

I shall be interested to see the reasoning should we fail. We may have to make placards and set up tents outside their offices, Glamping of course!

In my experience there's a great power in words if you don't hitch too many of them together and if all else fails let's keep smiling, whilst we still have teeth!

For more information on SSAFA go to https://www.ssafa.org.uk.

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