THE NFWI VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING 2021

A warm welcome from Lynne Stubbings (chair NFWI) opened this historic day for the NFWI as it was the first time, they were holding a hybrid Annual Meeting which was being broadcast live to members throughout England, Wales, and the Islands.
This meeting took place in the Royal Society of Arts building in London, and not in the historic Royal Albert Hall which is celebrating its 150-year anniversary this year.
The majority of the NFWI Trustees were present and all speakers were able to individually attend in the specially set out room.
The traditional singing of ‘JERUSALEM’ was replaced with a musical recording and accompanied with a montage of photographs showing both the Queen and many happy members taken at previous Annual Meetings; This might have brought back memories and tears to a lot of eyes.
The main business part of the meeting started with tellers and returning officers being appointed to agree upon the adoption of standing orders.
The polling from delegates was done very smoothly on-line with the motion being carried.
The Federations of Devon, the Isle of Ely and West Kent had become charitable incorporated organisations.

Address from the Chair. Lynne Stubbings who has been NFWI Chair for 4 years started her final address to members.
She started by reiterating that this was a historic day in the life of the WI. The majority of NFWI Staff and Trustees had been working from home for the previous 15 months, so to meet up for this meeting was special. She said that her heart went out to all members who had been affected by the pandemic. With necessity being the mother of invention, she had been bowled over by the initiative of members.

It was the WI at its best showing real community spirit, friendship, and kindness. Lynne paid tribute to the Facebook sites of the Unofficial WI (12.6K members) and the WI Wanderers (8.1K members) who had been busier than ever this year, providing support as well as helping to alleviate loneliness for many.
Last summer the WI launched a digital monthly newsletter which shared WI news and updates that matter to women and their communities. She praised WIs highly for their inventive ways of keeping together meetings in a bag, sewing scrubs for NHS staff, knitting items such as hearts to bring comfort, and delivering food parcels. The list was endless.

Suddenly all broadcasting stopped, and due to a nationwide technical hitch, the live streaming did not continue. Fortunately, a backup plan using you-tube was put into action, part of Lynne’s address was missed, normal service resumed.

The closing of Denman College had not been a decision made lightly. Trustees had agonised over the decision, and like so many members they were saddened by its closure and the redundancies of its staff.
The setting up of the online Denman at home had been well supported.
Looking to the future members will be consulted about the educational aspects of the WI.
Praise was also given to the WI Life team, with the magazine reflecting the best of the WI and its organisation.
Lynne concluded by thanking all the staff and NFWI Board of Trustees for getting them through this 106th year of the WI.

Welcome to the first Guest Speaker – HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO

HRH Sophie The Countess of Wessex supports and represents The Queen at many events and ceremonial occasions. She is patron of over 70 charities supporting fully gender equality and undertakes visits to hundreds of organisations to highlight and advance their work. She is an active member of Bagshott WI in the Surrey Federation and carries out regular shifts with St John Ambulance as a Care Volunteer at a vaccination centre in London.
Recalling the infamous ‘cutting of the cake’ by Her Majesty the Queen at the 100th year NFWI Annual Meeting, The Countess started her talk. She focussed with fondness upon her mother, an only child who lost both parents early on in life. She had to become independent and work hard to survive until she met and married Sophie’s father, who also died at a young age. To her family and friendship were so important, and Sophie recalled her mother’s cooking disasters. Her mother was not in the WI but got herself involved in many community projects, juggling events and her life. The role of many women in society is intense. They are carers, cooks, childminders, breadwinners, finding it hard to get support. This has made women braver and stronger to overcome conflict. She urged women to be proud of themselves for all the resilience, resourcefulness, and reliability they show giving a positive effect to society.

The Vote of thanks was given by Jeryl Stone (Vice-Chair and Chair of WI Enterprises)

Presentation of Prizes
The Lady Denman cup 2019. This was awarded to Shirley Routley a member of the Somerset Federation. Shirley had written a 500-word essay inspired by science and discovery.
The Lady Denman Cup for 2020. This was awarded to Christine Greaves, a member of the Shropshire Federation for her essay about a ‘conversation heard on a bus’. This was in support of the campaign to ‘Get on Board for a better bus service’.
Finally, the Huxley Cup with the topic ‘Anyone for Tennis’ was awarded to Sue Goldings a member of the East Sussex Federation.
Well done to all entrants.

