theWI Adderbury & District WI - WI Meeting and AGM - Thursday, 3rd March 2016

Diane and Jean at our March Meeting

Dear Ladies,

Following on from our WI Meeting and AGM on Thursday, 3rd March 2016, here are the Minutes of both meetings plus the Annual Report.

WI March Meeting – 3 March 2016 7.30 pm

Diane, our president, welcomed 29 members and wished everyone a belated happy New Year, saying how pleased she was to be back. Diane then introduced Jean Geary, WI adviser from OFWI. Jean explained that she was standing in for Stella Oakes who was unable to be present. Seven apologies were recorded in the register.
The minutes of the meeting held on 4 February 2016 were approved and signed as a correct record.
Committee report: The remaining calendars will be offered to Lake House to use as they wish. Diane explained that a small team of committee members will develop the programme for 2016-17 and encouraged members to contribute suggestions for speakers and other activities. Margaret and Chris will attend the Speakers’ selection day on 10 March. Attention was drawn to the details of the Denman appeal on page 6 of the current News and Views and Jean gave examples of the maintenance issues facing the college. Copies of the new Denman course brochure will be available at the April meeting. It has a photo of Chris Shafe on the front cover.
Future activities: Arrangements for the morning of 5 March were outlined. Members taking part in our contribution to the Clean for the Queen initiative should meet at the Coach and Horses at 10.30 for coffee, kindly provided by the landlord Tony Watts. The litter pick should last no longer than two hours. Book group will meet at Sheila Cannon’s house on Wednesday evening March 9. Diane will host the needlecraft group on March 16 and the March committee meeting the following afternoon. Members going to the Cherwell District meeting on 6 April were reminded that the £4 payment needed to be given to Diane by the end of the evening. On 23 March Diane, Margaret and Gill will attend the OFWI Annual Meeting. Members were asked to note 4 June – the date of the village celebration for the Queen’s 90^th birthday when we will have a stall to promote the WI and to raise funds. We will also provide cupcakes for the tea.
Community items: Gill Collett explained the project to produce a handwritten copy of St Mark’s gospel and invited members to contribute to it. Pat Smith encouraged members to support the knitting of hats, scarves and squares for blankets to be given directly to refugees in Syria. Gill also asked everyone to consider volunteering to help at the village lunch club on the first and third Wednesdays of the month.
Sandra Fearne reminded members of the Village Coffee morning held every Friday from 10 to 12 in the library.
Any other business: Diane showed the award given for our winning tree in the Christmas Tree Festival and thanked everyone involved in its success.
Our next meeting will be on Thursday 7 April when we will find out about The Yellow Hat Tribe. Diane encouraged members to bring a guest to this evening.

Signed…………………………………………………………………Date…………………..

Annual General Meeting – 3rd March 2016 – after our WI meeting

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting

held at The Institute, Adderbury on 3 March 2016

Minutes of the AGM held on 5 March 2015 were agreed as a correct record and signed by our President, Diane Danton.
Financial Statement for 2015: Chris Shafe, our Treasurer, presented the Financial Statement for the calendar and financial year 2015. The accounts have been approved by our Independent Financial Examiner, Linda Needle. Chris explained that the carry forward of £881.53 was lower than the previous year as it had been agreed to purchase WI News and Views for all members, the £200 Denman bursary had been paid for in this year and there had been one-off expenditure associated with the Christmas meeting at the Cartwright Arms. As the funds were now below £1000 we would again be eligible to apply for a Parish Council grant and this will be done. For the benefit of newer members Chris explained how the annual subscription is shared between national and county federations and individual WIs. Chris was warmly thanked for her report and the work she had done in managing the finances since taking over as treasurer.
Annual Report for 2015-16: Bernice Mansell presented the Annual Report of our activities. This highlighted the special events of the Centenary year, the topics covered by speakers at our evening meetings and the many and varied visits and activities enjoyed by members at other times, as well as our contributions to the life of the local community.
Election of Committee for 2016-17: Diane encouraged members to consider joining the committee saying that meetings were fun, sociable and rewarding. Following the required resignation of current committee members, Maureen Banks, Diane Danton, Margaret Halstead, Gill Hunt, Bernice Mansell, Caroline Rathbone Chris Shafe and Pat Smith were willing to stand. No other nominations were received and the new committee was formed with these eight members.
Voting for President: Diane invited Jean Geary, WI adviser, to supervise the election of our next President. Jean explained that Stella Oakes was unable to be with us as adviser this evening because of family circumstances and gave Stella’s apologies. Jean then circulated nomination papers for the role of President and read out the resulting names. As Diane Danton was the only one of those nominated who was willing to stand, she was elected on a show of hands. Jean declared Diane our new President and congratulated her.
President’s address: Diane thanked Chris Busby, Trina Coombes and Laura Martin for their work as committee members, making special mention of Trina’s success in developing the programme of speakers over several years. She thanked all the committee members who had supported her in her first year as President and especially for their work during her recent absence.
Any Other Business: Diane thanked Jean for being with us and presented her with a bouquet of flowers.
Date of next meeting: The 2017 AGM will be held on Thursday 2 March.

After the close of business members enjoyed refreshments while the raffle was drawn. Everyone completed a ‘true or false’ quiz about the hospice movement before Pat Smith gave us an excellent talk on the subject with particular reference to Katharine House. Pat answered members’ questions and explained the different ways in which KHH could be supported. The vote of thanks was given by Caroline Rathbone.

