Appledore WI Report: Sept 2025 by Lesley Wray

Good evening ladies and welcome to the October newsletter for the benefit of members who were unable to attend our last meeting on Friday October 3rd, and also for those who like a little reminder of future events.

There is certainly a change in the weather, we seem to be charging full steam ahead into Autumn and no sign of the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. I have noticed a dearth of the beautiful reds of the leaves and they appear to be mostly yellow and brittle and falling steadily in the wind. However they do make that delightful rustling sound when you walk through them or as they are blown on by the wind. An interesting season in which nature carefully plans and prepares herself for the coming winter.

Our last meeting was a social gathering with games of beetle and a table quiz, both very popular although the picture quiz was really difficult but nonetheless enjoyable. During the beetle game there were lots of groaning and claims that we were playing with a loaded dice intermingled with little shrieks when the much desired number was successfully rolled. The table quiz had been prepared by Andrea and presented by Sue, thank you ladies.

The meeting was also an opportunity to trade in an unwanted piece of jewellery and/or a scarf in exchange for another which took your fancy. There were some left over which Sue May suggested that they would be welcomed at the Church charity shop, so Jane packed them and duly delivered them. Chances are that you might see your unwanted scarf draped around another neck in the village and keeping said person snug and warm.

October 16th was the day of our lunch at The Pelican fish and chip restaurant in Barnstaple. It was well attended and we so enjoyed our fish and chips or scampi or fish pie, whatever we ordered. Nine members travelled by bus which was a straightforward journey there but a different story for the return. The bus was cancelled, reason unknown, so we got on a different bus which unfortunately didn’t go all the way to Appledore and resulted in a long wait. Fortunately it was a dry day and not cold. Jenny has collected deposits and monies for our Christmas lunch at The Imperial Hotel in Barnstaple on Thursday December 18th and Jenny has the menu if you have not yet made your meal choices. Thankfully Jenny is very well organised as this task isn’t always easy.

Wednesday 8th was Maureen’s Westward Ho! walk and repeated on the 22nd. The November ones will be on the 12th and 26th and will involve walking around Victoria Park and area with tea in a Bideford Cafe. Maureen will give more information at the November meeting.

November 4th at 2pm in The Kingsley Hall in Westward Ho! Bideford Quays W.I. are hosting their first group meeting. The cost is £5 per head. Beverley has taken the money from interested members but those who have not already paid and would like to go can pay at the door. It will be low key with afternoon tea and a speaker but no competitions,  Actually the speaker is a man who was a competitor on The Great British Sewing Bee and will talking about his experience of being on the show. Sorry ladies I simply can’t recall his name!!

On November 11th at 1pm the hall has been booked for a craft session with Boo for those of interested, to make Christmas head bands. Boo brought in some examples to the meeting which she had made earlier (I must have been a Blue Peter fan), and the committee modelled them for the members to see. They really are very festive and worth making to wear on Christmas Day or at party time. Grandchildren would love them too. The cost is £2 per headband which is very reasonable. We will be having Tea and cake supplied for members attending.

November 26th is the Christmas shopping trip to Bristol, names have been taken but not many members are going. December 3rd is the Christmas Carol Service in Exeter Cathedral. Names have been taken for those attending.  Some of us are arranging a day out in Exeter on a day of our choosing. The Christmas Market in the Cathedral grounds is an excellent one with a good variety of stalls for gifts as well as snacks and small meals, well worth going to.

Our November meeting is Friday 7th and we will be having a floristry demonstration. Our regular raffle will be held and organised by Kathleen, our raffle Queen, and donations for the Bideford food bank will be gratefully received. Tea ladies, I hope that you know who you are and will be bringing cakes or biscuits either home baked or shop bought. Milk, tea and coffee are provided.

We have two new members, Jennie Thompson and Beverley Gale. Welcome to Appledore W.I.  We now have a membership of 46 which is excellent.  

A little humour to end with: Do you know what a Paraprosdokian is? It is a figure of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected and is frequently humorous (Winston Churchill loved them). I was sent a list of 17 and you will see one at the end of the newsletter each month. They were sent to me by Jane and they are hilarious. So here is your first: Where there’s a will, I want to be in it.

Appledore WI Report: August 2025 by Lesley Wray

Good evening ladies, It's hard to believe that another month is almost over. It feels much cooler today but according to the BBC weather forecast it will be warming up again towards the weekend but not a heatwave again thank goodness. If the forecast is correct then it will be raining on Bank Holiday Monday, nothing new there!! Have you noticed that the leaves are very subtly changing and gradually shifting into their autumn colours while blackberries are already turning black? Apparently some migratory birds are already heading for our shores and lakes from Africa. Everything is happening so much earlier this year.

It has been a good summer for Appledore WI. On July 23rd a small group met in Appledore car park and Janet Taylor took us around the village with a history lesson, we learned so much, Janet has a wealth of knowledge of her village. August 1st started well with our picnic in Anchor Park, very well attended with, I think, 21 members. The table which we usually use was broken and so we ended up sitting in the enclosed children’s play area which didn’t phase us as we are young at heart aren’t we? Fortunately the park was quiet so we didn’t disturb anyone. As usual the table was groaning almost audibly with a wonderful array of yummy things to eat brought by members, we had some competition with the pesky wasps as to who could tuck in first. It was a battle, but happy to say we won. Our oak tree in Anchor Park looks extremely healthy and Carol said that when the acorns fall she will collect them and bring them in to our meeting for members to take home for planting. I will certainly have a go even though it will be in a pot.

On August 6th Maureen’s walks took a small group to walk around Rosemoor, this was repeated on the 13th when Melanie, Kathleen, Beverley, me and my youngest granddaughter, along with Melanie’s friend Yvonne, braved the afternoon heat and did the same walk (see photos below). It was lovely to gently stroll through the guided pathway around the gardens and to the lake which was covered in water lilies, it was like looking at a Claude Monet painting, absolutely beautiful, and the birds were happily singing their little hearts out. In truth the heat was a bit exhausting so we retired to the cafe for a cooling drink before heading home. A quick look around the garden shop first and in the gift shop I managed to buy a bag of my all-time favourite liquorice. On the same day, Maureen took other members on a circular walk around Northam. The next walks are on September 3rd and 24th, both to Torrington Commons. 1pm bus from Bideford Quay. Bus number 75 to the Puffing Billy stop, a walk on the commons followed by tea in the cafe and then returning by bus.

On Monday 18th August 4 members played in the Croquet competition in Barnstaple arranged by County Federation. This is now a regular annual event and well supported and dare I say it members are definitely “in it to win it” which they duly did. Our members were Kathleen, Andrea, Janet and Margaret. Things were done a little differently this year with those taking part being given a card each and matching cards decided your partner. At the end the Adjudicator said that the results were close, but yes ladies our teams did very well with Janet and Margaret winning Gold, and Andrea Silver. Kathleen and Andrea were teamed with members from other WI’s. Well done all of you.

A little bit of advance information for you. There will be a group meeting in October organised by Bideford Quays WI, date as yet to be decided. You will learn more about this at our next meeting, I will say that it looks very interesting and hopefully will be well supported by our members.

Well ladies I think that’s all I have time for today. Our next meeting on September 5th is in our usual venue, The Blue Lights Hall at 2pm, Jane will be writing to refresh your memory beforehand. Our speaker will be John Cullen - reading his poetry, some with a Devon flavour.

