Minchinhampton Flower Festival celebrates 100 years of the WI

Guest blog by Germaine Ballinger, member of Minchinhampton WI and Box WI, and GFWI Public Affairs Committee

This autumn our biennial Country Fayre returned to Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. It is a wonderful community affair with a town crier, jester, parade of vintage cars, a children's pageant based on the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and lots more.

The Minchinhampton Flower Festival, held over three days in our beautiful fourteenth century church, is a popular element and this year the Flower Guild chose the WI Centenary as their theme.

The Flower Guild of the church invited five local WIs and another Flower Club to depict an aspect of the WI over the years using flowers and artifacts to portray the scene or message. Each institute decorated an area of the church and the presentation of the flower arrangements were designed to reflect some of our campaigns.

Minchinhampton WI chose the recent 'Saving Our Honey Bees', complete with a hive and beekeeping gear, a honey cake made by our newest member, plus an array of flowers attractive to bees and other pollinators.

Box WI collected many fly-tipping pieces and natural material to illustrate the 1950s 'Keep Britain Tidy' campaign with photographs of members collecting rubbish from our nearby 600 acres of common land.  

A colourful display by Avening WI around the pulpit and in front of the chancel screen showed the WI and 'Dig For Victory', and the work of the WI between 1940 and 1945  in preserving nearly 12 million pounds of fruit which would otherwise have been wasted! 

An evocative display for those of us who have been to Denman was designed by Nailsworth WI. It showed the extensive range of activities and courses we members and our families are able to enjoy at Denman.  

A delightful scene which conjured up images from the TV series 'Call the Midwife', with its upright bicycle with front basket, nurse's  bag of instruments, and cradle was depicted by Brimscombe and Thrupp WI.  It illustrated the 1931 resolution for better medical supervision of pregnant women in rural areas and the 1947 successful campaign to allow rural midwives to use analgesics plus the recent campaign to employ more midwives.

Many other aspects were displayed by the Flower Guild and Nailsworth Flower Club, including representation of the WI anthem Jerusalem in the chancel and behind the altar, the 'WI as a Force for Change: 100 years of Campaigns and the Demand for Equal Pay in 1943', WI Market stalls, WI badges over the years. and floral pictures on the pillars showing other aspects of WI life.

We also had a stand showing the WI today, including pictures of the smiling Queen and members of her family celebrating the centenary with us at the Royal Albert Hall. A visitor from Sheffield while looking at this display was delighted to recognise her daughter on the front of the membership leaflet which shows members of Seven Hills WI dancing with their umbrellas under the spray from fountains!

The result of the wonderful collaboration of the groups across our community was both beautiful and informative.  So many visitors were were amazed at their creativity, but also at how much the WI does and has done over the past century.

Cake Making and Campaigning

Guest blog by Mary Dorrell, Norfolk Federation of Women’s Institutes, PA Chair

On September 17^th the first ever WI meeting in the Houses of Parliament took place. The meeting launched a major new publication reflecting on the WI’s history and its members’ views on some of the UK’s biggest social issues, as part of the “Parliament in the Making” season celebrating the Magna Carta.

A WI meeting needs a cake and I had the privilege of baking Julie Clarke's (North Yorkshire Federation) winning centenary recipe for the occasion.

The whole process set me thinking about the WI's history of Resolutions and Campaigns. You see, when I look at the ingredients assembled, I remember that the WI is synonymous with good food and its preparation. This theme has been a regular theme in resolutions and debates, for example, in 1955 the NFWI passed a resolution that welcomed “the Clean Food Bill now before Parliament. They pledge themselves to maintain a high standard of cleanliness in their own homes and to demand it in public places especially at Women’s Institute gatherings.” And with ingredients coming from UK, EU, Commonwealth and USA, I am reminded that the “Great Food Debate” is truly global and that the WI has long sought International understanding and co-operation, as in 1921when an early resolution declared: “That this meeting urges all Women’s Institutes and County Federations within the National Federation to encourage the study of the principles underlying the League of Nations.”

