My intention when I became Federation Chair back in October 2021 was to write a semi-regular blog post to let you all know what I do and how I represent you all. But life has somehow got in the way, and I haven’t done it in ages. This week was a very interesting one, though, so I thought I’d give you a rundown of what’s been going on.
On Monday, I was at Chy Noweth, helping to train our new Receptionist/Admin Assistant Sophie. If you haven’t yet spoken to her on the phone or met her in person, no doubt you will soon. She is absolutely lovely and is a fantastic addition to our CFWI family. Sophie will be working on Mondays and Wednesdays and she’s the person on the end of the email when you send anything to reception@cornwallwi.org.uk. Make sure you say hello and introduce yourself!
On Tuesday morning, I attended our regular monthly Office and Finance meeting. This is a subgroup of Trustees who meet the week before our full Board of Trustees meeting to discuss all matters to do with finances. We then make recommendations to the full Board, and hope this saves a bit of time at the Board meeting. The Office and Finance meetings are now held virtually, which makes it much easier for us all to join in together, without having to ask people to drive to Threemilestone from all parts of Cornwall. It’s also a more environmentally-friendly way of running a meeting and, since we’re a small group, an online meeting works well.
Later that day, I attended a talk put on by the WI Learning Hub. I hope you’re all taking advantage of everything the Learning Hub has to offer! It’s free for all members and is a fantastic perk of our membership. The talk I attended was by Helen Gibson, and was about female empowerment and how to inspire not only yourself but those around you too. If that doesn’t grab your attention, there is a huge variety of courses available on the Learning Hub – from crafts to cookery to art to history to travel to advice for running your WI. Did you know there’s even a WI Film Club? Do go and have a look if you haven’t already. You can also subscribe to the Learning Hub e-newsletter, so you don’t miss out on anything!
The competition table at Gulval WI’s March St Piran’s Day meeting
In the evening, I had another virtual meeting – this time a networking session with Chairs of other Federations, along with NFWI Chair Ann Jones, NFWI CEO Melissa Green and others. It’s always so helpful to share ideas, problems and solutions with people in similar positions and reassuring to know we’re all dealing with the same issues. I’m really grateful for the technology that allows us to hold these networking sessions fairly often.
If you think a Federation online networking session with WI Presidents, Treasurers or Secretaries would be useful, please drop me a line on chair@cornwallwi.org.uk. I would like to think we’re doing all we can to help you in your roles within your WIs, so we’ll try to arrange something if enough of you are interested.
On Wednesday, I set off for Falmouth University for a tour and meeting. I won’t reveal too much, but we’re working on a possible collaboration that could turn into an exciting event for WI members in Cornwall!
That evening, I was off to my own WI meeting, at Gulval WI. It’s a really lovely bunch of women and we celebrated St Piran’s Day a day late, all wearing yellow and black. We heard some eye-wateringly funny Cornish stories from local favourite Trevor Smitheram, and then enjoyed a supper of pasties and saffron cake. It was a great evening, as always.
Early on Thursday morning, I was at the studio of CHAOS Radio in Truro to do my monthly breakfast show slot. Nathan Hunkin interviewed me and we had a lot of laughs. He’s a lovely guy and was impressed with everything the WI gets up to in Cornwall.
From there, I headed back to the WI office in Threemilestone. I checked in with Julia, our phenomenal Federation Secretary, and picked up some paperwork.
I went straight from Threemilestone to Pentillie Castle, on the opposite side of Cornwall, for a lovely afternoon tea with members of Albaston WI who were celebrating their 21st birthday. They were joined by members of St Dominick WI, Callington WI and Harrowbarrow and Metherell WI, as we sat down to a truly sumptuous afternoon tea in gorgeous surroundings. We all had such a good afternoon and it was a pleasure for me to meet members from a part of the county I don’t often visit.
That brings us to Friday and our big CFWI International Women’s Day Afternoon Tea at the Penventon Park Hotel in Redruth. This is only the second time we’ve held an International Women’s Day event and it was just as popular as it was last year. The highlight was our guest speaker, Kath Billing, Cornwall’s Chief Fire Officer. To say she was inspiring would be a massive understatement. She told us about the challenges she has faced in a predominantly male field; about speaking before parliament about gender disparity; and also told us about her father, whose haulage truck signage read ‘Billing & Daughters’. I think we all left the event feeling uplifted, strong and empowered!
On Friday evening, I had another online meeting, this time with representatives from all the virtual WIs across the UK, all 16 of us. I was there representing CyberCats Virtual WI, Cornwall’s virtual WI. We were meeting to plan this year’s summer festival, to be held in August, for members of all the virtual WIs.
After that, I collapsed into bed! It was a long and full week, but a really productive one and a lot of fun as well!
Thanks for great work