Signed…………………………………………………………….. Date…………………………

Annual Report for 2015-16

Adderbury and District Women’s Institute

Annual General Meeting 3 March 2016

Annual Report

In the past year we have enjoyed very varied, interesting and entertaining evenings at our regular meetings, several visits and of course special events to mark the WI’s Centenary year. Some of these we organised ourselves, while members also took part in county and national celebrations. At all our ordinary meetings we have enjoyed refreshments kindly provided by different members each month.

Both the reading and needlecraft groups have continued to meet through the year. The books chosen and discussed have included non-fiction, books in translation and classics as well as contemporary novels. In January some members of the needlecraft group began knitting squares as part of a local project to send blankets direct to refugees in Syria.

Members, friends and some dogs, have enjoyed walks of different lengths, including the Adderbury circle, the bluebells in Ditchley, the Lark Rise walk from Hethe, a walk along the canal from Thrupp, the battlefield walk round Cropredy, a circular walk from Upton House with great views and most recently a walk on the public paths in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. Led by different members, most of these finished with a sociable meal or coffee at a local pub or café.

Special projects have run throughout the year, two involving the local community. A small group led by Pat Smith designed and made a new banner for Adderbury and District WI. A photography competition open to everyone was held to illustrate a WI calendar for 2016 with pictures of Adderbury through the seasons. After a great deal of work by a dedicated team of members and a few hiccups in production, the calendars went on sale in September and copies were sent as Christmas gifts all over the world. The one on-going project, led by our vice-president, is the creation and maintenance of small wildflower areas in the gardens of Katharine House Hospice. Part of the Grow Wild national initiative from Kew, this was started with a donation of seeds and several members have devoted much time and energy to it.
In April ten members represented Adderbury and District at the North Cherwell Group meeting in Bodicote and at our meeting that month Chris Windass spoke to us about the Adderbury Ensemble, its history and the two series of concerts in St Mary’s given each year by the ensemble and other very well-known professional groups.

At our May meeting we discussed and voted on the proposed NFWI resolutions and ‘swished’ scarves, bags and jewellery. At the end of the month, following last November’s talk on the history of Sulgrave Manor, a group visited the house and gardens on a fine summer’s evening. We had a very interesting tour of the house, as part of which we tried the water pump in the kitchen and admired the needlework on the bed furnishings.

June was as usual a busy month. We tried out or revived our skills in rag rug making with Claire Jarvis from Fibreworks. Members again stocked and ran the wrapped jars stall at the school fete. Very poor weather meant this was held indoors but even so the stall raised £80 for the school and church. The weather was not kind for Party in the Park either, but thanks to members’ donations of cakes our stall still manged to make £56.61 for our own funds. The highlight of the month for many of us, and very kindly initiated and hosted by the Stilgoes, was a guided walk around their farm followed by a wonderful supper. Fortunately this time the weather was perfect. The evening was in aid of Frank Wise Special School and raised £160. Our president attended the Annual Meeting of the WI at the Albert Hall, a very moving experience in the Centenary Year and we were also represented at the Buckingham Palace Garden Party.

Our speaker booked for July was unable to come at very short notice but we took the opportunity to view the photos for the calendar and to have longer to socialise over refreshments.

We do not meet in August, but on the banks of the Oxford canal several members enjoyed the Mikron travelling theatre’s play which this year was inspired by the WI’s centenary.

In September several members and our new banner took part in the OFWI centenary celebration at Oxford Cathedral, another moving and memorable event. At September’s meeting we learnt about reflexology from Polly Smith. Our very own, and lively, centenary celebration took the form of a fish and chip supper to which we invited partners, friends, Stella Oakes and members from local WI’s. Many of us dressed up in outfits from the last hundred years, we sang Jerusalem and with musical accompaniment, many songs from the early twentieth century.

October saw the start of work for the Christmas Tree festival and a well-illustrated talk by Dan Allen about the development of women’s organisations before and during the First World War.

Anny Sherman demonstrated examples of cards and decorations made from scrap materials in November and we made some for ourselves.

December was another very full month. The calendars were sold at the Christmas market alongside cakes donated by members. The cakes made a welcome profit of £160 for our funds. This month was the finale of our year of Centenary celebrations. Our Christmas meal was at the Cartwright Arms – no cooking, no washing up, a delicious meal, crackers and a thoroughly enjoyable evening. For the second year we sponsored and decorated a Christmas tree for the Festival at St Mary’s Church. The theme was the WI campaigns over the past one hundred years and all the decorations were in the WI colours. Campaign titles were written on silver baubles and details on labels attached to small boxes. When our tree was voted the overall winner it was a fitting and rewarding end to the Centenary year.

In January Lieutenant Colonel Lesinski gave us another of his very entertaining and informative talks, this time on the structure and duties of the Queen’s Guards.

Our February speaker had a very different theme. Andrew Jenkins, the recycling officer for Cherwell District Council, gave a well-presented and very well received talk on local recycling. A questionnaire was circulated to gather members’ views on the first five years of our WI and to guide the committee in plans for the future. Later in the month 15 of us visited the Viridor Energy Recovery Facility at Ardley. Here waste that cannot be recycled is treated in a state of the art plant that produces enough electricity to power 38,000 homes.

Bernice Mansell

March 2016…….