News
IS YOUR WI INTERESTED IN SHARING ZOOM MEETINGS AND SPEAKERS WITH OTHER WIs?
If so, please contact County Office to enable a list of those interested to be compiled.
The News page is now split into Important News, current updates during the Covid19 situation, the Monthly Flier, and a 'pick' of WI News.
To skip to the start of each section please click on the appropriate link below :
Important News
Monthly Flier Information
A 'pick' from WI News
*** IMPORTANT NEWS ***
MAY 2021 MEMBERS' MEET AND CHAT SESSIONS ON ZOOM
The WI Advisers have so enjoyed meeting members at these sessions that they have organised two more for May. Please see the Events page for further details. The main purpose is to discuss the way forward now that things are (hopefully) slowly getting back to normal.
DFWI ANNUAL MEETING
THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021 - 10.55AM - 4.15pm
Your WI Secretary should now have the booking forms for Delegate / Non-Delegate tickets, and the coach, fo this year's Annual Meeting at The Lighthouse. Places must be booked for both no later than Friday, 3 September 2021.
Speakers are :
am : Dr Annie Gray, Historian, Author, Broadcaster, Lecturer and Consultant, and her talk is "Victory in the Kitchen".
pm : Amanda Owen, The Yorkshire Shepherdess, who will be talking about her life as a shepherdess on her Ravenseat hill farm and mother of 9 children.
2022 WI DIARIES
The 2022 WI diary will be green and will retain all the features members have come to rely on over the years. The cost will be £5.50 per diary and WIs may order as many as you like providing the form is submitted before the closing date of Wednesday, 1 September 2021.
If you intend purchasing a WI Diary please boost DFWI's discount opportunity by ordering through them. Your WI Secretary should now have the order form, and WI Secretaries need to indicate their choice of collection point on the form, either from County Office after Friday, 15 October 2021, or at The Annual Meeting at The Lighthouse on Thursday, 21 October 2021.
ESTIMATED BUDGET 2021 / 22
Please see below the DFWI Estimated Budget 2021 / 22. This has been sent to all WIs but as there are no meetings at the moment members may not have sight of the document. Please click on the link below to view :
*** IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL WIs ***
WI ANNUAL MEETING INFORMATION
DFWI Advisers have put together some "Guidelines for Virtual Annual Meetings" and this information should now be with all WIs via Secretaries.
Also concerning Annual Meetings, Liz Smith, one of DFWI's Advisers, has written an article for the M&S Section in the April DFWI News magazine.
Both Liz's article and the "Guidelines for Virtual Annual Meetings" can be accessed via the links below. Please take time to read these to better understand what is required of WIs in these strange times in terms of the WI Annual Meeting.
"Guidelines for Virtual Annual Meetings"
WIA's article concerning Annual Meetings
*** GIFT AID SCHEME ***
DFWI News, April edition, contains an interesting section on page 4 by the Federation Treasurer concerning Gift Aid. If you are eligible, please consider signing a gift aid declaration which will incur no cost to you but could benefit your WI and, ultimately, the Federation and National.
*** COUNTY QUIZ ***
LATEST INFORMATION : The deadline for answers to be returned to County Office has been extended until the end of July.
If you have not yet requested the questions and would now like to hold a quiz within your WI (meeting in the garden for now!) please send a cheque for £6.50 payable to DFWI Ltd to County Office. As many teams as you wish may be entered for the one payment.
Details of the final will be arranged later and information will be in Dorset WI News.
ELIZABETH BELL CHALLENGE 2021 / 22
Running from January to December 2021, WIs are invited to compose a record demonstrating how their members have worked together to engage and support one another throughout the year; offering opportunities that have united their members, as well as successfully marketing the WI to increase their membership.
Entry form can be downloaded from the Booking Forms page.
LADY DENMAN CUP COMPETITION 2021
"Let me show you what a woman can do!"
See page 10 of DFWI News for full details and a picture, or look up Artemisia Gentileschi, Self Portrait as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, about 1615-17 at The National Gallery.