Enjoy the rest of the summer and see you all in September, I think that there was a song about that in the sixties!! 😂

A tribute to Joan Evelyn Walke written by Lesley Wray

Dear members

Many of you will have heard of the death of our long standing member Joan who died peacefully in North Devon and District Hospital on July 24th 2025. Many members will have known Joan for many years, myself included, and considered her a valuable friend and an asset to the WI.  Newer members may have been less acquainted with her which is sad because Joan was definitely, shall I say, a presence.

Joan was a strong minded Northern woman, very wise and with an extensive general knowledge and a huge asset in a quiz to have on your team. I remember at a County Quiz a few years ago in the music round and the question came up on which opera the song “Mack the Knife” was based. The answer given was The Threepenny Opera, of course under Joan’s advice we had put The Beggars Opera. Well, quite a little debate followed, Joan was 100% correct, but alas we had to accept the given answer by County. Such was her knowledge of Opera and most things classical, she had been a trained Opera singer after all.  She had started her working life and career as a Microbiologist in London. When the family moved to Wales she was a key figure in The Keep Wales Tidy initiative and then a Practice Manager for a GP practice. She told many an interesting story of her life there!

Joan loved her W.I. and  had been a member in other areas where she, and her family had lived and was able to tell many a story of the plays and musicals they had put on. In Appledore she was our Treasurer for many years and did a splendid job.

She was such an interesting character, you always knew that she was in the room, larger than life, she really did love life and fine dining and a good wine, oh! And of course a good Gin, Wicked Wolf being a particular favourite. She was hospitable and her door was always open. In the past she hosted a reading group and scrabble too, which sadly had to fold when her health deteriorated.

Most of all Joan loved her family, they were first before everything and she will be missed but remembered with fondness by them, and by her friends too.

A well known quote applies so well to Joan, hers was indeed “a life well lived”.

A second enjoyable visit to Tapeley Park by Melanie Jory

As Lesley mentioned in her report, Maureen led a second walk at Tapeley Park for those who missed the first visit. Another glorious sunny day, but a little cooler this time, which was just right for the 6 of us to enjoy a walk through the woods down to the lake, taking in the nature all around us and the beautiful blue hydrangeas. Then on to the Italian Terrace Garden and Kitchen Garden followed by a delicious cream tea and the opportunity to buy fresh vegetables grown in the Kitchen Garden.

On the same afternoon some of the ladies who attended the first walk at Tapeley Park took themselves on an enjoyable walk around Appledore.

Appledore WI Report for July 2025 by Lesley Wray

Good afternoon ladies and welcome to our July newsletter for Appledore W.I. Thank goodness for the recent rain and light breeze, which definitely feels cooler giving me the incentive to get down to the task of writing to you all, it has been too hot to concentrate in the heatwave.

I will start with a brief summary of our last meeting on July 4th, held as usual at 2pm in The Blue Lights Hall. This was the last meeting before our summer break as we don’t have a formal meeting in August.

So many members defied the heat and packed into the hall, possibly due to the excitement of hearing our always popular speaker Sharon Snell with more wonderful stories of her family history. Four of our newest members introduced themselves, and the committee, and their roles, did likewise. We currently have a full membership which is capped in part by the hall insurance, however we will always make a guest welcome at the small charge of £4.

The only pertinent business arising was getting confirmation, via a show of hands, from those members who will be taking part in the croquet competition in Barnstaple on August 18th or 21st. I think the 2 dates are given in case the weather isn’t favourable. This is a popular event arranged by Devon Federation every summer. Appledore ladies have done very well in the past couple of years with winning and being placed second, so fingers crossed for this year’s players and the best of luck.

The next lunch will be on Thursday July 17th at The Bell Inn at Parkham, always a popular venue and our thanks again to Jenny for organising the lunches which isn’t a straightforward task. Sometimes the restaurants ask for a deposit, meal preorders and then the names, taken during our meeting from those present and then through subsequent exchanges in our lunch WhatsApp group -  members being added or having to cancel for various reasons, sometimes late in the day, but that’s life, it does sometimes just get in the way. Thanks Jenny you really do a great job and you are appreciated.

Our speaker of the afternoon was the afore mentioned Sharon and her talk this time was based on her Great Grandfather, Hobart (I love that name), who was Mayor of Bideford during WW2. Those of you who are familiar with the Pier House in Westward Ho! Will have seen that wonderful photograph of him in his rather dashing bathing costume clutching a surfboard. Sharon’s research revealed information which only came to light in 2010 that “the Germans” had been in Bideford prior to the war to develop a flight list in preparation for invasion and they had produced maps of our coastal town areas. Although the stories were factual and highly historically significant, they were also injected with typical Hobart humour, in spite of the hardships of the times. There was one particular story about a pig. Hobart was not feeling well one day and crashed his car, a pig and lots of cream were seen heading for the drain. The pig needed to be slaughtered so was ceremonially put into a coffin and the cortège travelled through the streets on its way to London. Hobart served two terms of office as Mayor and during the war years his enthusiasm helped the community raise £59,000 on the first day of a fundraising campaign towards the repair of a ship. Amazing when you consider how much that money would be worth today, and how little people actually had. He strived relentlessly throughout the war years to keep public morale afloat and initiated various schemes to help the war effort. Sharon shared a lot more about Hobart but I’m afraid that she went through it so quickly that I couldn’t keep up and I only hope I have the information correct.

Maureen’s walks are still going strong and did you know that that they are not restricted to members, so friends and family can join in. On the 9th of July some of us visited Tapeley Park and the bravest of us walked the gardens in the hot sun. I took a photograph of some of the group which is attached to this report. This walk will be repeated on the 23rd for anyone who wants to join in who couldn’t go on the 9th or if you enjoyed it so much that you would love to do it again! There is an entrance charge of £7 but as our party was 10 plus we enjoyed a small discount of 50p each. Meet in the Tapeley car park at 13.45pm. Alternatively Janet Taylor will be leading us on an Appledore circular walk on the same day. At the end of these walks there is always a cafe for us to enjoy a cup of tea and a chat.

In lieu of a formal meeting in August we will meet for a picnic on Friday 1st August at 12.30 pm in Anchor Park in Appledore. For our newest members, this started in lockdown and has proven to be a great success and we can now truly say it has become a tradition. If you are coming along please bring a chair to sit on and a plate of finger food to share, not a huge amount, either sweet or savoury, home prepared or bought it doesn’t matter. If everyone brings only a plateful then it is unlikely that any of us will be taking some home again. It would be good to bring a napkin too and don’t forget to bring your own drinks, I should add a brolly just in case as we do celebrate whatever weather is thrown at us!!

For those of you who were at the last meeting you may remember that Maureen, Melanie and myself attended the Devon Federation Council Meeting in The Corn Exchange in Exeter on Wednesday July 3rd. Maureen was our delegate and had the green card for voting on behalf of Appledore W.I. At our meeting Maureen also gave a very comprehensive report of the proceedings and of the speakers’ talks. The morning speaker was Alan Pewsey of Dartmoor Search and Rescue who is a “Call Out Member” and a "Hill Party Rescue Member”. He has spoken to circa 60 W.I.’s and for free! As Maureen gave such a good resume I am not going to repeat too much here. The full title is Dartmoor Search and Rescue Ashburton which is affiliated to Mountain Rescue, England and Wales. This Devon based charity is comprised of teams of voluntary members which are involved in casualty recovery and major incidents such as flooding. In 2016 they helped deal with the flooding in York. They are involved in search and rescue, Alan made it clear that the Police Force is the main body dealing with missing persons but will call on the Devon Search and Rescue to assist, they also assist full time emergency services with anything needed. They also use trained dogs for searching albeit the terrain has to be suitable, which means they cannot be used when there is a risk of broken glass or syringes and needles.