Not all the ingredients are easy to source in Norfolk and I remember the regional differences and diversity we celebrate within the WI. The pinhead currants: familiar to Lancashire and Yorkshire members had to be researched and sourced online.

When I look at the eggs, I remember our concerns about animal welfare. A resolution submitted from Cambridgeshire Federation to the June 1937 AGM stated: “That this meeting of delegates from WIs in England and Wales approves the action of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in endeavouring to secure international agreement for the protection of animals through the League of Nations, and pledges itself heartily to support its efforts.”

When I look at the butter, I remember “Mission Milk” and the need to “Support British Dairy”. Find out more about the campaign here.

All the ingredients make me remember our COOL campaign for clear country of origin food labelling: “The meeting urges HM government to introduce clear and mandatory country of origin labelling on all meat, poultry and fish products sold in this country.”  Submitted by Bengeo Evening WI, Hertfordshire Federation in June 2010

I look at the candied peel and cherries and I have to decide how finely to chop them up. Is many and smaller always better? I remember the eight Millennium Development Goals we made members aware of through our Women reaching Women initiative.

Later this month, 25^th September to 27^th September a United Nations Summit will launch the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Is this too fine?

Project Everyone, founded by Richard Curtis has the simple but mighty ambition to share the global goals with 7 billion people in 7 days. You may have read about this in Emma Freud's column in the Telegraph.

Is Goal 5, “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, going to be effective? Will past gains in moving women into equality, as well as out of poverty, be allowed to regress or be restored and strengthened?

I remember our 1999 resolution on  Women’s Human Rights “This meeting deplores the fact that women’s human rights continue to be violated worldwide and calls upon the governments of the world to adhere to the commitments made at the Fourth UN Convention on Women 1995, ‘that women’s human rights are an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights’ and to implement policies to this end.”

Now the tin must be prepared and when I look at it I remember that all legislation, just like baking a cake requires a lot of prior investigation, calculations and preparations.

A lot of White Paper(s) are involved and the whole thing is wrapped around with journalism/newspaper.

In the WI we like to put just as much work into preparing our resolutions, and as I finally begin to mix everything together I remember how a resolution is assembled. The individual parts have to be investigated, collated and are ready to be put together. 

During the summer it must be collated and passed at local level. Off to short-listing …. will it rise and be in the short-list, or even make it to the AM for voting?

Where will our campaigning take us next? Will we continue as cake bakers and trouble makers (or as the Guardian had us: “pleasingly bolshie”)? 

Maybe our inspiration will come from Africa and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (President of Liberia): “The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.”

More information about the report can be found here:

http://www.thewi.org.uk/campaigns/news-and-events/current-news-and-events/the-wi-at-100-a-century-of-inspiring-women

"Yarn-storming" by The Heatons WI

Guest blog by Sally Stelfox from The Heatons WI, Cheshire Federation

“YARN-STORMING: the art of enhancing a public place or object with graffiti knitting or crochet (and running away giggling)”

Following the challenge from the NFWI to find novel ways to celebrate the Centenary, The Heatons WI thought long and hard about what they should do.  One of our members suggested we yarn storm a tree in a local park to mark this momentous event.  What was then a very small project grew (just like Topsy) into a project that involved most members of our WI. 

When our President, Angela Britland, spoke about our plans during the Annual Meeting link-up with the Cheshire WIs from the Imperial War Museum, there was a real buzz around the Royal Albert Hall; we then knew we were onto something special and there was added impetus to our efforts.

Known by various terms, yarn storming, yarn bombing, guerrilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that uses colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre.

The project was masterminded by Chris Stables, Craft Co-ordinator of the Heatons WI Committee, and we christened the project “Wise Owls”.  For over six months members knitted, crocheted, felted and stitched squares, chains, small animals and birds (including lots of owls) and flowers.  Volunteers stepped forward to form a sub-committee to oversee the project and our fundraising team began to plan how we could use the event to boost our funds.

