One of my favourite times of the year. The light nights, the look and smell of Spring and the summer months ahead. And my birthday! The years roll by, but I am grateful for them – of course on the inside I am still 25 but the outside I must admit is older!
A huge thank you to those of who you who celebrated 105 years of the WI in Oxfordshire at our Annual Meeting at Worton Hall. As I said in my opening address, we started life in 1919 at
Barnett House in Broad Steet with a few moves between times and now we are in Tackley – but who knows what the future
will bring. We are lucky to have new members joining and last year was such a boon to open two new WIs, so we consider ourselves fortunate. I hope that your Annual Meetings are going well – I have had the privilege to be a teller for three WI Annual Meetings – and yes, they are still going strong. I am not sure the WI Adviser Team would welcome me on a full-time basis, but I am happy to help! A bit like the Catering Team welcomes me with open arms for the washing up!
As you know in February, I wrote about the Denman Trust Grant Scheme. Back in January, NFWI launched the new Learning Hub which is another of NFWI’s initiatives in the next steps in the educational journey they are offering us all as members. Courses will be delivered in a range of formats, both live and pre-recorded. There will be a variety of free courses as well as
those that will incur a charge. Why not sign up for the newsletter and see what is on offer! There are courses to support federation roles as well as leisure and pleasure courses such as Acrylic Painting, Yoga and Pilates, Nail Art, Baking and History. It is wonderful to see some of the highly regarded Denman tutors as part of the portfolio of hosts as well as several new hosts. https://learninghub.thewi.org.uk I will away now as I hear the garden calling!
Love and best wishes.
Tracy
Tracy Strain
OFWI Chair
01235 765285