Hon Treasurer’s Statement
Julia Roberts, The NFWI Honorary Treasurer presented the financial statement for the year ending September 2020.
Finance within NFWI is managed in three separated area.
NFWI Membership, The Denman Trust and WI Enterprises

When all these areas are joined together (consolidated) it was found that
Total income was £4.87m a decrease of 29.85% on 2019.
Net Expenditure was £1,54m a decrease of 9.97% on 2019.
Total funds at the year end were £8.92million (£10.46m in 2019)

Julia emphasised that the WI which holds reserves of approximately £4.2m was necessary to weather any storm, although there were plans to reduce these reserves so that membership subscriptions were kept to the lowest possible increase, providing good value for money to members, and changes to the subscription collection date.

Full details can be found on www.thewi.org.uk under the section, ‘reports and documents’.

Welcome to the second Guest Speaker – Dame Cressida Dick DBE QPM
It was back in 1983 that Dame Cressida joined the Met as a constable now having served over 35 years of Public Service, with leadership roles in the Metropolitan police, the Foreign and Commonwealth office and the Thames Valley police. In April 2017 she was appointed as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police service, the first woman to hold this post.
Cressida recalled that approximately 100 years ago not long after the WI started the police force had its first women in their ranks. Both organisations would have looked hugely different then compared with modern times. The Met currently has only 35% women officers with recruitment on going.
She asked the question “What are the Met doing to keep women and girls safe”? Referring to both street safety and domestic abuse issues. Answering her own question, she considered that the UK has the best police service in the world and recruits initially join the police force to help people. They must be resilient and able to face all sorts of challenges.
Her quote of “the police are the public, and the public are the police” is so important. At citizens have a role in assisting the authorities and the police.

A current initiative is for the police to increase their visibility in public places is being pursued, as is a trial with a ‘walk and talk’ scheme where women officers join up with local women to walk the beat and see through the eyes of locals where improvements of safety need to be addressed.
Too many people (both men and women) suffer harm or abuse at home, where they should feel safe.
The Met currently gets 350 calls a day of which all are investigated.
They ask the community to be vigilant, report any areas of concern so helping to break the cycle of abuse, by spotting signs as well as supporting and talking to each other. Many problems are society based, not totally police issues.
The WI can give women courage to empower, encompass issues and encourage the reporting of concerns.
It is simply teamwork!

The Vote of thanks was given by Ann Jones (Vice-Chair and Chair of Public Affairs)
Ann referred to two WI resolutions. In1922 to reinstate women in the Met and in 1924, to secure an increase in the number of Women Police throughout the country.

LUNCH BREAK

Introduction of the NFWI BOARD for 2021-2023
The new NFWI BOARD was announced by Melissa Green (General Secretary)
She thanked all the NFWI Staff team and the previous board, saying that she would not have wished the previous year on anybody. They did their best for all members, to keep the WI moving ahead with ambition.
Special thanks went to retiring Lynne Stubbings for the 4 years she had served as Chair of the NFWI, all part of her 11 years on the NFWI Board of Trustees.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS RESOLUTION
A call to increase the awareness of the subtle signs of ovarian cancer.
This resolution was proposed by Cathy Heathcote of the Kitchen Dances WI in the Hampshire Federation.
Cathy spoke with passion about her daughter-in-law who had helped to set up the ‘I Will Survive’ Campaign to help raise awareness of this often-hidden cancer. It is currently the leading cause of cancer death amongst women, and the 6th most common cancer. Currently only 43% of women survive after its detection whereas it could be up to 90% with early detection.
It was seconded by Ruby Adler, the Sottonettes WI in the Hampshire Federation.

Speaking for the resolution was expert, Mr John Butler, a London based (Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust) Consultant, a Gynaecological and Oncology Surgeon, talked through many aspects of the detection of ovarian cancer.
He emphasised that early detection was vital to ensure a recovery, but the symptoms were vague and often not regarded as in need of urgent checking out. There had even been a trial of 200,000 women regarding setting up a national screening project, but even this was inconclusive.
He considered why the UK has a lower detection rate than many other countries. He described the situation as embarrassed women not wanting to waste the time of their GPs. These simple symptoms could also be an indication of other cancers not just ovarian cancer, which in turn might be diagnosed in its early stages.
Symptoms to look out for include feeling constantly bloated, a swollen tummy, discomfort in the pelvic area, feeling full quickly when eating.
A speaker against the resolution could not be found, so Toto James (from the NFWI Board of Trustees) had collated some facts about on-going work by other organisations. She emphasised that these were not her personal views, but it was fair to have a balanced argument to allow for an unbiased vote.
There are some specialist National Charities already dealing with this issue. Awareness has also been raised by Ovarian Cancer month being focussed on in March each Year.