The venue for the display was Heaton Moor Park, a small but beautiful park in the Heatons, a leafy suburb of Stockport.  The park is cared for by the Friends of Heaton Moor Park and thanks must go to them, in particular the Knitting Friends, for their help in making this event such a success. The local media was bombarded with details about the event and posters started to appear in local shop windows and community spaces.

As the installation took place, more and more trees, bushes, railings, gateposts and benches in the park were festooned with our work.  Pompoms hung from trees and knitted bees buzzed around tree trunks.  Owls peeked out through branches and new varieties of flowers appeared in the flower beds.  Tennis players were astonished to find their games being watched by a huge owl woven into the court fence.  The centrepiece, a huge blanket wrapped around a tree in the centre of the park, contained over 130 squares.

On Sunday, 12th July we held a friends and family picnic in Heaton Moor Park followed by the official unveiling of the display by local celebrity comedian, Justin Moorhouse. 

We were delighted to be joined by a number of members from local WIs who turned up to admire our efforts.   Proceeds from a craft and produce stall will be for the benefit of our members to thank them for the hard work involved in making this event such a success.

The display has generated very positive feedback from the public.  Many people said how much they had enjoyed our work which was both ingenious and witty and they now realise that there is more to the WI than the perceived image of “jam and Jerusalem”.

Photos by Chris Barnes, Lindsey Loughtman and Sally Stelfox

Duchess of Cornwall joins Llandovery WI

Guest blog by members of Llandovery WI

Women in the small Carmarthenshire town of Llandovery were amazed to receive a letter from the Duchess of Cornwall agreeing to become a member of their local WI as well as an announcement that she would love to join them for a cup of tea the very next week.

‘I couldn’t believe it! Earlier this year we had suggested that our secretary send a letter to the Duchess of Cornwall and we received a response soon after thanking us for the invitation and saying that she had many such invitations and wanted time to consider it. To be honest, we thought that was a very polite ‘no’. We had no idea!’ said Cath Collins, President of Llandovery WI.

Louisa Huxtable-Thomas, who sent the invitation letter, said ' I was amazed when the letter from the Duchess arrived on my doormat saying that she’d be pleased to join us! I've only been the secretary for a few months and I'm one of the younger members.  When I moved to the area, joining the WI really helped me to feel welcome, I love the way that the WI brings us all together, young and old, mothers, doctors, housewives, widows, and teachers. I'm really proud to be a member and I'm in such good company with the Duchess joining us too!'

During a tour of Llandovery’s renovated YMCA building the Duchess spent an hour meeting with community organisations and finished her tour with a cup of tea, freshly made welsh cakes, and in the best traditions of the WI, a Victoria sponge cake. The Duchess enjoyed her cup of tea and had a good chat with nine of the local members about their interest in crafts. The ladies had been for a visit to an Italian Prisoner of War Church the previous evening and shared their enthusiasm for the site and the local residents who gave the tour.

Jeanette Jones, the local vice-president was still thrilled hours after the special visit. ‘She came and sat down next to one of our founder members, Eluned Jones. We had all been nervous to get everything just right. She was so lovely she put us all at ease straight way because she was genuinely interested in our work and our programme of events. It was a real pleasure - of course we’re proud of our town and how we support the community, but most of all we’re a group of friends and we loved chatting and sharing our stories. It was such an honour!'

Llandovery WI meets on the first Monday of every month. More information can be found at http://sites.google.com/site/llandoverywi

NFWI-Wales and NFU Cymru join forces to improve the promotion and labelling of Welsh red meat products

On 19^th July, ahead of the Royal Welsh Show in Llanelwedd, NFWI-Wales and NFU Cymru launched a campaign with the aim of improving the promotion and labelling of Welsh red meat products. 

The decline in the red meat industry over recent years is a concern to both farmers and consumers who rely on the availability of high quality Welsh produce. 