In the afternoon the speaker was Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The role is a Government position, which we didn’t appreciate before, and is a directly elected political role responsible for overseeing policing in the area, acting as a link between the police and the public. Alison is an excellent public speaker, a strong woman with a strong voice with determination and a hint of good humour. The funding force budget of £433m is made up of council tax precept payments and a Government grant. Alison highlighted the improvements made since she was elected: trouble hotspots now have more patrols; incidents of anti-social behaviour have been attended and dangerous weapons seized to name a few. Alison is committed and enthusiastic about her role which, in this day and age, is very refreshing. Once the afternoon was completed we headed home both hot and tired and very ready for a nice cup of tea.

On Thursday July 10th on behalf of Appledore W.I. I visited Ann Ash briefly to present her with a small bouquet of flowers in recognition of her hard work organising coaches for us on our various outings. I am sure that you will all agree that Ann did a marvellous job. Ann Oliver has kindly VOLUNTEERED to take over the role, thank you Ann.

Our September meeting is on the 5th at 2pm in The Blue Lights Hall. John Cullen will be reading some of his poetry, some with a Devon flavour.

I won’t be able to get it to the lunch this month so enjoy your choices ladies and I will see you in Anchor Park on August 1st.

Lesley Wray

Appledore WI Report for June 2025 by Lesley Wray

Hello ladies, I am sitting here melting in the heat and thinking how the month of June has gone flying by and horror of horrors, it is now the 21st and the longest day and we all know, sadly, that our daylight will get shorter by two minutes each end of the day, so let’s make the most of all the sunshine and long days while we have them.

It has been a busy month for many of us. On the 6th of June we held our regular meeting and sat in silence listening to our speaker, Krystyna Bracey and her search for her birth mother by DNA. Krystyna is very quietly spoken and was clearly emotional as she stepped us through her very personal journey to find the woman who brought her into the world. Krystyna was born in 1952 and was abandoned in London at the age of two and a half weeks old. In 1958 she was legally adopted by the couple who brought her up and to whom she refers to as “mother and father”. Her adoptive mother was not lovingly demonstrative but she was very fond of her father who was much softer hearted, both kind and loving. Krystyna revealed that her adoptive mother had been abused as a child and this had made her the way she was. One evening when she was aged about nine or ten years old she was left in the house alone and took the opportunity to look in a bag in her mother’s room and found her adoption papers. Of course she wasn’t able to reveal her new-found knowledge to her parents as she feared repercussions. In her discovery she thought that she might also have a sister as there was another name on the papers which she assumed was female. She later discovered that wasn’t the case and that the name was actually Andrea, a modified name of her birth father who was in fact a very handsome Egyptian man. As an adult she was able to start her search influenced by the television programme “Long Lost Family”. It was suggested that she tried via “Ancestry”, which she did, using her DNA. In March 2017 she received a communication from New York from a man who had done his DNA and thought they may be cousins. They communicated and she discovered who her mother was. She had been born in Poland and in 1940 the Nazis conducted a mass deportation of Polish people to Siberia, including Krystyna’s family. It was from there that that her mother and her mother’s sister were moved by the Red Cross to Tehran in Iran. Her mother and her sister later became orphaned and were then sent to Mombasa until 1949. She decided to come to England, to Yorkshire, rather than go back to Poland. From there to a refugee camp in Cirencester. Her mother was now about 18 yrs old and moved to Swindon and then London. Krystyna smiled, referring to her mother as being a social butterfly, of which she was the result, being born in a mother and baby home in Kensington. Krystyna’s research identified that she had relatives in London and actually lived near to her aunt (her mother’s younger sister). Another sister lived in the USA. Sadly her own mother died prematurely in 1973 of cancer at the age of 43 yrs in Chicago. She had married in 1957 but never came to find her daughter. The Daily Mail wrote an article about a 2 second test and wanted people who had taken their DNA to write in. She was contacted to talk about her birth mother and she wrote to Long Lost Family and repeated the test. Meanwhile she received another unknown communication and discovered she had a half-sister born in 1951, her father’s child. Krystyna wrote to Catherine Cookson who advised that she write her story which she duly did and her self-published book is entitled, My Mother “A Broken Bond” which can be bought in Walter Henry’s bookshop in Bideford High Street.

June 11th was the big day of our “educational experience” to Lynton and Lynmouth and what a lovely day we had. The day before it was raining and the day after was raining in biblical proportions, but on our day we were blessed with wall to wall sunshine. As you recall, County gave permission for us to use our monies to pay for the coach making it free for WI members, guests would pay £22 . The conditions were that it was educational and we did follow the rules and I will be writing to County to tell them about our day and what we learned about the flood. When we got off the coach we split into groups and made our way to the town and museum etc. The group I joined was Jane Hayman, Kathleen Hindley, June Shephard-Blandy, Sue Monk, Paddy Pinnock and me, Lesley Wray. Desperate for a coffee we headed for the first cafe we saw, which incidentally was newly opened. A delightful cosy environment and very reasonable prices. Our orders were taken by a very quick-witted chap, probably about 20 years our junior, who was an absolute bundle of laughs, he referred to us as “The Appledore Comprehensive”. The coffee and hot chocolate were to die for and the in-house entertainment free, courtesy of the humorous owners.

We looked in some shops on our way round, everything was of quality and reasonably priced. We had docked in Lynton and made our way to the Heritage Funicular Railway, the only fully functioning water powered one in the country and using water that is not reused from the West Lyn river. It was bright and shiny and so beautiful, an amazing example of Victorian ingenuity, construction was completed by 1890. From there it was lunchtime so getting off the railway we headed into The Pavilion Dining Room and enjoyed a filling lunch. We then headed to the Lynmouth Flood Memorial Hall to learn about the devastating floods of August 15th 1952. We were shown a film from Pathe News of the floods, boulders that had been swept down like pebbles, wreaking havoc in their wake, taking out the sides of buildings and moving cars with the force of the water. 37 lives were lost and to this day there is one young woman who remains unidentified and her body was laid to rest in the local cemetery. The cause is speculated as being a combination of unusually heavy rainfall and the fact that Exmoor is peat on granite and the water had nowhere to go but down into the four rivers funnelling the torrent into the town. The people came together and started clearing the areas and the town was eventually rebuilt but the event is marked in both hearts and history. Many moons ago I heard a talk that speculated that cloud seeding by the RAF was a contributing factor in the floods but this has been disproven by experts based on the fact that the area had experienced similar events before. The paths of the four rivers have since been altered to reduce the risk of future flooding disasters.

Our next visit was to the Lyn Valley Arts and Crafts Centre in Lynmouth. The building is in a beautiful converted church and houses an amazing eclectic array of crafts and gifts. Some of us have decided we would return to do our Christmas shopping as the gifts are of exceptional quality and great value for money. Time now for more refreshments in the shape of an ice cream to cool us down before heading back to the coach for our journey home after a wonderful day. By the way Taw and Torridge Coaches did us proud with a super clean coach and an excellent driver, thank you Ann Ash for organising this for us.

