surreyfed

JOIN OUR DIGITAL TEAM – AND HELP MEMBERS

DO YOU have an hour or two a month that you could use occasionally supporting fellow WI members? The Federation would like to form a Digital Team to help members get to grips with information technology in various ways.

You would not have to attend meetings at Federation HQ but would report back when necessary. Tasks could include:
 Helping members to open email attachments and attach documents to emails;
 Setting up new email addresses;
 Understand internet shopping;
 Use WhatsApp;
 Safely enjoy social media;
 Understand how to stay safe on the internet;
 Storing things online;
 Video calling and ways to do it for free;
 Setting up Social Media Accounts for a WI;
 Explain words and concepts.

We are looking for lots of volunteers with one or more of these abilities. You do not have to be able to do all the things listed, and the time you can offer is at your discretion. If you can help, please email Ruth Bolton at officerb@surreyfedwi.org.uk

This project will grow depending on the volunteers we recruit and it would be wonderful if we could have a large range of talent to help our members improve their skills, grow their digital confidence and retain their independence.

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HELP US TO SPREAD THE MESSAGE ON OVARIAN CANCER

WE HAVE just had the first meeting of our new Public Affairs sub-committee and now have a real plan in place — but we need your help to achieve it.
No, it is not knocking on doors or waving a banner in a politician’s face — but something far simpler.
And we are inviting every WI in Surrey to take part.
How often have you been in a ladies’ public loo and seen the same notices on the back of the doors? Now comes our challenge.
Go to www.thewi.org.uk/campaigns/key-and-current-campaigns/see-the-signs, scroll down to How You Can Get Involved and click on Download Our Campaign Action Pack. Scroll down to Page 15 and you will see two copies of a poster.
We would like each WI in Surrey to print this page, laminate it, cut it in half and seek permission to put the notices on the backs of the doors of ladies’ loos used by the public. The village, church hall or community centre where you meet might be an idea for starters.
Normally we would deprecate the use of plastic but this a sensible use of it as hopefully the signs will be up for a long time and they need some protection in that environment.
It would be amazing if we could put a notice on the back of every ladies’ loo door in Surrey, as the WIs in Cheshire Federation did, but that is an enormous push and our Federation does not have that sort of money available. We are not asking you to spend a lot on this — just a little.
You may choose to print and laminate more than one page, but if you only manage to cover two loos it will be enough if the notice is seen by women whose lives might be saved as a result. — Hilary Brooks

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IT’S TIME TO PREPARE FOR YOUR AGM

It seems to have flown by so quickly, summer holidays are almost over and we are once again at the stage of getting ready for our annual meetings (or most of us are).
Hopefully, you will know by now if your WI’s officers (President, Secretary and Treasurer) intend to stay in post for another year.
If they are not, are other members willing to take on these mantles? These roles are not onerous and can be shared among committee members to lighten the load if necessary.
In order to help you with your annual meetings, we will once again be holding Annual Meetings Made Easy workshops. These will cover the reasons for holding an annual meeting, processes for election of the committee and President and what paperwork is required by the Federation office after the meeting.
Three workshops are being held on Monday, October 3:
Face to face events: 10am-12noon SFWI HQ in Guildford; 2pm-4pm: The Woodhatch Centre, Whitebeam Drive, Reigate RH2 7LS.
Online event: 7.30pm-9.30pm.
If you want to come to one of them please apply by September 29.
For those of you who are contemplating taking up one of the officer or committee responsibilities, we are also running workshops in December, both face to face and online via Zoom, to help Presidents, Secretaries and committee members, so that you can get to grips with these roles as soon as possible.
Full details were given in last month’s magazine, and the dates/times/venues are listed in the Coming Up column on Page 3. Each workshop costs £9 which you can reclaim from your WI with members’ consent.
Please remember that your WI Advisers will be only too happy to visit and help things run as smoothly as possible at your meetings.
Finally, when the business of your annual meeting has been conducted, it is nice to provide the members with something light-hearted to finish the meeting — a game of bingo or a beetle drive? – Carole Hurlstone Clarke and Helen Mayne King

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IS YOURS A PROGRAMME TO LOOK FORWARD TO?

WITH many WIs wishing to recruit new members, having an annual printed or online programme is a perfect way to keep your current members aware of exciting meetings to come and to advertise your WI to prospective new members.
The design of the programme should be fun and engaging to look at, there are some templates on MYWI or you can design your own. It is a perfectly reasonable to either have them professionally printed or pay someone to print them for you at home.
Give the programme to members and hand them out to non-members so that they know they are welcome to come along and find out about your WI.
The programme should include:
 Meeting details (venue, time)
 How to contact you;
 l Important dates: group meetings, shows, Surrey and National Federation annual meetings etc.
Your programme should cater for a variety of interests and include workshops as well as speakers.
Make time in January to discuss the resolution shortlist, the resolution vote in May, nominations for committee in October and of course the November annual meeting.
These months may have less time for a speaker so are ideal opportunities for a spot of dancing, craftwork, food tasting, ‘show and tell’ from members, a quiz, beetle drive, bingo etc to add a lighter touch.
It is important to ask members for ideas of what they want in their programme and our status as an educational charity for women gives us such a lovely wide range of things we can do.
The Over to You pages in Surrey WI News are filled with wonderful meeting ideas, so remind your members to tell you if they spot something from these pages that might be just the thing for your WI.
Spend your available funds on good quality speakers for some of your meetings each year, this is members’ money and it should be spent on them. The Yearbook has contacts for a huge range of speakers and workshop leaders who have been through the Federation’s audition process. This means they are recommended by WI members. Encourage members to attend our auditions where they can vote to select future speakers.
And lastly, when you have speakers that your members enjoyed, please tell everyone via Surrey WI News and social media.

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