what's your WI like?

Ours is small, only about 18 members. We have regular speakers along with quiz nights, fish and chip suppers and craft evenings. Speakers often comment on what a lovely friendly group we are.

When we moved to a new area I thought I woukd join the WI to get to know people, they were very welcoming, asked whet interests I had etc etc, then asked me to judge the craft competition, so I selected the one I thought was the best and all I could hear was, huh she always wins, why didn’t she choose someone else. I was so embarrassed I didnt go back.

One of our best speakers was the head of security at an international airport . He was very interesting, informative and very, very funny telling us stories of various “security issues” over the years .

Does anyone know where the local north east wi is? Washington/ gateshead area?

There are two WIs in my village - each holds their meeting in the village hall. One has been going a very long time and seems full of older ladies and I think their numbers are dwindling. The other was started a few years ago and is much more lively. The age group seems to be from middle-age to, I would guess, around eighty.

I decided to join this newer one and thought it would be a good way to extend the number of people I know in the village. I made enquiries and the very friendly president invited me to attend as a guest to see if I liked it. I was made very welcome, but I was astonished to find that, out of a membership of around sixty-five, only one other lives in our village. Members come from several miles away in all directions, because this WI is so popular. Then I found that they already have the maximum number of members they are allowed to have in the hall, because of insurance or something, and there were already people waiting to join, so I'd have to go on a waiting list and would be contacted when there was room. After waiting a year the president got in touch and said she was sorry I was having to wait so long, so I could go to all the monthly meetings as a guest if I'd like to, and on special outings, although I probably couldn't join in any of the separate groups as yet. So, I've been attending as a guest and am looking forward to being able to join some of the groups. In December I will have been waiting two years! But I think I might be at the top of the waiting list now.

Here's what it says about my WI on its website:
'As well as attending the main meeting each month, members have the opportunity to take part in a range of activities including crafts, walking, reading and going to see films. We do very little jam-making, and only sing ‘Jerusalem’ occasionally. Our members enjoy visits out, often with lunch, coffee or tea and a lot of chatter! We are keen to educate ourselves in the most enjoyable way possible so talks and demonstrations form part of our year.'

Very boring, about 20+ regular members but they are very much a clique, we have had a good speakers, but these seem to be a rarity these days.

It makes me so cross when I hear of cliquey WI’s. It should never be like that, they need a WI Advisor in there to sort. We are a very small group so need to be proactive in the village in order to attract members or let people know we exist, we hold our own flower and veg show each year, have open meetings, have provided and care for a large planter outside the village hall, we are not invisible, I think some WI’s keep to low a profile, we really are all inclusive and if a new member feels uncomfortable then they should let the County Federation know. What do others think?

Our group is not the WI, but Merched y Wawr (a Welsh movement for the furthering of women's issues and the preservation of the Welsh language) has members 50 - 80 years of age. Some of them look down on others who are not university educated. Others who are regulars are passive members who will never take part or take an officer's post. I of course am the perfect member!!!!

My WI has 30 members between 20s-60s. At 50 I’m in the old bracket. It’s all about making friends and friendship really.

interesting mix of replies on this but am glad most have had positive feelings.Yes, WI's vary wildy, both in demographic and in friendliness, and I have experienced that myself, having been a member for around 35 years in different places.
tell me more about Acme Whistles.....we need to get that act booked asap.
my present WI [Oxfordshire Federation] doesn't sing Jerusalem and we keep the business side as brief as we can.
we do plenty of baking though nobody is forced to it.
there is a book group attached, a craft group, and we do the usual things of a stall at the Summer Fete, and special events mornings for all the village to attend.It would be great if anyone under 40 would join, but we did have a few visitors younger than most of us, who came along to the last meeting.
speakers, as you will all know, can be a mixed bunch.Even when the subject sounds really interesting, a poor speaker can leave most people screaming silently for them to come to an end, and vice versa.

if new to a town\village and on joining WI I have found that becoming a committee member is the way to become known to most women in the group, and most committees always need new blood, so have a go.

Great to hear about WI’s which are thriving. Ours was only formed about 5 years ago by two young mums. We now have around 50 at each meeting. My 29year old daughter and some of her friends have joined. We have offshoot clubs such as a book club, walking group, cake club, craft group and have just acquired an allotment. Most speakers are entertaining, and we have a lot of interactive topics such as dancing or crafts. I organised a trip to the Emma Bridgewater factory earlier this year. A fabulous day out, thoroughly recommended. I think you get out of WI what you put in!

Well, I documented my experience in a blog when I used to do talks.

