WI Memberships (?)

We do have a WI in the local village I have the impression by people who wanted to join it’s a closed shop. If you don’t volunteer for everything that’s going on in the immediate area. If you don’t attend church apparently you are not going on the waiting list so I have been told. I don’t know if it is true as I have never had time to consider joining the WI.

There are walking clubs here I joined one years ago but do prefer to go for walks when it suits me and I don’t like idle gossip. I was always involved in fund raising for our school and other local charities. I still do charity work but my time now is retirement interests gardening and GC.

My WI is great and I suspect I am the oldest member!!!
I would just turn up at the next meeting as a guest and see if it is for you! We don’t sing Jerusalem it eat ham but have lots of varied meetings plus other groups such as book group, garden groups
Please give them a go !!

I meant jam not ham !!
Plus Denman was sold after CoVID so women don’t go on xoensuve courses anymore

it is true that many of the branches have shut due to falling numbers. one group i belonged to consisted mainly of people in their 70s and 80s so as that is 18 years ago i would be suprised if it is still going.
as it is run by volunteers and many are busy doing all sorts of other things emails can be overllooked; often people who do the admin are called upon to do lots of other jobs.
i am about to join the WI in our town; its quite a good group with lots of good talks and they also meet up for a coffee monthly as well.
i have gone on lovely trips including Kew gardens and meeting the author Jilly Cooper, i used to enjoy the magazine too

I think NWR may be the way to go. I am in the process of setting up a new group in my area. They are more open ended than WI which I know isn't for me and less restrictive than U3A.

Susieq62

I meant jam not ham !!
Plus Denman was sold after CoVID so women don’t go on xoensuve courses anymore

I didn’t know that but two neighbours went there many times in recent years.

I’ve tried a few WIs. Found the majority unwelcoming to solo new members, ie you need to either join with a friend or have a friend who is already a member.
As with any organisation, there are members who want things to “happen” but aren’t willing to put any effort in to make them happen.

Aged 70+ and having moved to be near my daughter and her family I went to our local WI meeting Woodley Central who meet once a month and was warmly welcomed.
Being an evening meeting a lot of the women were wives,mothers and singletons most also had jobs.
It was before Covid and I very much enjoyed hearing different talks on very varied subjects followed by teas,coffee and cake and another activity such as an easy craft idea or a quiz.
I would came home feeling happy and realised I had been in a vibrant but caring group with much laughter.
Come the Covid lockdown the committee really swung into action and made sure members weren’t left isolated and giving assistance to anyone needing help with Zoom.
When we returned to hall meetings again it was marvellous to meet members we had got to know only on the screen and have become firm friends.
I do hope my enthusiasm for finding such a wonderful WI group will balance out the negativity in entries above.
Generally I avoid war films but really enjoyed the TV series Home Fires which charts the importance of WI village life during WW2 .
When the 3rd series wasn’t televised I bought the final Simon Blocks books.

Jackiest

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.

I think what that is telling us is that there are some good groups for men in U3A, whereas men usually find it difficult to join in with groups. We support unpaid carers and only have 6 men out of 100 women on our books, yet we have excellent speakers, good activities for everyone and some brilliant socials for everyone. It is really hard to attract the men, so U3A are obviously doing something very right. If I knew what it is I would copy it for sure.

win

Jackiest

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.

I think what that is telling us is that there are some good groups for men in U3A, whereas men usually find it difficult to join in with groups. We support unpaid carers and only have 6 men out of 100 women on our books, yet we have excellent speakers, good activities for everyone and some brilliant socials for everyone. It is really hard to attract the men, so U3A are obviously doing something very right. If I knew what it is I would copy it for sure.

I thought men liked joining groups?

Probus, Round Table, Veterans Groups, and, of course, the Masons. Rotary has more male membership than female.

WI's seem to have been declining for many years. Could it be because women have changed and their organisation hasn't moved with the times? or could it be the cost? (our local one is nearly 3 times the cost of our u3a), or is it their attitude? I once phoned our local one to ask if our u3a could put a poster in their shop window to advertise something we were doing, (they own the building I think but were no longer using it as a WI shop and it was just being hired out at an extortionate price to pop up shops etc). When the lady I spoke to eventually got back to me after asking her Committee there was a resounding "no" - (we would have paid for the privilege) as they felt we clashed. My view was that we all serve our Community so there should be a spirit of co-operation, not competition. I would definitely not want to belong to an organisation that felt the need to be so protective/competitive.
Our u3a is growing and we have now started concentrating of having a more active social side alongside our groups, workshops and learning activities. New members seem to be flocking in - although we still have the perennial problem of getting people to join the Committee, so unless this gets rectified, even a successful organisation may eventually fall by the wayside!