We hope to engage members the length and breadth of Wales in being the eyes and ears of farmers when shopping, both in-store and on-line, and when eating out.  Our main message to members is if you are not happy with what you see then ask the store manager or restaurant owner about what you have seen and how it can be rectified.

In retail outlets Welsh meat should be prominently displayed and clearly labelled to support consumers in purchasing Welsh products.  In eating establishments more should be done to source local meat and brand it as such on menus. Here are some of the questions that members will be asked to consider:

When purchasing beef or lamb products:

·           Does Welsh beef and lamb get a fair share of the shelf space?

·           Is it clearly labelled Welsh? 

·           Is it lost or mixed in amongst imported products?

When eating out:

·           Does the menu contain locally sourced products, particularly red meat – and is the meat branded as Welsh?

·           If you’re unsure of what is being offered on the menu ask where it comes from.

This campaign is an opportunity for members to use their power as consumers and to take practical action which will make an extremely positive contribution to bringing the issue to the public consciousness and encouraging people to really think about where their food comes from and encouraging them to buy meat produced in Wales; the more pressure put on the retailer the more the demand will rise for good local produce.

Further information about the campaign and how members can get involved is available from the following link:

http://www.thewi.org.uk/wi-in-wales/news-and-events/nfwi-wales-and-nfu-cymru-join-forces-to-improve-the-promotion-and-labelling-of-welsh-red-meat-products

‘No Planet B’: WI members speak up about climate change

From Cambridge and Corsham to Ceredigion and Cornwall, on the 17^th June WI members from across England and Wales joined over 9,000 people in Westminster for the biggest ever lobby of Parliament on climate change. With their bunting and banners prominently on display, they each spoke up about how what they love is being threatened…and asked their MP to take action. Here WI members share what was on their mind that day and how their meeting went.

Concern for future generations was a high priority. As Jo (Buckinghamshire Federation) explained: “I'm concerned with climate change as I feel our general apathy means we will lose all the diversity we are so lucky to have. My great grand-children will not think of us with the respect we have for our predecessors if we let this happen.”

Evelyn (Middlesex Federation) was also thinking of her grandchildren and their futures when she spoke to her MP: “I have grandchildren and am thinking of their futures. I can think of those living in poverty now who will face even greater threats from rising sea levels and degradation of land through droughts and floods; I can think of the loss of biodiversity, plants and animals that would go extinct but mostly I think that I need to do my best, to know that my descendants won't have to say – why didn't she do something about climate change and its consequences before it was too late.”

“We managed to make contact with our MP, Gareth Thomas, Harrow West, and arranged to meet with him at Portcullis House. We made our way there and he came out to speak with us, for about half an hour.  It was a good meeting and we were encouraged that he took on board what we were saying and was also making the 'right noises' himself, including what he had achieved when he had been a Minister in Government. We have left it with him that we will email him with several points that were raised during our meeting and he would take the matters further on our behalf, most encouraging!”

Evelyn meeting Gareth Thomas MP (Harrow West)

The loss of nature and biodiversity was also at the forefront of Catherine and Claire’s minds. Catherine, from Buckingham, explained: “Action on Climate Change is important to me because I can see how we are damaging our Planet Earth and we need to take action to help reduce the risk of extinction of wonderful wildlife and respect and live in harmony with nature more.” Claire, who had travelled all the way from west Yorkshire, agreed: “I love gardening and find it very creative mixing shapes and colours to get the effect I see in my mind, as well as then having to take the seasons into account. Gardening and beekeeping take up most of my time and the loss of plants and bees would be tragic for both for our planet and me personally as I might then have to take up housework and cake making!”

Angie (who travelled from Brighton) noted this has been a long-time concern: “Climate change is something which I have been aware of since I was at school in the 1970s. The deterioration of our environment is something we are responsible for now and always. If we don't address the factors affecting climate and the state of our land, rivers, seas and air, it will cause incalculable problems, suffering and conflict.” But it was Jen (from Lewes) who summed up the urgency: “human activity is causing our climate to change in ways that affect poorer nations most, and also affect all nations. If we continue on our present trajectory, we will surely destroy our planet, and, as one of the placards read, we have no Planet B! The time to act is NOW”.

