Author: crowlasludgvanwi

News from the AGM

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Lis Davies, our delegate to the NFWI Annual General Meeting held in Cardiff on Saturday, reports that the High Streets resolution passed with an 87% majority.

If you’ll recall, the resolution reads:

The NFWI notes with concern the continuing decline of our high streets and the damaging effect this has on local communities. We call on every member of the WI to support their local shops and make the high street their destination of choice for goods and services. We call on decision-makers to work collectively, at all levels, to help bring an end to the decline of our high streets and to ensure that high streets flourish and provide a focal point for local communities.

New NFWI Chair,
Janice Langley

Yesterday, NFWI Chair Ruth Bond stepped down after four years in the role. Our new chair is Janice Langley who has served as an NFWI Trustee since 2002, and most recently has served as NFWI Vice-Chair and Chair of the Membership Committee.

Speaking about the resolution, Janice said:

“This resolution has strong support from across our membership.  It’s clear to WI members that the value of our high streets and town centres is much deeper than their economic value alone.  It is not about turning back the tide, boycotting the internet and abandoning every other shopping channel, rather it is asking them to support local businesses and to think about what is on offer in their local community, and the difference their custom could make to local business survival, before turning to out-of-town shopping centres and online retailers.

“Local high streets are the heart of communities and we want to use this resolution as an opportunity to take a fresh look at what we can all do to help them adapt to meet the needs of communities and ensure they are fit for purpose in a rapidly changing world.”

Lis will make a brief presentation about her AGM experiences at our next monthly meeting on the 17th.

Tate St. Ives exhibit

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For those of you looking forward to our June lecture about the Crysede textile company, you may be interested in the Summer Exhibition at Tate St. Ives.

The exhibition, which opened just a few days ago, includes some Crysede silk scarves featuring designs by a very young Patrick Heron, whose father Tom was Manager of the company. Patrick designed his first silk scarf at the age of fourteen!

Patrick Heron, from ‘The Brushwork Series No. 3’, 1998-1999.

The exhibition runs until 29 September. Admission to Tate St. Ives is £7.00 (£4.50 for concessions) and you can visit from 10:00am to 5:00pm every day, with extended hours to 6:00pm during the school holidays.

Litter Pick at Long Rock

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This morning, a group of us faced the blustery wind and set off for Long Rock car park and beach to do some litter picking with Clean Cornwall.

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Lara from Clean Cornwall gave us our gear and a few instructions and we were off!

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Although it started as a cloudy day, the sun did come out and we all worked up a sweat. But the wind still made it very difficult to get our litter in our bags!

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Although we didn’t think it would be a particularly dirty beach, we did fill an amazingly large number of bags!

Our heap of full bags, which were collected promptly by the Council
Our heap of full bags, which were collected promptly by the Council

Let’s make this an annual event and start thinking of a spot for next spring’s litter pick!

(left to right) Alison, Wendy, Hazel, Shirley, Pam, Hilary, Gill and Sue
(left to right) Alison, Wendy, Hazel, Shirley, Pam, Hilary, Gill and Sue

You can see a few more photos here.

Coffee Beans!

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The first ever meeting of what’s now know as ‘Coffee Beans’ was held this morning at The Lime Tree at Tremenheere, and it was a great success!

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We hope this will become a casual monthly meet-up for anyone who’d like a chat over a good cup of coffee. Our aim is to visit a different independent café on the second Friday of each month.

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Come and join us next time at Scarlet Wines in Lelant at 10:30am on Friday 14 June!

A Postcard to Penzance

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postcardWith the importance of saving town centres at the front of everyone’s minds at the moment, The Exchange in Penzance is putting on ‘A Postcard to Penzance’, an evening of debate, discussion and dreams on Thursday 9 May from 6-8pm. This is a free event, but you do need to book through Eventbrite.

The Exchange describes it as:

An optimistic panel discussion in which everyone with a view on the regeneration of Penzance is invited to contribute. Guest speakers include Sarah Gaventa and Alan Boldon who will present case studies offering new thinking on the issues blighting British towns. They will be followed by local speakers with a Penzance perspective, and then the floor will be opened up to positive discussion. You are invited to bring and share your suggestions, dreams and aspirations for the future of Penzance.

If you’re on Facebook, you can follow the event here.

Please do try and get to The Exchange on the 9th. It sounds like a really important and informative evening.

NFWI Competitions

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Get those competitive juices flowing and enter!

Lady Denman Cup competition 2013

WI members are invited to write a piece starting with the line, ‘If I were … for a day, I would …’ Members are asked to fill in the blanks with a fictional account of who they would like to be for the day and what they would get up to. Entries must be no more than 500 words and the competition line must be included in the final word count. For more information and for an application form, write to CFWI (Chy Noweth an Conteth, Truro Business Park, Threemilestone, Truro TR4 9NH). The deadline for completed entries is 1 July. The Cup will be presented to the winner at the 2014 AGM and book tokens will be given as prizes to the national winners: 1st prize: to the value of £75, 2nd prize: to the value of £50 and 3rd prize: to the value of £30.

PhotographerPhotographic Competition

Photographs must be based on the competition theme of ‘Inspirational Women’ and may be entered under two categories:

1. Colour
2. Black and White

Photographs must be of a print size 10″ x 7/8″ and must be mounted on mount board using double sided tape. Mount board must not exceed 12″ x 10″. All photographs must be the original work of the entrant and taken between 1 January and 30 June 2013. Judging will be based on the individual image, interpretation of the theme and overall presentation. Entrants must send their work to CFWI by the deadline of 15 August for initial judging. If you’re lucky enough to be chosen, your entry will then go forward for national judging. See Helen Kestle if you’d like an entry form.

The WI Centenary Fruitcake Competition

xmas_cake_mixSubmit your recipe for a rich fruit cake – either with, or without, spices and nuts – that has good keeping quality of at least three months. The recipe must demonstrate that consideration has been given to using British ingredients. All entries must be original and the member’s own work.
Submit your recipe to CFWI for initial judging by 28 November. One recipe will then be selected to go forward for the Regional Heats which will take place in May 2014. The winners of the Regional Heats will go forward to take part in the National Finals which will consist of a one-day ‘bake-off’ at Denman in November 2014! See Helen Kestle if you’d like an entry form.

Country of Origin Labelling update

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Clear country of origin labelling (COOL) is an issue the WI has been lobbying on since 2010. The last round of negotiations on this saw Members of the European Parliament agree to adopt regulations to include the origin of fresh meat on their labels, yet for other produce, UK consumers have been left to rely on retailers signing up to a voluntary scheme amid concern that mandatory origin labelling is too complex and expensive.

We know that consumers want country of origin labelling that reflects their understanding of food. With meat products they want to know where the animal was reared, rather than where the final product was packed and produced.

The NFWI has urged the government to back whole scale reform of food labelling laws, and to use their influence in establishing a European consensus on new regulations following the recent problems highlighted by supply chain contamination with horse meat. Environment Secretary Owen Paterson has reported that he has secured a commitment to speed up the review of labelling, expected to report later this year. The NFWI will continue to monitor developments.