Women's Institute (WI)

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Women's Institute (WI)

Bagshot WI

Established 1923
Cherish yesterday; dream for tomorrow; but live for today

Bagshot WI meet at St Anne’s Parish Hall on the first Thursday of every month at 2.15pm. After the business there is a speaker and sometimes a slide show. Tea, cakes and time to chat with other members follow this. There is also a bookstall and opportunity to buy raffle tickets. Twice a year members are encouraged to ‘Bring and Buy’.

Other regular mid-week activities are:

Scrabble
Rummikub
Outings
Theatre Visits
Lunch Club

Committee Members 2010

Gret Woodason - President (01276 479419)
Carolyn Norman - Secretary (01276 471192)
Barbara King - Minute Secretary (01276 472773)
Angela Jones
Marion Jones
Doreen Nash
Pat Randles
Kathy Smith
Ruth Stockley
Celia Waller

Programme 2010

JANUARY 7th: Members' meeting, raffle & bring & buy
FEBRUARY 4th: Major Paul Whittle - Rock Steady - The Gibraltar Story 1704-2004, raffle
MARCH 4th: Mr D James – Tales of the Paranormal, raffle
APRIL 1st: 87th Birthday party, Mr Maddy - ‘Magic Show’, raffle
MAY 6th: Ploughman's lunch at 12.45pm prior to Resolutions, raffle & display of old WI photographs
JUNE 3rd, Sharon Cross - Curator Surrey Heath Museum ‘Open All Hours’ - slides or PowerPoint, raffle
JULY 1st: Mr Ken Dalston - ‘That’s The Way To Do It’ Experiences of a Punch and Judy Man, raffle
AUGUST 5th: Garden party, raffle
SEPTEMBER 2nd: Mr P Durrant - History and Humour of Fleet Street, raffle & bring & buy
OCTOBER 7th: Sarah Fordham - Tales of a Blue Badge Guide ‘They’re Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace’, raffle
NOVEMBER 4th: Annual meeting, raffle
DECEMBER 2nd: Christmas party , raffle

Group and Federation Calendar 2010

Chobham Ridges Group Meetings

Thursday 25th March 2010 - Mytchett at 2pm
Thursday 28th October 2010 - Lightwater at 2pm

Surrey Federation Council Meetings

Annual Council Meeting: Monday 22nd March 2010 - Dorking Halls, Dorking at 10.30am
Autumn Federation Meeting: Monday 27th September 2010 - Dorking Halls, Dorking at 10.30am

General Information about the WI

Bagshot WI is one of 170 WIs in the Surrey Federation of WIs. There are 6 morning, 69 afternoon and 95 evening meetings, some of which are just over the border of other counties, which is why it is called Surrey Federation and not County. The WIs are divided into 25 groups that vary widely, with over 600 members in the largest group down to 200 in the smallest. No matter what their size, Groups help to form a vital part of WI life. All Groups arrange at least two meetings each year, the Spring Meeting and the Annual Meeting in the Autumn. Many hold summer meetings and organise outings.

The Groups are run by the Group Convenor, the Assistant Convenor, the Treasurer and the WI Presidents within the Group. They form a valuable communication link between the members, the Federations and the National Federation, based in London.

Bagshot is in the Chobham Ridges Group that includes Lightwater, Windlesham, Bisley, and Mytchett WIs.

Each WI hosts the Group Meetings in turn and eight - ten members are invited from each of the other WIs and as many as wish to attend from the host WI. Business is dealt with and a special speaker/entertainer is booked. The meeting concludes with tea or supper, depending on the time of day.

Bagshot WI Millennium Planter

In 1999 when Celia Waller, one of our new committee members, suggested that we donate a planter to Bagshot and place it in the square for the millennium, it sounded too big a project for us to handle. In fact just talking about it, the obstacles became bigger! So we asked her to go away and investigate the idea. To our surprise she returned the following month armed, not only with catalogues of planters, but having met with a councillor from the Parish council and an officer from Borough, who were taking the idea seriously and willing to give us all the advice we needed.

She handed it all over to Gret Woodason, our President. We applied for a Millennium Grant from Surrey Heath Borough Council, and it was granted, we asked Windlesham Parish Council to consider us for a donation, and they sent us a very nice cheque. We were very grateful to both.

We asked our WI members if they would give donations towards the planter and they were very happy to, with a great response for which we again were very grateful. After discussions with David Ogilvie in Scotland, the planter was designed and the logo agreed. We then realised it matched the Jubilee Lamp so the Bagshot Society very graciously agreed that our cast iron planter could replace their concrete one which would be replaced strategically in the square. We were very grateful to the Bagshot Society for allowing us to do this.

There was a delay with the delivery of the planter and Arthur Waller and Tim Price were on standby all day, then with the driver and only a tail-lift truck and some metal bars, they managed to re-locate and position both planters. They did have to hold up the traffic, including a police car, but everyone obeyed them and the work was accomplished. The following day Celia & Arthur Waller did the planting up ready for the afternoon ceremony we had planned for all who had supported us in this venture. To mark this special occasion we asked the Mayor, Ken Pedder, to attend and of course the press. We also felt it would be good to invite the clergy to pray for the planter and Bagshot. In the letter we sent to the clergy, we wrote this about the planter: ‘Our desire is that it will be protected against vandalism and that it will bring pleasure to all who live or work in, or travel through Bagshot.’

We then suggested that at the end of the proceedings a blessing could be given over the WI, the mayor and councils, the press and Bagshot itself. Between the three of them they did pray for all the above.