Angie lobbying Caroline Ansell MP (Eastbourne and Willingdon)

2015 is an important year for climate change as we fast approach the 21st United Nations Framework Commission on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (UNFCCC COP) which will be held in Paris this December.  All governments will need to work together to reach an ambitious, fair and legally-binding deal that will cut carbon emissions and limit global warming to 2˚C – something that WI members were quick to point out.

Jane, waiting to meet her MP

“We know already deserts are increasing in size, islands are disappearing, and people are losing their livelihoods. At the moment it is the poorest who suffer most: everybody needs to know what is happening so that we can build huge pressure to stop all use of fossil fuels, enable developing countries to obtain all their energy from renewables, and keep warming to under 2˚C,” said Pippa, who travelled from Cornwall and spent about 45 minutes with her MP, Derek Thomas, talking about all sorts of issues, both local and national.

Pippa talking to Derek Thomas MP (St Ives)

Maggie (Wiltshire Federation) continued: “I do feel that it is important to keep up pressure on the government so that they realise it is essential to get an appropriate global agreement which is fair to all countries. The lobby day must have made quite a lot of MPs realise that they do need to find out more about climate change if they don’t already have that knowledge.”

Maggie was pleased to have met her MP Ed Vaizey: “He did give us an hour and bought us all a cup of tea!  He listened to what everyone said (16 of us) and answered questions where he could.  He seemed impressed that all 16 of his constituents had come to the event – none of them knowing each other beforehand….I enjoyed the day but felt the most important part was talking to my MP, who I had never met before. He promised to arrange another meeting in the constituency in a couple of months’ time to discuss climate change options in more detail – I will be impressed if he does this.”

For Celia (also from Buckingham) it is the lack of mainstream media attention which she finds so frustrating: “My really big concern about climate change is the way that the subject is being consistently side-lined in the media. There seemed to be no reports on the main television news or in the press. There is still a massive barrier to understanding and accepting the need for action on the part of government and general public.”

Celia was really pleased to have joined the lobby queue, especially as initially she did not think her MP would be coming: “I was very pleased that my MP, Steve Baker, who did turn up once he had been tweeted by the 7 constituents who were anxious to talk to him…so at least we did get a chance to say what we thought.”

Celia with Steve Baker MP (Wycombe)

While each WI member had a different reason for why they were speaking up, they were united in their message to their MP:

• Make it clean! We need to be getting all our energy from clean sources.
• Make it fair! Support developing countries hardest hit by climate change.
• Make it work! For the sake of people and the environment, locally, nationally and globally.

And what they all agreed on was the sense of solidarity that the lobby brought. Claire best summed it up: “The most enjoyable part was chatting with the like-minded people we met in Victoria Gardens. It gave me a real boost because for all climate change is now gaining recognition it often feels a little isolating in some groups and conversations when one believes it is the most important thing both nationally and globally.”

For more information about this campaign: http://www.thewi.org.uk/campaigns/current-campaigns-and-initiatives/the-climate-coalition-for-the-love-of

Cervical Cancer screening

This week is Cervical Cancer screening awareness week. 

Screening for various diseases has been one of the medical success stories of the last 50 years, along with vaccination programmes and improvements in drug treatments. But before they can be successful, these various tests, injections and medicines need to be proved effective and safe, and moreover, a political decision must be made to utilise them, and then political will is needed to take their use seriously.

About 3,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK, which amounts to 2% of all cancers diagnosed in women. NHS Choices says that ‘since the screening programme was introduced in the 1980s, over 64 million screenings have taken place in the UK, and the number of cervical cancer cases has decreased by about 7% each year.’[1]

But testing cervical cancer actually began in the 1960s. One of the reasons NHS Choices talks about the ‘1980s’ is because the screening programme for cervical cancer was missing that last element of a successful medical programme for many years: political will to take its use seriously.

