WI Memberships (?)

That’s unfortunate NanaTuesday is there a phone number? if so, I would ring and explain you’ve sent an email, who knows what’s going on in people's lives, I’d give them another chance.

Exactly this.

That was to OP.

Numbers are falling everywhere .

I’m a regular WI member. A good way to get a response is to look online for the email address of your County WI they should get things moving.

I love my WI and have made some great friends and enjoy our meetings. However there has been some major upset nationwide, which may not affect you but has upset many of us. The National Federation of WIs has accepted transwomen (whether they have fully transitioned or not) into the WI without giving the members a vote on this even though we are supposed to be democratic. I am in a small village WI and it is unlikely we will get any transwomen. Some of us have written to National about our concern but to be honest they were unhelpful and refuse to discuss the subject other than to say if we don’t like it we can leave!

I do hope I haven’t put you off as for the most part it is a great group to join. If you find an Institute you want to try out I suggest you email the President and ask her to designate someone to meet and introduce you to the others. I do this as a ‘welcomer’for our WI.

If you have any other questions do let me know.

WI members are falling and it is women only, U3A members are rising and have too many people for the courses and they are both men and women. Is this telling us something or is it just coincidence.

My sister was treasurer for her WI, which folded a couple of years ago.

Simply because no one wanted the jobs, chairman, secretary, etc.

Mostly older ladies, and like so many clubs, people happy to come to a meeting, listen to a speaker, have a cup of tea and a natter, but not prepared to do much to keep the wheels turning.

We try to split the jobs between the members. I’m not on the committee but I book the speakers, sort who will give the V of T and organise an occasional fund raiser, my friend also not on the committee runs a monthly ramble and pub meal out. Someone else runs the Book Club. I think our WI will see me out and I am grateful for the laughs and company.

Looking at my own local WI, which I have never joined, I find the programme to random, and at time quite trivial.

I think with older people these days being better and better educated, the U3A, offers a more focussed and targetted opportunity to get together in an informal way that mixes intellectual challenge with the lighter side of life.

We are hoping to move this year and in researching the places we are considering and the opportunities to get to know people somewhere where we know no one, I am looking up further education classes and the U3A, not the WI.

I used to go to our village WI. Unfortunately it was so set in its ways it was boring. They said they wanted new members with new ideas, but this was not actually the case.

Due to my DHs poor health and the pandemic I left, but no one bothered to even phone to see if we were alive. I was always under the impression it was supposed to be a supportive, compassionate, etc. group, but this is obviously not true.

I was constantly badgered to go on the committee which was not for me and yes, they find it hard to fill the various committee posts. I will not be returning.

NanKate

I’m a regular WI member. A good way to get a response is to look online for the email address of your County WI they should get things moving.

I love my WI and have made some great friends and enjoy our meetings. However there has been some major upset nationwide, which may not affect you but has upset many of us. The National Federation of WIs has accepted transwomen (whether they have fully transitioned or not) into the WI without giving the members a vote on this even though we are supposed to be democratic. I am in a small village WI and it is unlikely we will get any transwomen. Some of us have written to National about our concern but to be honest they were unhelpful and refuse to discuss the subject other than to say if we don’t like it we can leave!

I do hope I haven’t put you off as for the most part it is a great group to join. If you find an Institute you want to try out I suggest you email the President and ask her to designate someone to meet and introduce you to the others. I do this as a ‘welcomer’for our WI.

If you have any other questions do let me know.

Oh Thank you so much for your reply , that was s helpful & when I get home from my little break I’ll look it up as you suggest . 👌

Excellent *NanaTuesday’. I tried one or two WIs till I found the one I wanted. I think you can try 3 times at each WI before you decide if it is for you.

I am president of our WI which is doing quite well for numbers, although we do have some very elderly members, so there is some drop off! We have someone who welcomes new members or visitors and makes them feel at home.
I hope you persevere and find a WI to suit. We are all volunteers, so sometimes messages are missed. I have made some good friends. It’s our group meeting tomorrow, afternoon tea for about 60, from 5 WIs so I must go - small cakes to make 🤣

Yes when Mr J first became ill no one from my WI called me, there was no support or understanding and I was on the committee at the time. Needless to say it was very disappointing. When I returned I resigned from the committee due to Mr J's ongoing health issues and subsequently left altogether because the changes that had occurred during my absence were no longer to my taste. Now I belong to another lovely Ladies group which could not be more different from my experience with the WI. I realise that not all WI's are the same, I was just unfortunate.