Just turn up. What’s the worst that can happen?

As a dual member of 2 neighbouring WI's the best idea is to turn up and see what that particular group is like. You can go to 3 meetings at a WI before making a decision whether or not to join. Go and visit all the accessible ones to you. WI's can be very different so it depends what your interests are. I love the WI which is non-political and non-religious but very accepting of everyone. Good luck with your search. a quarter of a million women can't be wrong.

Redhead56

We do have a WI in the local village I have the impression by people who wanted to join it’s a closed shop. If you don’t volunteer for everything that’s going on in the immediate area. If you don’t attend church apparently you are not going on the waiting list so I have been told. I don’t know if it is true as I have never had time to consider joining the WI.

There are walking clubs here I joined one years ago but do prefer to go for walks when it suits me and I don’t like idle gossip. I was always involved in fund raising for our school and other local charities. I still do charity work but my time now is retirement interests gardening and GC.

That is definitely not the way a WI ought to be run. It is a non-religious and non-political organisation so 'going to church' should never be a reason to turn someone away. It sounds as if the WI you mention has become rather cliquey and have their own agenda. A WI Advisor needs to visit them!

Approaching retirement I was eager to become involved with community groups. I telephoned our village WI group to see about attending a meeting, to be asked my age, having said 66 the woman responded negatively by say oh! we are wanting to encourage younger people. Needless to say I did not bother. Very disappointed with that response. Surely everyone no matter what age have something to contribute to any group.

Calendargirl

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.

This is exactly why many WI branches are closing, not the nonsense about permitting transwomen. Every year we have the same problem, and we have a large 52 member club; the majority are happy to turn up, be entertained, go home, and are not prepared to help with the running of it at all.

Having looked at our local one by checking their FB pages, man making balloon animals, crooners evening - BYO bottle, I joined the local U3A instead.

I am a past president of a WI and no longer remember . I am now Vice chair of our local Townswomens Guild. The format is very much the same as WI But very much more down to earth And no we don't accept trans women!

Try Townswomen’s Guild, always sure of a welcome there.

As NanKate says, WIs may differ widely, try some and see what suits. Near here there are several, I know a few who liked one, but not not another?!

There's also a monthly group, just called 'Wives', that has meetings with speakers, a regular coffee morning, an occasional walk, or an outing for a pub lunch, etc. I went once for a speaker that sounded interesting, but their meetings sadly clash with other things I do. Their attendance is I gather quite a bit higher than any local WI group!

Oh, and did someone mention the Denman (WI) College (about 10 miles from Oxford?) -- I believe that closed a year or two ago?

Primrose53

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.

The residential courses at Denman ceased in 2020 so I wonder where the ladies of your local WI have been going ?

Anyone can join a second U3A, by paying half of the first subscription. This works for me because I live in a small town and there are limited groups to join. Generally, it's not forward looking.
My second U3A is in a much larger town. It has a a huge variety of interesting groups to join and is generally more friendly. Yes, I have to travel to that one, but it can be worth it for a better social/ learning experience.
I'd never join a WI again. I used to live in a village and we decided to unsubscribe from the existing WI, and form our own group. The person from Head Office was furious, tried to make us take a vote, and marched off with the WI tablecloth which had been embroidered by someone in the village!

Remember U3A have groups not classes or courses

JdotJ

Primrose53

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.

The residential courses at Denman ceased in 2020 so I wonder where the ladies of your local WI have been going ?

Well it only seems 5 mins since they went! Of course we lost a couple of years with covid - that always catches me out. Whatever, they were very expensive courses but they said it was a lovely place to learn new skills.

ninamoore

Remember U3A have groups not classes or courses

Not true here in Brighton we have loads of courses that are run in a variety of topics and last for months.. I suggest looking at your local U3A lists of topics which should all be on-line