'The other day, while travelling up to see my mother in the Rhondda Valley, I was reminded of a trip I took last year to Aberglasney with the WI. Hubby was driving, which gave me lots of time to talk about it to my captive audience of one. He was laughing so much, he said I should share those moments and write a blog. So here it is. Don’t worry about the spelling – it’s meant to be like that.
It was early May and my mother, Irene, rang to ask if I fancied a trip up to Aberglasney and the Botanic gardens. The WI were running it and it was only a fiver. A fiver!!! What a treat, I thought. I had to be at my mother’s house by 8.30 a.m. as the 52 seater bus would be picking us up at nine from the bus stop at the corner of the street. So, I set off from Cardiff, making my way to Treherbert, an hour or so away. I was taking a chance, if there were any road works on the way, then it could take me an hour and half – and there’s only one way in, and one way out that far up the valley, so no escape routes or alternatives. Luckily for me, it was a straight run (in that I mean there were no hold ups – the roads are anything but straight) and I arrived at 8.30 a.m. as promised.
‘Cuppa tea?’ my mother asks a soon as I sat down near the telly, which was on, QVC - again.
‘Have you been watching this all night?’
‘No, I’ve just put it on. D’yew want tea?’
‘No thanks. I don’t like drinking loads of tea before a bus journey. And you shouldn’t either. You know you’ll want to ‘go’ as soon as we get to the bus stop.’
‘Yes. I’d better go again now just in case.’
We walked up to the bus stop. It was dull, misty and raining. This particular bus stop evokes many childhood memories of all the ‘mystery’ bus trips we took; the journeys to Butlins and the lights in Blackpool. They all started here, and it always seemed to be raining. Today was no different.
We were soon joined by a couple of old ladies, of whom I had a vague recollection.
‘iya ‘reen. ‘ow are u luv?’
Reenee, Irenee or ‘reen, that’s what all my mother’s mates call her, all of which she hates but nobody takes any notice.
‘Not so baad Peggy. ‘ow are u? Is yewer leg bettuh?’
‘Oh not so baad ‘reen. Is this yewer daughter then?’
‘Yes, this is my eldest daughter. She’s a garden designer.’
‘Oooh luvlee. Nice to meet yew. I remember yew when yew was a little girl. She’s keepin’ blonde int she ‘reen?’
Here comes the bus. The windows are steamed up already and, as I took my seat I could see, I mean hear, why. It was only half full but the noise of loud high pitched chattering from twenty five open mouths was enough to steam up a sauna without any hot coals.
‘iya ‘reen.’
‘iya Betty’
‘iya ‘reen’
‘iya gwen’
‘iya ‘reen. Is that yewer daughter then?’
‘iya Mary. Yes, this is my eldest daughter. She’s a garden designer.’
‘Oooh luvlee. She’s keepin’ blonde int she ‘reen?’
And so it went on. All the way up the valley until, at ten o’clock, we started the long climb up the Rhigos mountain over to Neath. It would take us about an hour and a half to Aberglasney, and I was already exhausted by the constant bags of sweets being handed around.
‘Mint ‘umbug ‘reen?’
‘No thanks luv. I’ve got some sherbert lemons.’
‘Dew dew, sherbert lemons? Dew all the old one are coming back in they?’
‘IF ANYONE IS FEELING SICK I’VE GOT A BAG OF BARLEY SUGARS ‘ERE.’ someone screamed.
Clearing the window with my sleeve, I pressed my face against the window to try and see how far we’d got. I had a headache. Why is it women’s voices rise and rise to a shrill and ends up in an almost scream when they are talking?
Two hours later…the driver had taken a wrong turn, so instead of visiting the Botanic gardens first we ended up in Aberglasney instead.
Buses have to line up along the narrow road to the gardens, so that meant a short walk. The idea of a short walk was met with groans and sighs and the waving of walking sticks.
The first building we came to was…the toilets. Fifty one women scrabbled to get in there first. I guessed it was going to a long wait for them all to emerge, so I sat on a bench and pondered what I had done. I was itching to get on and see the gardens.
The next building, after the gift shop was…the tea room. I wanted to wander around so I left mother with the ‘girls’ (as she calls them). I returned an hour later where they were still guzzling tea and scoffing pastries.
‘Come an’ ‘ave some tea luv!’
This is a classic tea and pee trip I thought. Why do they have to drink bloody tea all the time?
Finally, there was half an hour before the bus was to take us to the botanic gardens and, as we made our way across the Cloister Garden, one of the party fell over. It was all screams and hysterical shouting. Gwen looked just as grey as the gravel she was now lying on.
‘Ooh look at ‘er face! She’s white as sheet!’
‘GET SOME ‘ELP! ‘EY, YEW OVER ‘ERE – YES YEW – WAITER –YES YEW! GERROVER ‘ERE! QUIIIICK! QUIIICK!!!’
As a trained first aider, I stepped into the breach.
‘Move back now ladies. Give her some air please.’ After checking for obvious breaks and attending to the scratches as best I could with the first aid kit the waiter bought, Gwen’s colour returned to her face.
The waiter had also brought some water and, when she was ready, we managed to heave her up. She was not a small lady.
The rest of the party stood around with wide eyes and worried hands clasped over open mouths, whispering and gasping at the same time.
We finally made it to the botanic gardens, where most of them took the little truck ride up to the glass dome. More teas, more pees.
At 4 p.m. we started the journey back. On arrival at Treherbert, mother volunteered my services as the local taxi.
‘You’ll take Betty up to the ‘ouse, won’t you.’ This was not a question. This was not a request. This was a demand. I smiled weakly between clenched teeth.
It happened to be a place we used to call ‘The Ranch’ as kids. It was a council estate situated on a very steep hillside.
Dropping her off, I drove up to the end of the street to turn the car around. Some kids were up to no good and, on spotting my car, decided to throw stones at it. Some things never change!

