Micheldever WI

So far for the members of Micheldever WI, and all of the other WIs in the UK, it has been a year of voting. Last month I mentioned the first two votes of the year, the results of both have now been submitted to the Hampshire Federation and gone forward to the NFWI (National Federation of WIs) for collation together with the votes from all around the country. The vote on the amendments to the WI Constitution and other documents which will allow for virtual meetings and voting in the future was accepted by the membership. Now there will be more meetings so that this can become part of our legal documentation.

From Hampshire WIs, the vote on the 2021/22 resolution was a resounding selection of the proposal to campaign on raising awareness of the signs of ovarian cancer. Again, these results have been submitted to NFWI and at the time of writing the overall result has not been published. Whichever option, or possibly two, are chosen there will be another vote to ratify the campaign.

Having successfully completed these votes members now have the opportunity to select which nominees will be elected as members of the Board of the NFWI. Nominations are welcome from any WI in the UK and elections are held every two years. This year there are seventeen candidates for twelve places and voting ends on the 31 March.

At Federation level, many events and meetings are now being held through virtual platforms such as Zoom and Teams. Unfortunately, this way is not fully inclusive of all members and the WI team of Advisers are working hard to help less IT confident members, but unfortunately their hands are tied where computers and iPad are not available and in areas of unreliable broadband.

Many WIs have joined with other organisations to take part in February’s ‘Show the Love’ Campaign to raise awareness of the effects of climate change. Green hearts are the symbol of this campaign which is organised by The Climate Coalition. Many WIs make these hearts for distribution in their areas and virtual talks and meetings are organised together with sending letters to MPs urging them to take urgent action to protect our natural environment before it is too late.

The WI is also renewing their call for people to register as stem cell donors. At present only 2% of people in the UK are registered but every 20 minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer. A stem cell transfusion from a matching donor can save lives but unfortunately a lack of donors mean that many matches are not made. The WI ‘Make a Match’ Campaign is ongoing. It is easy to register by visiting either of these websites–dkms.org.uk/thewi or anthonynolan. org/WI. Please do not hesitate if you feel that you are able to help.

A new quiz from another Winchester WI has just popped into my mailbox so I thought I would share it with you – here are the questions:

Characters and Places from Myths and Legend 1. A measurement of precious metals 2. Goddess of the Moon 4