Long Eaton WI (LEWI) Annual Meeting
Tuesday 7 May 2019
May Hall, Trent College, Long Eaton
LONG EATON WI COMMITTEE REPORT 2019
Tuesday 7 May 2019
May Hall, Trent College, Long Eaton
LONG EATON WI COMMITTEE REPORT 2019
Since our last Annual Meeting in May 2018 we have seen our membership of Full Members increase to 76 (from 75) and Dual Members decrease slightly to 11 (from 15). 6 years since its inception, LEWI is, once again, nearly full and we may have to hold a waiting list. Including May 2018, we have had 649 ladies attend 11 meetings plus an open meeting. We average 59 members at each meeting and 3 visitors.
Our meetings continue to inspire and educate us both from within the group and with various outside speakers; we have shaken our booties Jiving and Morris Dancing, we’ve learnt how to care for our mental health and look after ourselves with homemade beauty products and discovered some complimentary therapies. Our very own Stephanie Burton taught us some Spanish (including a few naughty words) and we’ve helped each other with crafting projects. And we’ve been cool scientists and realised that the Army does march on a full stomach after sampling rations.
As a group we really do embrace various calls for help and donations for local charities. We have continued to make quarterly donations to Long Eaton and Sawley Food Bank; thank you Ann Stanard for organising this and dropping the collections off. We have also collected toiletries for men and women, coats for women and children and over 1480 greetings cards. We have volunteered again at the Community Christmas Lunch and made drawstring bags for Zoe to take to India.
Our members also continue to organise and run a number of different activities for the rest of us. Regular coffee mornings, monthly evening meals, walks, craft workshops, outings and local pub quizzes are well attended and it's good to see our members socialising outside of the meetings. We now have 3 book clubs and a Knit and Knatter group. And some of our ladies had a fun weekend at Tea and Tents. We are very grateful to all the members who put in extra time to enhance LEWI for all of us. If any member has an idea of anything they wish to run or organise, please have a chat with the President or Secretary.
LEWI continues to integrate with our local community. 2018 saw us run another very successful cake stall at the Long Eaton Carnival and made a pledge to reduce single-use plastics. Between us we donated crockery and made enough fabric napkins to last us for several carnivals as well as regular use at our monthly meetings. We seem to have become a bit of an institution at the carnival and it is hoped, with the aid of a volunteer to coordinate it, that we can replicate it this year. We were also proud to, again, lay a wreath at Long Eaton’s Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, another event we hoped to continue to replicate in forthcoming years. Many members also painted Remembrance Rocks for a local project which were then displayed at the event and continue to be seen around our area. Recently we have picked litter from West Park as part of the Great British Spring Clean.
We have also displayed our Christmas tree, complete with decorations, at the Christmas Tree Festival in St Laurence Church. Again, we used the reducing plastics theme by making decorations using non-recyclable materials that we had around the house. This year, we aim to have a complete contrast and be totally plastic and non-biodegradable free.
Our members have supported two Trent Vale Group meetings where we have enjoyed meeting members of other WI’s. We have also provided representation at both the NFWI and DWFI meetings as well as stewarding at the DFWI Autumn meeting at Trent College. An amazing display of ‘Women in Music’ was put together as part of the Centenary Showcase last spring.
As I step down for this year, I would like to thank the committee for their continued support, friendship and unlimited dedication to the WI. Also leaving the committee are Avril Burton (who has been on the committee since the beginning) and Jane Lester. We hope you enjoy a WI meeting without running around.
This Annual Meeting will also see our 3rd President, Jo Bartram, step down after 2 very successful years. With her excellent and all encompassing leadership, team work really has made the dream work and I have no doubt that new President and committee will continue to make our WI as inspiring as ever. After all, we are all Inspiring Women, in every sense.
Cindy Clark
Secretary
Our meetings continue to inspire and educate us both from within the group and with various outside speakers; we have shaken our booties Jiving and Morris Dancing, we’ve learnt how to care for our mental health and look after ourselves with homemade beauty products and discovered some complimentary therapies. Our very own Stephanie Burton taught us some Spanish (including a few naughty words) and we’ve helped each other with crafting projects. And we’ve been cool scientists and realised that the Army does march on a full stomach after sampling rations.
As a group we really do embrace various calls for help and donations for local charities. We have continued to make quarterly donations to Long Eaton and Sawley Food Bank; thank you Ann Stanard for organising this and dropping the collections off. We have also collected toiletries for men and women, coats for women and children and over 1480 greetings cards. We have volunteered again at the Community Christmas Lunch and made drawstring bags for Zoe to take to India.
Our members also continue to organise and run a number of different activities for the rest of us. Regular coffee mornings, monthly evening meals, walks, craft workshops, outings and local pub quizzes are well attended and it's good to see our members socialising outside of the meetings. We now have 3 book clubs and a Knit and Knatter group. And some of our ladies had a fun weekend at Tea and Tents. We are very grateful to all the members who put in extra time to enhance LEWI for all of us. If any member has an idea of anything they wish to run or organise, please have a chat with the President or Secretary.
LEWI continues to integrate with our local community. 2018 saw us run another very successful cake stall at the Long Eaton Carnival and made a pledge to reduce single-use plastics. Between us we donated crockery and made enough fabric napkins to last us for several carnivals as well as regular use at our monthly meetings. We seem to have become a bit of an institution at the carnival and it is hoped, with the aid of a volunteer to coordinate it, that we can replicate it this year. We were also proud to, again, lay a wreath at Long Eaton’s Cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday, another event we hoped to continue to replicate in forthcoming years. Many members also painted Remembrance Rocks for a local project which were then displayed at the event and continue to be seen around our area. Recently we have picked litter from West Park as part of the Great British Spring Clean.
We have also displayed our Christmas tree, complete with decorations, at the Christmas Tree Festival in St Laurence Church. Again, we used the reducing plastics theme by making decorations using non-recyclable materials that we had around the house. This year, we aim to have a complete contrast and be totally plastic and non-biodegradable free.
Our members have supported two Trent Vale Group meetings where we have enjoyed meeting members of other WI’s. We have also provided representation at both the NFWI and DWFI meetings as well as stewarding at the DFWI Autumn meeting at Trent College. An amazing display of ‘Women in Music’ was put together as part of the Centenary Showcase last spring.
As I step down for this year, I would like to thank the committee for their continued support, friendship and unlimited dedication to the WI. Also leaving the committee are Avril Burton (who has been on the committee since the beginning) and Jane Lester. We hope you enjoy a WI meeting without running around.
This Annual Meeting will also see our 3rd President, Jo Bartram, step down after 2 very successful years. With her excellent and all encompassing leadership, team work really has made the dream work and I have no doubt that new President and committee will continue to make our WI as inspiring as ever. After all, we are all Inspiring Women, in every sense.
Cindy Clark
Secretary