On June 4th I went to the home of a member of Bideford Quays WI to attend the National Federation of WI’s annual meeting on Zoom. The morning was very much about business and answering questions from various WI’s which we could hear and in the afternoon we saw Emma Bridgewater telling us about how she started up her pottery business which has expanded its market making decorative glassware and tins as well as her pottery homeware. It all started after she had finished University and wanted to buy a couple of cups and saucers for her mother’s birthday. Her childhood memories of her mother’s kitchen dresser with its huge collection of different patterned pieces displayed were in her mind. Unable to find anything suitable led to her founding her business as we know it today. She designed a mug for our 110 years’ celebration of the WI which was advertised in our WI Life magazine.

Next guest was Angel(a), Strawbridge from Escape to the Chateau. I think many of us will have been followers of the series of Dick and Angel’s renovations which today is their stunning home. Angel has Dyslexia to which she attributes her creativity and artistic flair. She does think outside of the box when she is designing, she also has a flourishing business for her creations. She was very positive and obviously happy within herself and thinks that she could consider becoming a WI member, watch this space!!The meeting closed at 4 pm and we went home happy.

More recently on June 19th, we attended a super lunch at The Hunters Inn in Newton Tracey, organised by Jenny Edwards. Thank you Jenny, this is a time-consuming job in the organisation but we really do appreciate your efforts which are built into our diaries every month.

During the lunch Ruth Carey reported that Maureen’s walk on the June 18th from Bideford Railway Station towards Torrington on the Tarka Trail was a lovely experience, so thank you Maureen for organising these two events every month and on this occasion thank you to Sue Beer for the amazing afternoon tea she put on for the walkers at her home.

The next event on our calendar is The DFWI meeting 2025 at The Corn Exchange in Exeter. There are now going to be four members attending, Maureen Patmore, Melanie Jory, June Shephard-Blandy and me, Lesley Wray. I will report on this in my July report.

Our next meeting is the ever popular truly home grown Braddick, Sharon Snell, sharing more of her family stories. We do look forward to Sharon who has been our speaker almost every year for a few years now.

So ladies, I am now exhausted from writing this so until our next meeting on July 4th, goodbye.

Latest News by Lesley Wray, 16 May 2025

What glorious weather we are having at the moment, hotter than some places on the continent, aren’t we lucky, but I do feel for the farmers. I did hear on the weather forecast that the May Bank Holiday will be rain as per usual, well we do live in Devon don’t we and that is why our fields are green.

As you all know, our meeting on May 2nd was our Annual Meeting (formerly known as The Annual General Meeting). It is the time when our members have the opportunity to elect a new committee or, as in this case, re-elect the existing one. So either we are doing a “grand job” or members are reluctant to put themselves forward. Never mind those of us on the committee enjoy looking after our members.

Our meeting was well attended with 33 members present, 9 apologies and we welcomed 1 guest.

Our lunch at The Crealock Arms on Thursday May 15th saw 19 of us enjoy a lovely lunch, quite reasonably priced too. As usual there was a lot of chatting and the noise level abated as soon as our meals arrived, the almost silence was palpable!! Thanks for arranging this for us Jenny, we do appreciate it.

Ann Ash has finalised the details for our educational outing to Lynton and Lynmouth on June 11th. The Taw and Torridge coach starts in Appledore car park at 8.30 am and will then make its way to Northam swimming pool and the last pick up will be at the bus shelter by Kingsley Statue in Bideford. Ann suggested that we all make our way to our bus stops for 8.30 am irrespective of where we are being picked up. Ann has a list of our names for each pick up point.

Maureen’s walkers met on Wednesday 14th May, I’m not going to say more as Melanie will tell you all about it and with some photos. The next walk will be on May 28th, again meeting at the Instow signal box at 1.30 pm, this time to walk along The Tarka Trail to Yelland and return by bus.

Melanie has organised an evening visit/tour of The North Devon Hospice Retail Operation on May 21st at 6pm. We have arranged lifts and will meet at The Two Rivers Industrial Estate, Braunton Road, EX31 1JY.

Thank you to all the members who still bring those gorgeous knitted trauma teddies for the local fire station and knitted beanie hats for the DAAT as well as those bright and cheerful knitted squares. The donations for the Bideford Food Bank are as generous as ever and Carol reports on how grateful they are to receive them and thank us for our generosity.

Following the business part of the meeting Jane started the fun with a short quiz followed by the card bingo game which is always tense as everyone concentrates so hard, definitely “in it to win it”. There were prizes too of course.

The Annual Meeting is also one when the committee bake and prepare tea, serve and clear away, including the washing up (I have to say we thought the dirty dishes would never stop arriving). It was fun though and there was very little left over which is always a good sign.

The June 6th meeting speaker is Krystyna Bracey and her topic is DNA to find both parents. I think this will be very interesting and exciting, modern technology and science can do so much good in today’s society, amazing.

So ladies, I hope you are looking forward to the next meeting and your newly elected old committee, your president is Jane, Lesley is vice president, secretary is Melanie and your treasurer is Beverley. Other members are Kathleen who does the raffle, Boo is our craft queen, Carol who collects and delivers for the food bank, Andrea who organises the speakers for your programme, Jenny who organises our wonderful lunches and Brenda who organises the teas rota and books sales.

As always we meet in The Blue Lights Hall in Vernons Lane at 2 pm on the first Friday of the month except when it is too close to New Year or it is Good Friday. There is no meeting in August and instead we enjoy a bring and share picnic together in Anchor Park, Appledore, which is always well attended.

Latest News by Lesley Wray, 19 February 2025

February 7th was our most recent meeting, although we appeared to be really busy there were in fact 14 apologies which was quite surprising but the weather was probably a major factor for some members. It has been bitterly cold but better weather is apparently on its way, quickly, I can hear you all saying. In spite of this we enjoyed a fulfilling afternoon in good company and with a very inspiring speaker.

Before introducing the speaker there was the business to attend to, which was minimal as it happened.

The minutes of the January meeting were read and signed by Jane our President, and Lesley who was standing in for our Secretary, Melanie.

Jane read out to members The NFWI-DEVELOPING OUR STRATEGIC VISION 2025-2030. In 2024 all WI’s were sent out a copy of this and members were offered an opportunity to meet a representative of the NFWI board who would talk us through the vision and give us the chance to air our views. Some WI members have taken this opportunity and responded to National with their opinions and suggestions, hand on heart I don’t think our members did, but I could be wrong! Melissa Green, CEO of NFWI,  is coming to The Firs to meet with the board and others in Friday February 28th. If interested please email federation.secretary@devonwi.org.uk with your name and your WI.

Maureen is still doing her walks with interested members. The next walk is Wednesday 26th February, meeting at Bideford Railway Station at 1.30 pm to walk along The Tarka Trail to Instow for tea and return by bus. Maureen is very passionate about the walks and she does have regular followers who ignore the weather conditions, very stoical ladies indeed. Incidentally Maureen brought six beautifully knitted Trauma Teddies to the meeting which she had made for donation to the local fire station to help traumatised children (the next news article refers). An ongoing task by the way for those of you who might be interested.

The highlight of the month is our regular lunch organised by Jenny, who has good knowledge of our local restaurants. On February 20th we will be dining at The Thatch in Abbotsham, it’s a popular venue for us and strategically chosen this month due to the possibility of adverse weather conditions, it would be upsetting to miss a lunch, wouldn’t it ladies!