In 1964 the members of the WI passed a resolution urging HM Government and regional hospital boards to provide comprehensive facilities for routine smear tests. The NFWI began working to publicise the test amongst its members - members were encouraged to take advantage of screening facilities in their communities if they were available, and notified when the BUPA medical centre’s mobile unit for screening was visiting nearby.[2] At this time many women had never taken this innovative new test and information was needed to help encourage them to take this step for their health. In 1966, the National Cervical Cytology Screening Service began, which allowed the taking of smears as part of normal medical care, every five years. Priority screening was given to those over 35 and the NFWI helped distribute information about the test to members.[3] GPs were paid to carry out smears on women over 35, but were able to refuse to screen younger women who asked for a check.[4]  Women at greatest risk were not necessarily being tested, and the follow up procedures for those who had been tested positive were inefficient.[5]

The WI wanted to find out whether the cervical screening system was actually working: was it working for the women it was designed to serve? The NFWI joined the Women’s National Control Campaign, and together they began the first major survey of women’s experiences of smear testing in 1983, to discover exactly how much women knew and whether the system was working to meet their needs. In January 1987[6] the 9,000 responses were published in conjunction with Women’s National Cancer Control Campaign and the results were shocking. 65% of women had not been asked to have a smear by their doctor and that 23% had not wanted to bother their doctor to ask for one.[7]

The WI launched a campaign for better screening facilities, more public information and an effective recall system.[8] Anne Stamper, chairman of the NFWI Environment and Public Affairs Committee, pledged the WI would help educate its members, but again reiterated political decisions must be made in the interests of women if the screening programme was going to save lives:

  “Decisions on health matter are far too often made without consulting those most affected, in this case, women themselves… We are issuing an Action Sheet which WI members can use to campaign at grassroots level. And we are calling on all women to fight for better provision in their own areas. But these campaigns can only success if the government and district health authorities show a commitment to providing adequate screening facilities.”[9]

Later that year in 1988, the Department of Health launched a computerised call and recall system, and the first external quality assessment schemes for laboratories who were reading the test results. It was a big campaign win for the WI, and considered a watershed moment in cervical cancer screening – it’s the first thing listed on the timeline in the NHS publication ‘celebrating 20 years of screening’. Thanks to the WI and the Women’s National Cancer Control Campaign, cervical cancer screening was made more effective and taken more seriously. 

Today, screening saves saves an estimated 4500 lives each year,[10] and over the last 20 years the incidence of cervical cancer in England has almost halved.[11]

---

[1] Peto, J. et al. The cervical cancer epidemic that screening has prevented in the UK.
Lancet 364, 249-256 (2004). Quoted in NHS Cancer Screening Programmes. ‘Breast and cervical screening: The first 20 years.’
 NHSCSP 2008, http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/nhscsp-20years.pdf[2] ‘Keeping Ourselves Informed’, p.70
[3] ‘Keeping Ourselves Informed’, p70 and Annual Report 1973[4] 1981 memo: Cervical Cancer: background information [pic 150015403 ]
[5] NHS Cancer Screening Programmes. ‘Breast and cervical screening: The first 20 years.’
 NHSCSP 2008, http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/nhscsp-20years.pdf[6] Yip, it takes them that long to publish it (they had trouble analysing all 9000 responses).
[7] LSE Archives, Letter from RCOG to NFWI about the survey findings, photo 144654973[8] Annual Report 1986
[9] LSE Archives. Press release [124629211 photo] of the campaign launch, 13 Jan 1987
[10] Peto, J. et al. The cervical cancer epidemic that screening has prevented in the UK.
Lancet 364, 249-256 (2004). Quoted in NHS Cancer Screening Programmes. ‘Breast and cervical screening: The first 20 years.’
 NHSCSP 2008, http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/nhscsp-20years.pdf[11] http://www.ncin.org.uk/publications/data_briefings/cervical_incidence_and_screening