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 ***
*** A HEARTFELT PLEA FROM YOUR FEDERATION ***
Dorset Federation is in need of a member or WI to take over as Federation Treasurer from the current Federation Treasurer during October. If a Treasurer cannot be found DFWI will be unable to function.
The current Treasurer will be staying on as Assistant Treasurer and the Federation has an experienced Finance Manager who deals with the day to day finances to there is a lot of support available.
Any member or WI interested is encouraged to contact the office on 01305 266366, or federationtreasurer@dorsetwi.org, or federationchairman@dorsetwi.org.
YOU'RE NOT TO LATE!
BOOK YOUR TICKETS FOR THE DFWI ANNUAL MEETING
THURSDAY, 21 OCTOBER 2021 - 10.55AM - 4.15pm
THE LIGHTHOUSE, POOLE
Please contact the office during opening hours to book. Also, for full details the booking forms for both tickets for the event, and booking for the coach pick ups are available on the Booking Forms page.
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.
Coaches will be available for WI members leaving from Bridport, Weymouth and Dorchester (Coach Fare will be £12.00 pp). There will also be a Parade of WI Banners during the meeting, so for any WIs who do not have a banner you have time to make one; it’s a wonderful visual link to each WI.
MESSAGE TO ALL MCS REPS
Would all MCS reps please update their records. It is important that members' details are removed if they have no re-joined or they will continue to receive copies of WI Life.
Thank you for your help with this.
WI HANDBOOK
There is a text only version of the WI handbook available for anybody thinking of downloading it. Please follow this link which will take you directly to the correct page where you will find the downloadable Word version :
https://mywi.thewi.org.uk/running-your-wi/wi-handbook
*** DORSET WI NEWS ***
The September issue of Dorset WI News will be mailed to all WIs at the end of August. The digital copy will also be available. The remaining issues for 2021 will still only be available in digital format.
An order form will be sent out for WIs to enable them to order the 2022 Dorset WI News, either in printed format or digital copies per member. DFWI will need to know the numbers of the printed copies for each issue in order to book them through the printers. Please note the January 2022 issue will be posted out in December, ready for January meetings.
*** YOUR FEDERATION NEEDS YOU ***
Dorset Federation is looking for a member to join the Board of Trustees as Federation Treasurer. If you are considering this role the following information may help you to take the first steps. The Treasurer, as a member of the Board of Trustees, will be required to report on the financial situation of the Federation at the monthly board meetings. An Assistant Treasurer will be appointed so there will always be support available. It can be a challenging role but very rewarding. The employed Financial Officer deals with the daily finances and is very knowledgeable and supportive. The Treasurer will authorise all payments, with online banking this is straightforward. The annual budget, which has to be adopted by members of each institute, will be prepared with the help of the Board and Chairs of subcommittees. It has been encouraging that a number of members and institutes have taken time to examine and question the budget for 2021/22. This would be a wonderful opportunity to get to know how the County runs, not just financially but to experience all aspects of the Federation. As soon as restrictions allow we will have a open sessions in the office so that interested members will have the opportunity to see exactly what is involved and ask questions.
*** COUNTY QUIZ ***
Finally a date for our Quiz Final - Friday, 8 October at Moreton Hall 6.30pm for 7.00pm start.
DFWI CAROL FESTIVALS 2021
CHOIR for Carol Festivals
Would you like to join the choir to sign at Wimborne Minster (Friday, 3 December) or Sherborne Abbey (Monday, 6 December), or both? Full details from Federation Secretary email: federationsecretary@dorsetwi.org.
A DATE FOR YOUR DIARY FOR 2022!
The NFWI Annual Meeting for 2022 will be held on Saturday, 11 June in Liverpool.
Catch up with the NFWI 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting which is now available on WI YouTube.
*** EVENTS COMMITTEE NEW MEMBERS WANTED ***
Would you like to help plan the Events for the WI members in Dorset?
As we hopefully come out of lockdown, the Events team are planning future Events for 2021/22 and are looking for new members to join the enthusiastic Events Committee. This is a friendly bunch of members who enjoy planning a variety of Events for the county members. If you are interested you are welcome to come as an observer to our monthly meeting which at the moment is held on Zoom. Please email Diane, Federation Secretary at federationsecretary@dorsetwi.org. We look forward to seeing you.
Margaret Bunch, Events Chairman
DFWI SKITTLES COMPETITION
If your WI is interested please email Diane at County House : federationsecretary@dorsetwi.org. If there are enough WIs interested it is hoped to restart a League in the Autumn/Winter 2021.
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.
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.
*** 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.
CURRENT MONTHLY FLIER INFORMATION
Dorset WI News - Please see the section in the News section above.
NFWI information :
WI Day Celebrations - Amongst other things the Team have organised a variety of different activities to celebrate the week, including Cocktail Recipes, WI Birthday Cake Recipe, Afternoon Tea Craft projects, Paint along with The Quirky Bird.
WI members are being asked to share their recipes for Afternoon Tea treats. These will be amalgamaged and made in to a virtual album that will be made available to all members. This could be a tasty cake, summer drink, quirky twist on scones, unusual but delicious sandwich ideas, or even adding extras like a Picnic Egg recipe or chilli jam sausage rolls. Please send recipes and an image of the finished item, along with your name, WI and Federation to e.harker@nfwi-unit.org.uk by 2 August 2021.
Check out Flier Number 12 (2021) for further information. This should now be with your WI Secretary.
WI NEWS
Don't forget to view the current edition of WI News via the following link.
https://dorsetfwi-news.weebly.com/
You will find so much important information in WI News, the magazine produced to keep all Dorset Federation members up to date on news, events, and much more.
Full details of any events organised, Zoom or otherwise, can be seen either on the Events page or the Booking Forms page.