The local WI here is very set in its ways. I went twice to try it out and each time it took ages to get going because they had to sort out WI business first. I also went with a friend to a WI craft exhibition in a town hall and we both thought the judges written comments on their work were very negative and discouraging. My friend is more sensitive than me and she said she would have cried if she got comments like that.

The local WI is also really cliquey which I don’t like. A few neighbours from WI go to their college (Denman) on courses and they rave about it but it is very, very expensive and always has been. My late Mum was in WI for years and would have loved to have gone there for certain courses but couldn’t afford it. She said only the posh women went.

I think they all are different, some vibrant and enthusiastic and some stuck in the past. Our village one has many very elderly members who do not like change . I found it boring as WI business took up half the meeting as some committee members like the sound of their own voices. Some speakers were interesting but some very much not. Because so much of our subs had to go to HQ and County HQ, we had very limited funds for speakers. I left because I kept falling asleep!

As far as U3A are concerned I find that it is important to go to the Open day for renewing memberships when people advertise their courses. You can join the classes on that day.. as you say the most popular ones get full very quickly.. then you will be on the mailing list which should contact you about pop up events and new courses..

Our village WI started in 2019 with approx 23 members. I joined in 2020 and then with covid we moved on to zoom. A few of the older ladies were not into technology so missed out.

We now have over 40 members some from surrounding villages that have closed.

It has been a lifeline for me as a carer for DH as our meeting place is ten minutes away on foot.

Our ages vary from 20's to 80+. There are always problems with getting people on the committee. We have a book club, wine club,craft club and monthly coffee mornings.

Judging by what has happened to other WI's I think we have done pretty well.

This is interesting.. I too emailed my local area WI for info and got nothing back, so gave up.
Have been recommended U3A, but got the impression it was individual little "clubs" I'm not sure what I would like to do?

I left because I kept falling asleep!

Oh dear Gin, you and me both 😴

The group I joined was heavily into handicrafts and entering competitions, not my thing at all.
There were a lot of social outings during the daytime that I couldn't go to because I still work.
Their volunteering work was in a different local area to where I live so I wasn't particularly invested in doing that.
I went for two years and decided it wasn't for me, though a friend still goes and is heavily involved.

I'm biding my time to join our town U3A group, which from what I read is more what I'm looking for 🤞

V3ra

^I left because I kept falling asleep!^

Oh dear Gin, you and me both 😴

The group I joined was heavily into handicrafts and entering competitions, not my thing at all.
There were a lot of social outings during the daytime that I couldn't go to because I still work.
Their volunteering work was in a different local area to where I live so I wasn't particularly invested in doing that.
I went for two years and decided it wasn't for me, though a friend still goes and is heavily involved.

I'm biding my time to join our town U3A group, which from what I read is more what I'm looking for 🤞

I tried U3A before covid. Spanish. I studied Spanish at school but that was long ago. About 12 turned up but several dropped out after a few weeks. We used to meet in one woman’s house and we had to listen to her boasting about her new sofa/curtains, whatever before we made a start. That annoyed me.

As this was a new group we all had to decide on a regular time/
Day to meet and we went to great lengths to accommodate one woman who said she was desperate to learn the language. After a couple of weeks she cleared off to Spain for a holiday, came back a month later and tried to get us all to go over what she’d missed! I dropped out after about 6 months as my Mum was poorly and needed me.

Primrose53 I'm sorry you had a disappointing experience, I'm under no illusions. The groups are all self-run so are likely to be a bit hit and miss.

Talking about learning Spanish, our local college is running a five week course of holiday Spanish for beginners which I am supposed to be ringing to enquire about before our trip to Lanzarote in July!

Do you have a Townswomen's Guild near you, NanaTuesday?
Ours is a lot more interesting than some of the WI groups described on here. Interesting speakers and events, but, of course, that is due to the enthusiasm of committees.

There is also the National Women's Register which has a national network.

I think WIs are all different. We have interesting speakers such as one who described leprosy in the modern age and how it was being overcome now, we have someone giving us a demonstration of Eco Printing in May, another upcoming Talk will be on the Christine Keeler scandal at Cliveden which is only a few miles from here, an ex policeman described some of the unusual arrests he has made, so plenty of variety.

We have a Summer Show in August from Crafts, to Cakes, to Poetry. Recently some members volunteered a short talk on various subjects, I told them about my grandfather who was a Music Hall artist and my grandmother who was his scriptwriter.

Last week we had a small coach take us to a local Manor House for a Tour and scones and jam.