On Saturday February 15th it was the first round of the ever popular Devon Federation Quiz held at The Community Hall in Roundswell. We came 7th out of 17 local WI teams so were very satisfied with that result. We also enjoyed delicious tea and cakes made and served by ladies of Parkham WI.

This year it will be our 25th anniversary and we asked members to think of how they would like to celebrate the occasion. A few ideas were generated and we will discuss them at a later date. June Blandy who initiated the restart of Appledore WI thinks our WI was started in the November.

We were also putting our heads together to come up with suggestions for our annual outing. Ann will contact Taw and Torridge coach company for prices, and yes, we know that they are a little more expensive, but their coaches are modern and they give us good service.

Finally we introduced our speaker, Ruth McMahon and the title of her talk was “Schools in India”:

Ruth and her husband were organising a mission trip to India with monies raised towards the digging of a well for fresh water for a community in India. India still has a caste system and varied religious beliefs and normally there would never be sharing of such a commodity, however, a well founded by a Christian community is seen as acceptable by all. This was 2004 and disaster struck with The Tsunami wreaking havoc in many coastal areas of India but undaunted they plotted a route and set off. They took with them teams of doctors and nurses who were going to be needed. Initially they set up a hall for the distribution of commodities to be distributed to the needy and then camps for parentless children. There was a camp for girls and a camp for boys. Fifteen children who had no surviving relatives to help support them were placed in orphanages funded by charitable donations. Ruth and her team were responsible for setting up schools to educate the children of both sexes. Ruth shared her photograph albums of children with happy smiling faces and clean crisp uniforms in schools. Ruth has revisited the area every two years since and now many of those children have married and have children of their own. While visiting, she lives locally within the local community and not in a hotel. There is a children’s home in the foothills of The Himalayas in Tamil Nadu, an area of rich culture and when Ruth was still working for Berkshire County Council she was given two weeks leave to visit the school annually.

We were told that 121 languages are spoken in India, 22 of which are recognised by the Government; India is the 7th largest country in the world after China; 10,800 people lost their lives in The Tsunami in India, most of whom were in the Tamil Nadu area.

Ruth obtained sponsorship to provide goods and services to orphans to make life easier eg washing machines, medical camps and eye clinics

Doctors and Nurses go to the hospital and villages to perform cataracts surgery and support for the orphanages continues.

It was commonly agreed that Ruth’s talk was very inspiring and her enthusiasm and energy for her work tangible, in short we thoroughly appreciated our guest and her work.

Our next meeting is on Friday March 7th at 2pm in The Blue Lights Hall and we have had a change of speaker. Pete Yeo will talk about Appledore Myrtle Sites, intriguing don’t you think?

We should be driving home in daylight after our March meeting, Spring really is just around the corner.

Latest News by Lesley Wray, 12 January 2025

Our first meeting of 2025 started with a good attendance and as usual we were in full voice for singing “Jerusalem”.  We were pleased to be back and kick ourselves back into routine.

Members who went on The Devon Federation organised outing to the Christmas Market in Truro agreed it was well worth the trip and enjoyment was measurable.

We thanked Jenny for organising our Christmas lunch at The Imperial Hotel which was superb thanks to the staff and the delicious meal. Our next lunch is Thursday 16 January at The Golf Club in Northam.

Lesley read a letter of thanks from The Devon Air Ambulance Trust for the donation we collected at our CPR training session.

Carol thanked us on behalf of The Northern Devon Food Bank in Bideford for our donations, especially those for Christmas.

The first round of the Devon Federation Quiz is being held on Saturday 15 February in Roundswell Community Hall and names were taken for teams of four people. The county finals will be held on Saturday 8 March at Longdown.

Every year National Federation proposes four worthy Resolutions for campaigns for change on current issues. Jane, our president, read out each of the proposed resolutions and we voted on which ones we thought worthy. The Resolution with the most votes from all the Devon Institutes will go forward to The National Federation of WI’s where they will be reviewed and decided upon for next year's campaign. Each member is allowed only one vote.

On 8 January and 29 January Maureen will be meeting at Bideford Railway Station to walk with members along The Tarka Trail to the iron bridge and back for tea in The Royal Hotel,  weather permitting.

Our speaker was Belinda Taylor who told us of a charity in which she is involved but few of us had ever heard of. It was fascinating hearing of the work of “WellFound”, Water Making a World of Difference. A charity where 100% of donations go directly to the projects in Africa. WellFound is a water and sanitation charity working with remote African  communities, in this case Guinea Bissau. The archipelago consists of around 90 small islands unspoiled by colonial influence but where inhabitants have poor access to water which is drinkable and as a result water borne diseases are rife, causing many avoidable deaths - if only they could have access to clean water. The islands have lush natural vegetation with enormous trees which proves that water is beneath the ground and just needs to be accessed, treated and made available to people for drinking, washing, growing food and sanitation - the vital services that we take for granted. The aim of WellFound is to source the water by installing wells and latrines, to help irrigate gardens with untreated water to produce crops for eating and selling thus generating local income, and educating people about hygiene and  healthy living. Importantly, their is an emphasis on training the local people over a three year programme to service and maintain their wells etc, thus making them independent and have pride in their community.

Our next meeting is on Friday 7 February at 2 pm in The Blue Lights Hall and the speaker is Ruth McMahon talking of a school in India. Visitors are welcome at the small cost of £4, for which you will hear an interesting speaker, enjoy a cup of tea with cake and perhaps even make a friend or meet new people. If you would like to know more then please contact Melanie 01237 429455 or Jane 01237 473846. We have a website, just google Appledore WI and you will find us.

Latest News by Lesley Wray, 15 Dec 2024

Our last meeting of 2024 was on Friday December 6th at 2pm in The Blue Lights Hall. There was a lot of excitement in the air as it was party time and we were busy exchanging cards and getting our secret Santa organised and collecting the huge array of Christmas foods for The Northern Devon Food Bank in Bideford. The selection this year was probably our best ever. The committee had organised the party nibbles and were serving our members, as is usual at this meeting. The table was groaning with dainty sandwiches and different cakes and of course mince pies, all ready to tempt our members. Jane, our President, organised a picture quiz and the ever popular card games before we were allowed to tuck into the mouthwatering delicacies on the table. The visit to Truro Christmas markets organised by County on November 27th, was deemed a success having been enjoyed by all. The meeting closed on a high note with everyone choosing a wrapped gift from the secret Santa tub to take home.

We also had a wonderful Christmas lunch at The Imperial Hotel on December 10th, while Maureen’s walk had five plucky ladies braving the winter chill on Wednesday 11th.

The first meeting of the new year will be on January 3rd at 2pm and our guest speaker will be Belinda Taylor talking on “Wells in Guinea-Bissau”. If you would like to know more please contact Melanie 01237 429455 or Jane 01237 473846. Visitors are welcome (£4) when you will meet new people perhaps, listen to an interesting speaker and enjoy tea and cake afterwards. 

A big thank you from Lesley Wray, 25 Nov 24

To those members of Appledore WI who baked, shopped, collected used cups, helped those who were unable to carry their cups and mince pies, and the washing up heroes in the kitchen at The Durrant Hotel on Thursday November 21st to raise funds for The North Devon Hospice. The committee of Riverside Hospice Support team couldn’t have managed to raise just short of £2,000 without your help. People like you are important players in helping to make a difference to the lives of others who are terminally ill. Good things happen when we work together.

