WI Support Team
TEAM LEADER: Helen Ainley
We have 4 WI Advisers
We all help and support WIs throughout Nottinghamshire - we can start a new WI, help an existing WI, and will put on training events for new Presidents, Secretaries and Treasurers.
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If you would like to join one of our WIs in Nottinghamshire or start a new WI, Please contact the County Office 01636 673550 or email: secretary@nottswi.org.uk
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2024
APRIL
Gosh! How can we be into April already? I am still finding pine needles from the Christmas tree in the oddest of places! As you are reading this, we will have held our Annual Federation Meeting at Southwell Minster School, if you were there you will have heard me speak about the WI Support Team’s new initiative for this year, our Coffee Shop Visits.
Last year we opened Federation House in Newark for any members to come along and visit, have a look around, meet the Trustees and find out a little more about your Federation, which went very well. Following on from this we thought it would be good to come out to you in your villages and towns to meet casually for a coffee and a chat so on Wednesday 8 May we will be at The Nuthall, Nottingham from 10am-12noon, 12 June at Welbeck Nursery from 10am-12noon and 2 July at The Rushley from 11am-12.30pm. We, as your Support Team would like to get to know you better so you feel you have a stronger connection to your Federation. You may want to just join us for a chat, or you may have questions that we can hopefully answer for you. Either way we would like you to feel that we are an approachable bunch and not as we sometimes hear when we visit WI’s, “Oh no the Advisers here, we must be in trouble!” Yes, we do visit WIs if there are problems, but we also enjoy visiting you as fellow WI members to see how well you are doing and giving friendship and fellowship to your members. We have a problem though... we don’t know where all the good coffee shops are, and this is where you come in, please will you let us know where they are so we can arrange a visit? You can contact me directly at helenainley@nottswi.org.uk or Federation Office as usual.
MARCH
Well, here we are already in March and the start of Spring is on Tuesday 19th. I wonder if you are like me and looking at those spring cleaning jobs that need keeping up to date with? If you are a Trustee of your WI one of your jobs may be making sure that all your WI details are up to date. Did you know that if you change the name of your WI, the venue for your meetings, the date of meeting or the time of meeting you first need to seek your members’ permission? You can do this by a show of hands with a majority of three quarters of those present and then ask permission from the Federation. You might ask why there is a need to seek permission from the Federation, this is so we hold the correct information about your WI and can update the changes in the Yearbook. We understand there is always a sound reason for making these changes which benefit your members and their enjoyment of your WI. As always, the WI Support Team are here for you if you need any assistance, you can contact me at helenainley@nottswi.org.uk or ring Federation Office.
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Be BOLD, Be INCLUSIVE, Be FLEXIBLE and GROW
Be BOLD – Have you had a speaker talking about the achievement of a woman? Has your WI offered members the opportunity to do something different?
Be INCLUSIVE – Are you really friendly and welcoming to new members or do you have to sit where and with whom you always sit?
Be FLEXIBLE – Have you surveyed your members to see if the time and place of meetings, including committee meetings and activities, are convenient for everybody?
GROW – Is your WI on Facebook and is it used well for promotion? If not, apply for funding from your local MP and for 3- 6 months send out a newsletter to 50-100 houses in the area.
These are just a few suggestions, we bet you can think of and do more.
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Data Protection for ALL members. When sending out emails to more than one WI member it is important that you put all recipients in BCC (blind carbon copy) not CC, as you are breaching data protection by showing other members’ email addresses. We are sure that everyone knows that members’ emails are for WI business only.
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How many committee meetings should be held in a year. The constitution says a minimum of 6 meetings a year should be held. However, your WI may well need more meetings in order to keep up to date with news and events and of course planning for your main meetings may take some time. Remember the saying that "If you fail to plan then you plan to fail". I am sure that doesn't affect your WI but planning is an essential part of running a good WI and this is generally done at your WI Committee meetings.
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Question
My new member hasn't received WI Life why is this?
Answer.
In order to receive WI Life your new members' details need to be added to the MCS register with a date of joining. After her details are added she will start receiving WI Life, she will receive a New members pack from the Federation via her email or the Hornblower envelope sent to your WI and she will also receive a new member pack sent to her from National but only if her details are put on within three months of her joining. It is important that the MCS is kept up to date not only by adding new members but deleting members who are no longer in your WI.
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