If you haven't been I recommend it highly, very well organised especially from Norfolk.
There were over eighty from Norfolk on two comfortable coaches. Quite a long journey to Liverpool but with a couple of comfort and coffee breaks we arrived just before 5pm at the Adelphi Hotel in the centre of Liverpool, within walking distance of the Echo Arena on the waterfront where the meeting was held.
The Adelphi is an old hotel full of marble, mirrors and chandeliers, and is where first class passengers would stay while waiting for ships to America (including the Titanic).
We had time to freshen up before a reception and dinner. We had a beautiful dining room and all the tables had been named for Norfolk. Hilary and I sat at Crabbie Cromer table, Lesley and Joan on Cobblers. Others were named Canaries, The Broads, NFN, Madder Market, Hot Stuff, Sunny Hunny and Thas’ Bootiful. A very good meal and very good company.
The coach picked us up after breakfast to take us to the Echo Arena, observers in one door and delegates and officials in the door on the Mersey side. The arena soon filled with the 3,500 members of WIs , and guests, from all over England and Wales. There was a very big screen at the front so that everyone could see the speaker.
The meeting was opened by the Chair Janice Langley, and we were welcomed to Liverpool by the Mayor, Joe Anderson.
Following the agenda there was the appointment of the tellers and then the adoption of the standing orders.
Janice reviewed the years since she had become Chair in 2013 and they had included the centenary year celebrations. She spoke of the increase in membership and of new WIs, and also the launch of the new WI website which was on June 12th 2017.
The website will be user-friendly and include help; projects; textile archive; food and garden; skills; cups and challenges; and courses. It will be for use on computer, tablet and smartphone.
Over the year £36,000 has been raised for Denman and next year 2018 a book will be published, ’70 years of Denman’.
Next to speak was Julia Roberts, Treasurer. She stated that the income from WI membership, Denman, and WI Enterprises was £7.18 million and the expenditure on upkeep and running was £7.01 million. There was growth from increased membership and from Denman bookings, and small growth from WI Enterprises owing to new product costs.
Julia said that according to a survey carried out that 88% of members thought the membership fee was value for money.
Resolution – Alleviating Loneliness
There followed a lively discussion after the proposal and the expert opinions. Points from the delegates included taking in to account that it is not just the elderly who suffer but also children, young adults, and new mums as well; that it was perhaps not a cause for legislation but more a coming alongside in the community.
For – 4334
Against – 1919
The speaker for the morning was Jo Fairley of Green & Black’s chocolate.
Jo was not particularly ambitious at school just enjoyed school. At careers day while friends were keen to be lawyers and doctors, she said she would like to be a secretary. Her teacher said she would eat her hat if she even achieved that.
This spurred Jo on and she worked hard and became a journalist and the youngest editor of Womans World. By then she had married and her husband’s business was Wholefoods. She was keen on chocolate and he encouraged her to build up, market and finance the product. She was inspired and mentored by Anita Roddick (Body Shop), one of her mottoes being ‘Doing good is good for business’.
She called the chocolate Green & Blacks – green for organic, black for the darkest chocolate with the & which sounded as though it had been established in the 1800s.
She gave out a press release to old colleagues from her
journalist days which stated ‘Guilt-free chocolate….well almost’ along with samples. This was the first Fairtrade chocolate and became £100m per annum turnover business.
The story of the source of the chocolate, the improvement of the lives of the villagers and workers is told on the inside of the wrappers. This resulted in better education for the children, better housing and healthier foods for them all.
She told us that for success, you must work hard, have fun, and have good teamwork.
Presentations
The Lady Denman Cup was won by Carol Walden
The Huxley Cup by Ann Willetts
The Elizabeth Bell Challenge by Jenny Shaw.
During the lunch break of one and a half hours, there was time to eat, converse and visit the exhibition stands. A few members even had time to visit the Beatles Museum next door!
Next on the agenda were two constitutional (Ordinary) resolutions – Federations to become Incorporated and Federations to become Charitable Incorporated Organisations. Both were passed.
Resolution – Plastic Soup
Expert speaker Dr Natalie Welden of the Open University Research Department spoke most passionately about the damage and quantity of plastic in the oceans.
The way forward is to educate and encourage individuals, manufacturing companies, water plants and government to act.
Research, water plant filtration, washing machine filters and less use of man-made fibre clothing materials were some suggestions.
For – 6132
Against – 157
The guest speaker for the afternoon was Susie Dent of Countdown fame amongst other things.
Susie told us that she learnt to read at an early age and would read anything from shampoo bottles to cereal packets, and on car journeys would take a dictionary to read and learn
new words. She has degrees in English and German and was encouraged to learn that many schools are teaching etymology.
The English spellings are a minefield but actually the spelling helps tell the history of the word. For example ghost and ghastly had no ‘h’ until Caxton employed Flemish printers.
Connections between words are not always obvious until you look further – true, betroth, trust and truce are from the same root but so is tree. Steadfast, upright, solid, real. You can see why.
Tweets and texts by (mostly) young people are not always bad because often you have to know the rules of grammar and spelling to be able to manipulate them.
Some words from other languages cannot be directly translated but need a sentence or two. Hugge is a recent Scandinavian word. Another new one is ‘lagom’ which means – not too much, not too little, but just right.
Susie was very pleased to have picked up a new word from a WI member who said while discussing hobbies that she enjoyed knitting, crochet, sewing and was ‘bi-stitchual’!
The new board was elected and the meeting ended with retiring Chair Janice Langley’s remarks including that the WI makes life better for women, therefore for their families, learning new skills, experiencing new things, education and opportunity. The new website will help further this even more.
To close we had some great 60s music from ‘The Retro’s’ which had many dancing in the aisles.
We sang Jerusalem, Land of My Fathers (in Welsh with phonetics), and the National Anthem.
The drivers for the Norfolk coaches picked us up and then took us on a tour of Liverpool to see many of the sights – a
lovely bonus.
We travelled home the next day, stopping at Boundary Mills retail outlet and arrived home in Norwich about 5.30pm, tired but happy.