Thank you 🙏 

Latest News by Lesley Wray, 23 Nov 2024

Appledore WI ladies met as usual on the first Friday of the month, November 1st, in The Blue Lights Hall at 2pm. We had a good turnout of eager ladies which is always a great start to a winter meeting. As always, we opened our meeting with the singing of two verses of Jerusalem as hale and heartily as we could muster, a tradition in which we store great value.

The business got underway with the all important date and venue of our next lunch which had to be tweaked this month as many of us would be helping with The North Devon Hospice Christmas Fayre at The Durrant Hotel in Bideford on Thursday November 21st, rescheduling lunch to the 14th at The Royal Hotel. Members were asked if they would be willing to make cakes for Jenny’s cake stall at the Christmas Fayre, to which there was a good response.

Sadly our scrabble group has dissolved due to the ill health of a key member but who knows, it might start up again with interested members at a later date. On November 27th, 31 of us are off to Truro by coach, organised by County. An opportunity to look for Christmas gifts with a difference from the Christmas market, and of course we will be on the hunt for a restaurant with a difference for our lunch.

Jane revealed the plans for the December meeting which will be a catered buffet so no slaving over a hot stove ladies! There will be games and of course Secret Santa. We were asked to bring Christmas themed food gifts for our charity, the Northern Devon Foodbank in Bideford, and to remember the children too, as well as to bring prizes for the raffle if possible.

Looking ahead to 2025, Melanie is in the throes of negotiating a guided tour of The Devon Hospice retail store in Barnstaple which we have heard is very interesting. Maureen gave positive feedback regarding her walks which are in Bideford over the winter months. On November 6th and 13th there will be walks around Victoria Park which I can guarantee is with a difference. I joined the walk on the 13th which was a glorious warm and sunny day considering the time of year. Starting at the park main gate, we were led through the park and one walker stopped at the rugby club and received her vaccinations, one in each arm! and then we carried on. The walk took us around estates and areas some of us hadn’t actually realised were there. The walk culminated with tea in The Pannier Pantry before going home, fully refreshed and full of fresh air. One of the nice things about the walks is that we chat with each other, and shift according to pace, so that we get to talk to everyone.

Due to unexpected circumstances our booked speaker was unable to make it, so no truffle making. But all was not lost, local author Rebecca Alexander stepped up to the occasion and gave us a wonderful potted version of her life as an author and her love of writing. She let us into a secret of how it began. As a child of 6 years old she had a love of books on cats and discovered that you can actually get paid for writing stories. Rebecca’s stories are fictional and combine a historical strand with a modern twist and are based on the characters of real and local people. Her latest book comes out in January 2025 and is set on Dartmoor.

The next meeting is on December 6th at 2pm and of course “it’s party time”, so put your glad rags on ladies and be prepared to enjoy yourselves, I wonder what our president has in store for us?

If you would like to know more, please contact Melanie on 01237 429455 or Jane on 01237 473846

Latest News by Lesley Wray, 15 Oct 2024

Our last meeting was held on Friday October 4th at 2pm in The Blue Lights Hall. We usually meet on the first Friday of the month except when the Friday is over a bank holiday weekend eg Easter or New Year. We don’t have an official meeting in August but since the Covid restrictions we have started a tradition of having a picnic in Anchor Park on the first Friday, which is proving very popular with members and is looked forward to by those who are not away on holiday or on grandchildren sitting duty. We go prepared so that even the British weather doesn’t get in the way of our enjoyment.

There were quite a few apologies but there are a range of unpleasant bugs doing the rounds which is a likely explanation for some. However our meeting was well attended and we also welcomed 2 visitors.

The atmosphere was strong and we opened, as per usual with the singing of Jerusalem. With help of the internet I learned that the hymn was first sung by massed women at The Royal Albert Hall at a suffrage rally in 1918. After holding a nationwide competition for a WI anthem, Grace Hadow hit on the notion of using it for our wonderful organisation. In 1924  Jerusalem was duly adopted and today it is sung by many WIs at the opening of a meeting. Of course we also acknowledge the suffrage movement with our signature colours of purple, yellow and white. It is a rousing rallying song and with its links to suffrage has stood the test of time, in fact one hundred years this year.

Jane, our President, marched through the business of the meeting. High on the agenda was the viability of the booking of a coach to take us to Exeter for the Carol Service/ shopping trip on December 4th. It is with sadness that, for this year at least, we will not be travelling by coach due to the lack of uptake. Members have the option of making their own travel arrangements to Exeter and we will be taking numbers for the Devon Federation Carol Service at next month's meeting, the tickets for which cost £5 per person. We still have the outing to Truro Christmas market organised by Devon Federation on November 27th to look forward to.

Jane thanked those members who generously made cakes to sell at the Hospice cafe at The Appledore Book Festival in September this year.

Following a good response from members interested in learning or updating their CPR skills, The Devon Air Ambulance Trust is booked for giving a free session to us on the afternoon of November 18th, which is very timely as statistics show that colder temperatures can be a trigger for cardiac events.

Maureen’s walks continue to be enjoyed and her next one is planned for October 23rd when walkers will catch the bus from Bideford Quay to Barnstaple before they trek along the Tarka Trail to St John’s Garden Centre, Ashford, for lunch. Always with food in mind, our lunch group will be dining at The Beaver Inn in Appledore on October 17th.

Our speaker at this month's meeting was Lisa Chanter who started her talk with the spine chilling threat “ stand and deliver, your money or your life”. No guesses ladies, yes, her story was about the North Devon and Exmoor highwaymen, and believe it or not, some were women. These fiends roamed the lonely countryside lanes where they would spring out of nowhere on horseback to accost their wealthy victims travelling in a coach and horses, to relieve them of their treasures, sometimes using violence. Lisa talked about one famous highwayman (not Dick Turpin whose fame we are familiar with since childhood), but one Tom Faggus of Devon. Tom was popular amongst the poorer folk with his Robin Hood style actions. Tom had rescued a foal, a strawberry coloured mare, from a ditch and the pair became inseparable. He named her Winnie, appropriate maybe because a horse “whinnies”! Tom and Winnie evaded capture many times and Winnie helped in many a getaway, responding to her master’s whistle. Sadly the pair came to a sticky end. Winnie was slaughtered in the stable of a country pub and Tom arrested and, it is rumoured, executed but no record of this has ever been found or proven. Interestingly one of our members, June Edwards, said that she was certain that Tom Faggus was mentioned in the novel Lorna Doone, so I looked this up and sure enough he was. Apparently he was was presented as a fictional character who was given The King’s Pardon, by Charles the Second. Well remembered June! Lisa told how highway robbery died out in the outskirts London. The establishment of a police force and interestingly the introduction of traceable paper currency and the use of cheques had a large impact on the viability of the trade. Social progress too as with Turnpike Trusts came better roads replacing tracks, cutting down of high hedges making the marauders more visible. Lisa’s talk was certainly engaging and highwaymen may have died out but daylight robbery exists today in different formats often due to social and technological progress.

As always we enjoyed tea and cakes following the speaker. The next day we meet will be Friday November 1st when we will be shown how to make truffles for Christmas, sounds absolutely delicious don’t you think?

If you would like to know more about Appledore WI then contact Melanie 01237 429455 or Jane 01237 473846. Visitors are welcome to come to a meeting for £4 where you might meet or maybe make a new friend and share our delicious cake with a cup of tea and plenty of friendly chat. 

