surreyfed

This year your WI Advisers are holding several workshops to help you gather information, ideas, tips and skills necessary to aid the smooth running of your WI.

These workshops will be aimed at and relevant for ALL committee members and we encourage at least one person from your WI to sign up. The WI is continually involving and we are conscious of trying to help you all to stay informed and relevant  so you are able to offer members the best WI experience you can.

The workshops will have a session of general committee information and duties, then we will deliver Secretary and President workshops which will be open to all committee members, not just those holding officer posts. We will introduce current regulations around data storage, photo consents, use of social media as well as all the usual information you need to run your WI.

Dates, times and venues are:

Wednesday, 12 February  – Belmont Bowling Club, Broadlands Avenue, Streatham SW16 1NA and East Horsley Village Hall, Kingston Avenue, East Horsley KT24 6QT.  Both will run from 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm.

Thursday, 13 February – Ottershaw Village Hall, Brox Road, Ottershaw KT16 0HL from 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm.

Monday, 17 February – Woodhatch Centre, Whitebeam Drive, Reigate RH2 7LF from 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm.

Each session costs £9 which can be paid by your WI with members’ agreement. The closing date is Friday, 10 January but please sign up early so that if necessary, extra workshops can be arranged.

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As announced last month we are planning to hold four (+ 2 additional) workshops for Treasurers in February. Dates and venues can be found on the What’s On page.

Areas we plan to cover include the role of the treasurer, how or where to record transactions, how to reconcile the bank account (including how the bank reconciliation feature works on the 2020 Surrey spreadsheet), discussion of the types of expenditure that is allowed, practical problems resulting from bank closures and other topics as required.

The workshop format means you can have input and will learn from other Treasurers, not just me. Participation is helpful but not essential. However, this also means the topics covered in most detail are flexible as we will concentrate on what appear to be attendees’ main requirements as each session develops.

The workshops are for Treasurers, Assistant Treasurers, anyone thinking about the role and are timed to be of use to new Treasurers.Those who have been in place for a while will still find them useful; for example, you might get to understand what an agent is, or how gift aid now works, or that you are missing a helpful feature on the 2020 Surrey spreadsheet which is updated each year.

The 2020 spreadsheet is available from the WI Treasurers tab on the Document Library page.

If you have specific queries about your WI’s figures we might have a chance to answer them, so you might want your laptop or accounts book with you (WiFi access cannot be guaranteed).

Tickets are £9 for each session.The cost and reasonable travel expenses may be reclaimed from your WI with its agreement.Tea and coffee will be provided. Closing date: 15 December.

Sheena Landgraf, Federation Treasurer

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Thank you to all WIs who returned their annual forms, financial statements and information forms promptly. These forms contain much information which has to be updated on the MCS to ensure you get the right resources. If you have not already done so, can you please ensure all forms are completed, returned accurately and clearly as soon as possible? Even if there are no changes please put “no changes”. Thank you very much for your help with this.

Please note: Christmas closure — the Federation office will close at 4pm on Friday, 20 December 2019 and re-open at 9am on Thursday, 2 January 2020.

The admin team would like to take this opportunity to wish all members a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2020.

Diane Sanderson, Federation Secretary

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AS THE daughter of a head teacher, and subsequently a university lecturer, the passing of time was always marked by terms rather than seasons. It was therefore a surprise when I retired, when sometimes even the day of the week had no significance. As a lover of the outdoors and a passionate gardener, however, my life has increasingly been measured by the passing of the seasons. Harvesting vegetables, putting the garden to sleep, planting afresh, and sometimes longing for its awakening in Spring. The nights have drawn in and as we approach the point at which night is longer than the day, we enter the season of festivals. The solstice is an event I mark with an exchange of messages with a colleague of over 40 years. It is a celebration of friendship, the original reason for which has long been forgotten. It’s strange how traditions are born.

Festivals come tumbling out of the calendar at this time of year. In late October comes Diwali, the Hindu and Sikh Festival of Light, which celebrates the victory of light over darkness and good over evil, followed only a few days later by Hallowe’en and the Festival of All Saints’, both dates in the Christian calendar. Hallowe’en, the festival of All Hallows, is dedicated to the naming of the dead and is derived from a Celtic pagan festival, celebrating the harvest, whilst All Saints’ Day commemorates the relationship between the living and the dead and in modern times extends up to Remembrance Sunday. It is celebrated by the lighting of candles. And on into December, with the rapid succession of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, and Christmas, with its tradition dating back to the 15th century of houses decked symbolically with holly, ivy and bay and, of course, lights. After participation in a Federation Christmas table decoration class, I now collect armfuls of greenery, go to town and Deck the Hall with boughs of Holly. The result is lovely, but the process is rather painful! These festivals share not only the symbol of light but also the common threads of tradition and mindfulness, of families and friendships, and the communal sharing of food.

As we celebrate the festive season and join with our WI friends, it is a good time in the year to remember what the WI offers us and what is at its core. A place ‘Where Everyone is Welcome’, where you can ‘Enjoy Support and Friendship’ and the opportunity to share in fun and companionship, and, for that brief time, live for the moment.

Do you remember the wonderful conversation recounted by A.A. Milne: “What day is it? asked Winnie the Pooh.“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.“My favourite day,” said Pooh.

Shall we all follow their example through this festive season?

Carol A. Gartrell, Federation Chairman

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