Denman College ( W.I.) has closed!

Ours was a very young and modern WI with an average age of around 35 . At 57-8 I was one of the older members .

I was a WI member up until this year when I didn’t pay my 2020 fees . It got to the point where I missed more meetings than I could go to. Denman was very expensive and way above the means of most ( in fact all of our NE ) members .

I think that the WI group that I was in was just duff to be honest lemon; very elderly members who had been there since God was a lad. Wouldn't allow the minutes to be uploaded online, nor the agenda, everything had to be done as it had in 1959. The guest speakers were soooo boring that I nodded off several times. And the final insult to injury was that I never even got the monthly magazine!

I think a great deal of women will miss it Chewbacca from all over .Yes, the courses were expensive but many were subsidised by individual WI’s and some completely free and won as a prize.
Wow! You did pay a lot for the tea and biscuit/bun at £2.
That’s up to individual WI’s of course.We pay £1 but friends in other counties pay 25p and 50p respectively.

Well, to be fair lemon it was horrendously expensive to attend any of the courses that they ran. I seem to remember that a 2 day baking course was in excess of £500, plus travel costs down there, and that's a lot for a lot of retired women on a pension. I jumped ship once the annual subs went over £40, plus the monthly subscription of £2 just for a cup of tea and a bun, which the members provided, not the WI.

But I'm sorry that you'll miss Denman College.

Just bumping this post as I can’t believe there are no WI members on here ( although it’s possible I suppose.)
Thought some GNers may have happy memories of doing a course there.