Latest News by Lesley Wray, 22 Sept 2024

Hello ladies and welcome to our September newsletter.

We met in The Blue Lights Hall (our usual venue), on Friday September 6th at 2pm. The attendance was good and everyone was very chatty and catching up on their news. Weather wise it wasn’t such a good summer as regards sunshine but lots of rain. For the 17 members who met in Anchor Park, our now August ritual,  we were blessed with a dry day and some sunshine for which we were eternally grateful. We brought plates of finger food to share and the park table was groaning with a wide variety of very tasty nibbles. We had a guest joining us , Yvonne, a former Appledore member who was visiting and she thoroughly enjoyed herself as well as listening to all the gossip!!

At our meeting the business got underway. Jane, our president, informed us that she will write to Devon Federation as we don’t meet in August and notifications posted with closing dates, which can be pretty close, are not able to be presented to members until our September meeting. This can cause issues with asking for money and taking names etc ready to send off applications for various events.

The committee agreed that we should restart producing a programme of the year’s speakers which we haven’t done since COVID and the fact that the WI year now begins on April 1st and our programme usually runs from January to December. Members really do like to know the speakers and their subject beforehand. Included in the programme will be the names of tea hostesses for each month. Brenda now has the responsibility of encouraging volunteers and ensuring that all able bodied will take a turn. They will also provide cakes or biscuits, not necessarily homemade. This makes it fair across the membership. The committee always take their turn at our Christmas party. By the way the Christmas party is ever popular with special sandwiches, cakes etc as well as games with prizes.

Beverley, treasurer notified us of our finances and we are in a healthy position.

Our events

September 11th was one of Maureen’s popular walks and this time along The Tarka Trail. This will be repeated on Wednesday 25th. Also in September 8 members enjoyed a walk around Rosemoor and it is possible that this will be done again.

Lunch group met at The Thatch in Abbotsham on Thursday 19th. This was a popular venue and thank goodness we had a room to ourselves as it could never be said that we were a quiet lot, our reputation must have preceded us!!

For those of us who like to plan ahead, our Christmas lunch will  be a week earlier in the month than our usual which means we will be lunching on December 12th and it will be in the Imperial Hotel in Barnstaple.

Devon Federation have organised a trip to Truro for their Christmas Markets on November 27th and  is again celebrating Christmas with the Carol Service in Exeter Cathedral on December 4th. Ann will be organising a coach for the latter. Although it is primarily for the Service it’s not compulsory and you can choose The Service or shopping or both. We have a nice lunch, a popular restaurant being The Ivy. The Christmas Markets will be there too. About 20 interested parties  made a show of hands for this. We will be putting coach vacancies out to other WI’s in the group. This is also open to friends and relatives of members.

Lesley is liaising with The Devon Air Ambulance Trust team in order to arrange a session for interested members, to learn/ refresh resuscitation skills and this includes defibrillator training. This hopefully will be in November and will not be part of our meeting but a stand alone session and there isn’t a charge to individuals but there will be collection boxes for those who like to make a donation.

Scrabble is October 3rd at Joan’s house as per usual.

Our speaker of the afternoon was Don Foster and the title “Bananas for Breakfast” had us all intrigued. Sadly Don didn’t treat us to bananas for our breakfast but told us a true story of his family members. His Aunt Marne Graham and her father Dr. James Alexander Graham who became missionaries around the time of the start of WW2 in The Philippines. The Japanese invaded and they had to conceal themselves with the help of the local people until The Americans took control. A fascinating piece of family history and apparently they did eat bananas for breakfast.

Our speaker for the October meeting sounds intriguing, Lisa Chandler and the title of her talk is “The Highwaymen of Exmoor”, and for those of you with a love of chocolate and like to prepare in advance for Christmas we are to be shown how to make truffles at the November meeting, now that sounds mouth wateringly scrumptious 😋

So ladies, the next meeting is in The Blue Lights Hall on Friday October 4th at 2pm.

If anyone would like to know more contact Melanie 01237 429455 or Jane 01237 473846

Don’t forget there is tea and cakes at every meeting ! 

GROUP MEETING HOSTED BY BUCKLAND BREWER WI

by Lesley Wray, 26 June 2024

Every year each Group of WIs holds a Group Meeting, hosted by a different WI from within the Group each time on alphabetical rotation. We belong to the Bideford Group along with Bideford Quays, Buckland Brewer and Northam WIs.  This year it was the opportunity for Buckland Brewer to showcase themselves. Incidentally this was the first Group Meeting since the dreadful COVID pandemic with the last one being in 2019 and hosted by Appledore WI.  With so much time having elapsed we were all a little bit rusty.  There is a popular format for a Group Meeting but not written in stone and the venue is chosen by the hosts.  A competition is often high on the agenda, accompanied by entertainment and refreshments. Buckland Brewer decided on a competition for a cake to celebrate their 100 year anniversary and a floral arrangement which would be judged jointly. The evening also included an educational talk and a choir as well as making up a limerick on a given subject and creating a model, a bit like Blue Peter except we didn’t have one we made earlier!!

When we arrived we were immediately impressed by the purpose built village hall, very modern with wonderful facilities. In the main hall were big tables audibly groaning with a banquet of savouries and sweets, enough to feed an army, all homemade and beautifully presented. On arrival each WI set up their competition efforts and of course eagerly checked out the competition. While we were busy sampling the delicious food the judges examined our competition entries. A talk was presented by a young local man, Andrew Haywood, who was visibly passionate about his work and told us in detail about the management of Thornhillhead Moor, its history as well as the flora and fauna in the area. He illustrated with overhead slides but one picture was blanked out and we were told this was a Fairy Shrimp, we were to discover later the reason we weren’t allowed to see the little creature. Half of us (Appledore members) on our table concentrated on writing a limerick on the theme of, yes you might have guessed, the Fairy Shrimp, while the other half had to create a model of what we thought the said Fairy Shrimp looked like having been given a tray of materials to work with. There was quite a lot of suppressed laughter but we completed and our efforts were handed in to be judged. Following this we were entertained by a local choir which we thoroughly enjoyed and there was a little foot tapping too.

Finally the competition results were in and Bideford Quays WI deservedly swept the board and even won two raffle prizes as well. We had an amusing moment when we thought we had won the making of the Fairy Shrimp and almost claimed the kudos only to realise it wasn’t our shrimp at all. We didn’t mind, we had a lovely evening and Buckland Brewer WI had really worked hard to make it a success which it definitely was so a huge thank you Buckland Brewer WI. 

EXCITING MESSAGE FROM ALI TAYLOR, THE FEDERATION SECRETARY, REGARDING NFWI EDUCATION AND TRAINING UPDATE

Good afternoon,

On behalf of the NFWI Education and Training team, please find below details of the upcoming launch of the WI Learning Hub, an invitation to attend a new training session with the Association of Chairs and an update on the recent NFWI Judges survey.

Welcome to the WI Learning Hub

We are delighted to celebrate the International Day of Education on Wednesday 24 January 2024, and invite WI members to join us on the next steps of our educational journey via the WI Learning Hub; please find attached a document with more information.

NFWI Judges Survey

In October 2023, the NFWI Education and Training team shared a survey with all NFWI Judges and federations, with the key objective being to increase our understanding of the current levels of judging activity, but to also provide us with insight as to how federations engage with their judges, including actively supporting NFWI Judges and training in-house judges.