Using no more than 500 words, WI members are invited to submit a piece of writing, fact or fiction,in any style (story, poem, etc) based on the above painting. Closing date : Friday, 30 July 2021 for members to submit their entry to Federation Office.
*** NFWI ANNUAL MEETING ***
The NFWI Annual Meeting at the Royal Albert Hall is on 8 June. This year is the Royal Albert Hall's 150th Anniversary so it is a particularly special year for the WI to be part of their calendar of events. This meeting is to be held virtually and details can be found in the May editiion of WI Life.
*** ZOOM EVENTS ***
Your Comms Team and Events Team continue to work hard for you, even during these unprecedented times, and Zoom events continue to be organised. Do take a look at the Events and Zoom Information pages for what's on offer. These events are an ideal opportunity to learn something new; simply sit back and listen, or may just be something you like the sound of. The Events Team will certainly very much welcome your support.
You'll also see any Zoom events advertised in WI News so take a look at that too. The March edition is now available.
*** FEDERATION TREASURER ***
Have you ever considered offering help at County Office? Would you consider helping with County Finances?
Later this year DFWI will be looking to appoint a Federation Treasurer and this can be an extremely interesting and rewarding volunteer role, providing vital support to the Federation and the Institutes.
The Federation employs a Finance Officer who deals with the day to day business and is very supportive and helpful to the Treasurer. There will also be ample support available and a Zoom session will be organised for any interested parties - no obligation whatsoever. It would have been good to do this face to face with a cup of coffee but the current climate almost certainly means this won't be possible.
Please call the office or email the current Treasurer at federationtreasurer@dorsetwi.com if you are interested.
CURRENT MONTHLY FLIER INFORMATION
WI Advisers "Meet & Chat" sessions - The WI Advisers have so enjoyed the Zoom session that another two are
Thursday, 13 May, .7.00pm
Wednesday, 26 May, 2.00pm
The main focus of the above sessions is to look at the way forward.
Buxton Holiday - For those members interested in this please note the deadline to book this is now Friday, 28 May 2021. Please also note that the opera being seen will be The Mikado.
County Quiz 2021 - The deadline for answers to be returned to County Office is extended until the end of July. There's still time to send your cheque in and receive the questions, especially with "things" about to open up a bit more, enabling you to meet.
Check out Flier Number 7 (2021) for further information. This should now be with your WI Secretary.
A 'PICK' FROM THE CURRENT ISSUE OF WI NEWS
but do read the April edition for full details and information
HELP BENEFIT YOUR WI - See page 4 for information concerning GIFT AID. This could benefit your WI and, ultimately, Dorset Federation and National. Every little helps so if you are eligible please consider signing a gift aid declaration.
ANNUAL MEETINGS - There is a very interesting article on page 5 concerning Annual Meetings. Please take time to read it; it can only assist with any plans you may be making for your own meeting.
THE RESOLUTION 2020 / 21 - The adopted resolution has now been announced and is : 'A call to increase awareness of the subtle signs of Ovarian Cancer'. Full details can be read on page 6.
SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO - DFWI CAROL FESTIVALS - Dates for your diary are Friday, 3 December at Wimborne Minster and Monday, 6 December at Sherborne Abbey. Full details on page 7.
FEDERATION TREASURER - If you may be interested in helping out at County level in this role please contact County Office. There will be plenty of support and this is a vital role within the Federation.
*** SAVE THE DATE ***
MONDAY, 5 JULY 2021 - AFTERNOON TEA TIME - NHS, Social Care and Frontline Workers Day
Help celebrate the efforts of NHS, Social Care and Frontline Workers over the last year while we have been in a pandemic. The WI has been asked to design a cake for this celebration and they will share the recipe on MyWI so we can all have a piece during our own Afternoon Teas on July. See more details in https@//mywi.thewi.org.uk/Membership-and-Engagement-Team-Update-Jan-2021.pdf (Page 3).
The above is only a precis of what your WI News contains. Do take a look at the latest issue in full at :
https://dorsetfwi-news.weebly.com/
Full details of any events organised, Zoom or otherwise, can be seen either on the Events page or the Booking Forms page.