I shall return to Aberglasney again…I may get to see a bit more of it next time!'

Tried the local WI. Not for me, too much Cake and Jerusalem.

blue60 I could hear the accent and imagine the ladies as I read your post.

I am planning to move to a smaller town and thought that joining the WI would be a good way to get to know people. It rather puts me off to hear that WI can be cliquey. I thought they would be better than that.
I will still try them and see if perhaps I will be lucky and it will be more welcoming

My WI was started about 5 years ago by a gruop of younger women. I think our ages range from mid to late thirties up to late seventies. We have evening meetings in a constitutional club which has very reasonably priced drinks! We never sing Jerusalem. We have interesting meetings with good speaker, like an a man from an Italian drinks company, lovely cocktails! We've had speakers from the police, paramedics and also had beauty evenings. It's a very good way to meet new people. We have about eighty members.

There are so very many ladies' organisations. WI is only one of them. I don't like going out in the evenings but make an exception for talks. The afternoon groups I've been to have been on days that I already have a regular commitment (but make exceptions for talks)! Retired life is sooooo busy!

I thought about joining the local WI many years ago but it became a Countrywomen's Association (not sure why, I think there was a bit of a dispute nationwide). So I never joined, it didn't have the same 'ring' about it as WI but they seem to do similar things.

Chewbacca and others I'm sorry your WI is so unfriendly! Not at all what we're about!

I joined about 4 years ago and have been president for 2! We are a small WI in our village (35 members) but very friendly, no sitting in the same seats with the same people for us. We have great speakers and monthly competitions (normally themed around the speaker and season) as well as two outings a year.

I used to go to one in a village.
It was run by the same people that run everything in the village. As you go into the hall they have a series of tables and you are expected to go to them in order to be divested of money for that session, donate a raffle prize and buy a ticket. Extra tabkes are added as needed if it's time to renew membership or there's something extra (e.g. a trip) to pay for. Woe before you if you don't have the right money for each thing. You can't take say a £20 and say it's for several things as they are all dealt with separately.

Where I live now there's supposed to be a great one but I've been put off!!

I'm a bit at how expensive WI is. £42.00 per year membership, plus £12.00 per year contributions for tea/coffee, plus the inevitable raffle tickets. I've just found out today that when I added my name to a list to say that I was interested in going to an event, it was actually a firm commitment and I now owe another £27.00.
I've been told that only 50% of the annual subs of £42.00 stays with the local group and the remainder goes to the WI HQ in London. Is this correct? And, if so, what do they spend that £21 that every member in the country pays? It must be a vast amount of money And I can't imagine what they do with all that. Does any long standing member know?

Blue60 that is brilliant. That is exactly how I imagine the trips are that my mother goes on, including the ‘accident’.

I am not a member as I dont live in the UK, but I am fortunate to be able to attend meetings when I visit the UK, my good neighbour takes me as a guest,I have beem so many times I am treated as one of the members, they are a very friendly group I always feel welcome, there I have found new friends who I pass the time of day with when out in the village.I think the WI is a fantastic way in which to become part of the community.

Blue60 that's very funny and sounds a bit like the trips I used to go on (although I was one of the ones always needing the loo!)

Blue a funny account of a grand day out.
it could be any elderly group on a trip.Thankfully, have never been on one like that [may be ready for that in about 20 years] or not, as the case might be.

Nanny41 that's nice for you, mostWI's are welcoming places, and if not, certainly should be.

people can shop around for a WI, as most villages seem to have one, to find one that suits.