On the morning of 15th October, I
made my way up to London from Winchester. I have never visited the Fulham/
Putney area, so prior to my visit I did some research to make the most of my day
trip to the capital, and my day off work! I came across Fulham Palace, home of
the old Bishops of London on the tourism website. So on arriving in London
armed with my camera and a map, I headed towards the Palace through the gardens
which run along the river Thames. It was a beautifully crisp and sunny autumnal
day. I spent a couple of hours enjoying the palace grounds, learning about the
palace’s history and enjoying a lovely lunch at the café there- any excuse to
have a cuppa and a piece of cake!
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| Fulham Palace |
After lunch, I headed over to the NFWI Office at
104 New Kings Road. Upon arrival I was shown to the waiting area, where who
should I find but four ladies from another Hampshire Federation WI! It turned
out that the ladies from Stakes WI meet about 20 minutes away from where the
Whiteley WAGs are based!
Other ladies started to arrive and we were shown
downstairs to the room where the board meetings are held. There was a lovely array of cakes and
biscuits laid out as well as lots of information leaflets on resolutions and
various sub committees. I then found out that the ladies I was sat next to were
from a WI twinned with a Hampshire WI, who are based 5 minutes down the road
from the Whiteley WAGs and who we have dual members with! The WI world is a
small one!
Once everyone had settled, we were welcomed by
Janice Langley- NFWI Chair, along with Joy
Thompson, Chair of the NFWI Membership Committee, her
side kick for the day, and they explained about the work that is undertaken at
WI HQ. After the introduction, all the ladies got an opportunity to have a
photo taken with Janice and Joy, which was put on a mock cover of a WI Life
magazine. Being by myself I asked the ladies from Stakes WI if I could join
them and make a Hampshire federation photo; luckily they were happy to have me
join them!
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| Outside the door of 104... |
After the introduction, several members of staff
from the various departments gave an overview of the work that they and their
teams carry out. Most of the teams are made up of 3-6 people and they have a
great deal of work to do. In total there are about 90 members of staff over 3
sites that work for the NFWI, WI Enterprises Ltd and Denman College. The other
surprising factor was the diversity of work that is carried out at 104 New
Kings Road; everything from the website, Facebook page, to finance, HR,
advertising, the magazine and the design of the centenary goods and logos. This
is certainly a mammoth task for such a small (wo)man force!
The group was then split into two for the grand
tour of the office; the first group were marched up four flights of stairs to
the top floor and the second were taken to the Resources department on the
ground floor (fortunately I was in the 2nd group). On the tour we visited all the various
departments and were given the chance to speak to the staff and ask questions.
We were also given a sneak preview of the Christmas edition of WI life, which
looks fantastic! One other notable thing about the tour was the amount of tea
we saw…. There are cupboards full of it!
It doesn't matter where in the WI you are; tea is an integral part of
the WI!
The whole day was thoroughly enjoyable, and it
was an eye opening opportunity to see behind the scenes. In our individual WIs
it is easy to forget about the amount of work it takes to keep this impressive organisation
running. Simple things such as ensuring your MCS records are up to date so
every member gets their magazine will save the team there from having to
process the hundreds of magazines which are returned each month. If you have an
exciting event coming up, let the magazine team know in good time so they can
arrange to send a photographer and cover the event - they are always looking
for stories. Or if you have any ideas for guest speakers at events or a
resolution suggestion- send it in!
The other outcome from the day for me was a new
friendship with the Stakes WI ladies. As a relatively young WI (we turn 4 in
November 2014), building relationships and learning from other WIs is
important, and hopefully at our birthday party this year we will have two
visitors from Stakes WI. I have also learnt that whatever WI event I attend
there will always be a smiley and friendly face, so you needn't worry about
going by yourself… the WI really is what you make of it. There are so many
opportunities and events there really is something for everyone.
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