What happens now? Data on its own has little meaning without proper analysis meaning we now need to turn the survey data into insight and recommendations.  This process will include differentiating between numerical (quantitative) and information (qualitative) data, which will allow us to create a report that is measured, unbiased and factual.  It also gives us the opportunity to benchmark our findings against previous, or external data and learnings, which will help us get a clear overview and understanding.

Once the research and data analysis are complete, our next stage will involve implementing the findings into actions; this will be managed by the NFWI Education Committee at the next meeting in February 2024, after-which the outcome, supporting data and decisions on next steps will be shared with all NFWI Judges and federations.  The expected timeframe for this announcement is March 2024.

Until then, thank you for your patience, co-operation and for supporting this important piece of work.

As always, we appreciate your cooperation in ensuring this email is cascaded to your WIs and fellow members.  If you have any questions, please contact wilearninghub@nfwi.org.uk

THE WI  Inspiring Women

“Imagine a future WI where the WI’s educational offering reaches all members, regardless of disposable income, geographical location, or accessibility requirements, allowing all members to pursue their passion or academic goals and reach their full potential. An educational model that reaches those who have previously felt excluded from opportunities internal and external to the WI due to time and financial constraints.

This is the future we see for the WI, and we are excited to be in a position where this is something we can achieve.”

Ann Jones DL, NFWI Chair Annual Meeting, Cardiff 2023 Welcome to the WI Learning Hub We are delighted to celebrate the International Day of Education on Wednesday 24 January 2024, and invite WI members to join us on the next steps of our educational journey via the WI Learning Hub. Lifelong learning has always been at the very heart of the WI; it is important to everyone regardless of age, race, gender or ability. As life changes, so does the way we learn and the advancement in the technological landscape means that our approach to learning is continually changing.

 The WI Learning Hub recognizes the continual changes that we all face and brings together a world of opportunities; taking users on a learning journey that is accessible, flexible and inclusive to all women and girls. Our vision is… 

To offer a variety of accessible and inclusive learning experiences, reflective and relevant to· women at all stages of life. NFWI Education & Training, November 2023 

To provide a flexible learning pathway that propels women into pursuing their passion, skills· or academic goals, empowering women to increase their self-worth, confidence and reach their full potential.

 To be a bold leading force in making learning and development convenient, safe and· attractive for women, expanding knowledge and understanding both within the WI and society. 

To grow a modern, non-judgmental and inspiring learning environment which captures· interest and elevates knowledge, skills and confidence for all women.

The WI Learning Hub will provide WI members with access to a range of online courses, and the majority of them will be free! There will be a small number of specialised courses delivered by external providers that will require a small fee, but these will be kept as low as possible.

As an exclusive new benefit to the annual WI membership, members will be able to choose their own learning pathway, at their own pace and at times that fit into their lifestyle. Courses will be delivered in a range of formats: daily, live courses but also pre-recorded ones so that members can enjoy them at their leisure. Some will require advance booking, but these will predominantly be for specific training courses. There will be downloadable and printable resources, a wide range of courses from crafts to cookery and wellbeing, plus quizzes and competitions!

                               DEVON FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S INSTITUTES

                                                          STRATEGIC PLAN 2023- 2028

                                                OVERVIEW: EVIDENCE OF NEED AND CONTEXT 

Background

Devon Federation of WIs (DFWI was founded in June 1920 and is one of the 69 federations of the NFWI, the largest voluntary organisation for women in the UK with almost 220,000 members in approximately 6,300 WIs. DFWI currently has 152 WIs and 4,787 members. It is managed by a Board of Trustees of which there are currently 10 members. They are all volunteers and bring a wide range of skills and knowledge to the role. DFWI has an office at The Firs, Exeter which is staffed by three part time employees. There are several sub committees that support DFWI activities and all their tasks are undertaken as volunteers.

 Purpose 

We aim to be an organisation of choice for all women, building on our past successes and the strength of our current membership and influence to ensure a sustainable and strong future for the WI. (NFWI Strategic Vision 2023).

 Charitable Objectives 

1. To advance the education of women and girls for the public benefit in all areas 2. To promote sustainable development which meets the needs of future generations without compromising those of the present 3. To advance public health 4. To advance public citizenship by promoting civic responsibility and volunteering. 

CURRENT OPERATIONS

Board of Trustees 

The Board consists of Federation Chair, two Vice Chairs, Federation Treasurer and six Board members. Its role is to maintain a financially viable organisation and support the work of the WI and the members. 

The DFWI Office 

The office staff provide a central hub for support and coordination to the Board, sub-committees and individual WIs and their members. This team covers administration, project management, office skills, digital support and detailed financial experience. 

3. Sub-committees 

The current groups are: Combined Arts Environment, Resolutions and Campaigns Food, Crafts and Skills Membership Support Office and Finance Speakers Sport and Leisure Most DFWI Sub-committees run events to meet DFWI aims and form an important income stream. 

Finances 

The main income stream for running the Federation is membership affiliation fees, supplemented by events run by subcommittees. There are minor incomes from the NFWI raffle and investment dividends. However with declining membership and the impact of financial uncertainties with investments the Federation has had a deficit budget for the past few years since the start of the Covid pandemic and has had to release a significant sum from its reserves. Without a serious review of all practices the deficit will increase and the Federation could become financially unviable within the next 10 years. 

Challenges 

Apart from the financial challenges outlined above, the main issues of concern include a general decline in membership, an ageing demographic, an increased number of WI suspensions, and the inability to recruit younger members and key personnel (Board members, WI Advisers, WI officers, IFEs). The number of Devon WIs now stands at 152, from 207 pre-pandemic. Several have chosen to suspend in order to become Ladies’ Groups, others were unable to recruit a committee or three officers, others had become unviable with only a handful of members. The total number of members has fallen from 6,632 prepandemic to 4,787.

 A SWOT analysis was undertaken in 2022, and subsequently members were invited to take part in a questionnaire which, despite a very low response rate, identified some common concerns:

 • Communication, especially the digital divide between those members willing/able to engage with technology • More training and support 

• More events county-wide 

• More engagement with national campaigns

 • Improvements to the booking system for events 

• Need for evidence of ‘value for money’ from DFWI in view of rising membership subscription 

DFWI Vision Statement

Our Goals and Objectives

use the NFWI Vision Statement as a framework The main Strategic Objective is to ensure there is a future for the WI in Devon. 

Vision Statement 1: Bold and Inspiring 

We will:

 • increase our visibility by working with the media, publicising events and focusing on WI campaigns • challenge the perception of the WI • organise events and activities to provide a rich source of experience, knowledge and skills 

Vision Statement 2: Growing and Relevant 

We will 

• establish new WIs and increase membership • improve communication at all levels of the Federation • network with other Federations • develop a succession plan for staff, trustees and advisors • ensure governance meets or exceeds Charity Commission Guidelines

 Vision Statement 3: Inclusive 

Broaden our appeal to reach all women Ensure that our policies, practices and procedures are easily accessible 

Vision Statement 4: Flexible 

Consider innovative ways to support and retain existing Wis and to establish new WIs Increase training opportunities Explore alternative funding streams 

Our Strategic plan will be reviewed regularly and where applicable we will develop shorter focused Action Plans to ensure our Goals are realised 

Lovely sunny day on Appledore Quay for Appledore WI's celebration of The Queen's Jubilee. Judging the baking competition was a fun event.