The response/conclusion from proposer Cathy Heathcote, reiterated that a vote for the resolution would reach out and help many women, ensure GPs keep the thoughts of Cervical Cancer Symptoms in their minds and early diagnosis can save lives.

NOTE: All votes from individual WIs need to be collected by their link delegate, who will then use the link they received from NFWI prior to the meeting to register the votes. The votes must reach NFWI by 2pm 9th July 2021.

Welcome to the third Guest Speaker – Rt Hon Baroness Brenda Hale of Richmond DBE
Brenda Hale retired as President of the supreme Court of the United Kingdom (the UKs most senior judge) in January 2020. The only woman ‘Law-Lord’ to date.
She spoke to us about her childhood, upbringing, and career. Born in a village in North Yorkshire, Brenda was the middle sister of three sisters, her father was the local Headmaster, and her mother ran the Mothers Union and was also a member of the village WI. The early death of her father caused changes in the family, as to pay the bills, her mother who had before marriage trained as a teacher went back to work. This stabilised the family who might have been separated for economic reasons. This fact made Brenda realise that getting an education followed by a profession was important for all girls.
She claimed that her future had been ruled by her childhood experiences. When planning to go to university, her teacher said she ‘wasn’t clever enough to study history’, but yes law was probably OK.
Studying at Cambridge she was one of only 6 women studying Law, in a university biased towards men.
It was interesting that she did regard herself as a feminist, describing this role as one who believes in equality, yet has the experience of leading a woman’s life, which is different to how men lead their lives.
The experience of leading a woman’s life can make a huge difference and she talked through various cases relating to women. In one case a male judge regarded a mastectomy bra as ‘an article of clothing’. Her view was that no woman would spend money on such an item, unless they had to! Brenda won her case.
The judiciary needs to be diverse, as the law must serve every part of society to give confidence that all will get a fair hearing. Justice, fairness, and equality. Every human has the right for equal respect.
It is essential for society to encourage all young women and any member of a diversity group that they are valued, and all (if they choose) can reach the top.

The Vote of thanks was given by Mair Stephens (Chair of the Federation of Wales)

Chair’s Remarks
In her conclusion to the meeting Lynne Stubbings described her time on the NFWI Board of Trustees, as god and bad, fun and laughter, and a few tears. She had always been welcomed with smiles, friendliness, and lots of lovely food.
She thanked all members and her staff who had kept her spirits high as well as keeping her ‘on the straight and narrow’.
Special thanks were given to Melissa Green (General Secretary) and to all Trustees leaving the Board.
Julia Roberts (treasurer) was leaving after 10 years with 7 of those being treasurer.

Into the future:
Lynne continued by saying that last week was volunteer’s week. Volunteers are at the heart of many Community WIs. Thankyou to all Thanks go to all Presidents, Secretaries, Treasurers and Committee members for all they have done to keep their WIs going.
This year NFWI trained 16 new Advisers, but many more are needed. Please if you are interested step forward. For Federation Trustees this also has been a challenging year. It is important that Federation Boards do step forward to make the Federations stronger.

A 5-year strategic vision has been launched enabling the WI to go from strength to strength when life does get back to normal.
So far this year 8 Virtual WIs have been formed, Flexible Membership fees were introduced as was a detailed Equality and Diversity Policy is available for all to consult.
THE ANTHEMS
The meeting concluded with the music of Land of my Fathers (Hen Whad Fy Nhadau), followed by the national Anthem of God Save the Queen.

THE NEXT NFWI NATION MEETING
This is booked for Saturday 11th June 2022 in Liverpool.

Patricia Sharp (Adviser and Editor of Cheshire News)
9th June 2021

Photography from NFWI Facebook by Anne-Marie Bickerton

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FOR INFORMATION:

Congratulations to the new Board of Trustees at NFWI and a big thank you to those who have stepped down.
Here is the new Board: Note the new NFWI Chair is still to be announced.

Catriona Adams – Lincolnshire North
Nicky Amos – Somerset
Tracy Baker – Hampshire
Pamela Beedan – Isle of Man
Chrissie Booth – Derbyshire
Helen Carter – Hampshire
Hilary Haworth – Buckinghamshire
Ann Jones – Ceredigion
Sally Kingman – Cambridge
Paula Pierce – Shropshire
Jeryl Stone – Warwickshire
Eirian Roberts – Clwyd Denbigh
Yvonne Price – West Sussex

Stepping down:
Lynne Stubbings – Warwickshire
Julia Roberts – Worcestershire
Mary Clarke – Gwent
Maureen Hancox – West Yorkshire
Toto James – Surrey