Double Page for ACWW in WI Life

Congratulations to WI Life on the double page spread for ACWW in Nov/Dec magazine. Perhaps they took notice of the support for a regular ACWW report which was suggested at the Hampshire Conference. Lots of cheering and stamping of feet accompanied this request - lets see if they keep up this link. Neil Maidment was present at Wincanton - fingers crossed that receives pics and a report. Dato Ursula Goh said in her speech that Somerset was the first Federation to celebrate and support the new UN International Day for Rural women. Certainly Somerset received maximum support from ACWW with 8 visitors from HQ - it was a great day.

Conferences Past and Present

Conferences Present:

For info about Hot Springs 2010: http://www.acwwusa2010.com/
It is being held in the spring of 2010 don't the gardens in Picture 2. look lovely? Only 17 months to go - we will need to start saving!!
Picture 1. shows famous Bathhouse Row part of historic downtown - methinks I see one of the hotels (the Arlington) in the background.

I'm writing this with snow flakes swirling around outside the window!

Conferences Past: For the official write up of the Hampshire conference: http://www.europeanareaconference2008.co.uk/ And then click on 'Report of the Conference'.

NFWI Day

Well - had a good time on our London Visit. Went up on 24th staying overnight - went to 'Spamalot' at The Palace - it was a good fun evening!!! Enjoyed our journeys on the tube - excellent transport system (when the line is not shut!!).

Was able to collect ACWW leaflets etc which was great (saving postage) and good to see Herminia, Juliet, Jan, John and Ian. Also got details of a new project in Africa that we are interested in. The best bit of the day, of course. was meeting ACWW 'friends' Jackie, Sue W (Derbyshire), Esme, Eunice, Gwendoline, Valerie and Sue A. (Hampshire) during intervals.

Harriet Harman gave a good account of herself - tho' my friend said she'd heard better speeches. Whoops - sorry Harriet - it sounded OK to me - typical politician wriggling around facts at times!!! BUT.... did you know that the % of women involved in public life in the UK has gone down we are now 13th on the world list - slipped two places!!! So good on Greet who told us she is now a Councillor - (how do we find time to do all these things and see our families too!!!).

Very emotional 'true' story from lady from Wiltshire re: abuse - I could have cried with her and am glad she has such a supportive husband now, but disappointingly the talk by the lady from Zarfur (Ikhlass Mohammed) and Liz Kelly EVAW chair was left until the end of the afternoon and we missed it. {Actually as you can see we missed the last two speakers - if only the workshops had been cut short}. Because of this I felt the day was slightly disjointed - if we had had both speeches in the morning after the lady from Wiltshire, I feel it would have given real impact to the Violence against Women Day. Have emailed Emily / Yetunde to see if there is any written report of those speeches - and as yet no reply! Two members told me they enjoyed the last speaker but one has told me she couldn't hear properly - so that has cheered me up a bit - that must have been frustrating!!

It was good to see Becs again (WRW) and she gave an excellent presentation - she has such a gift for talking quickly and still making us understand!!! Film 'Sisters of the Planet' still very moving - especially Martina from Uganda (you can almost feel her worry about water shortages and her childrens futures) although Jackie, who visits Gambia almost every year said she felt it didn't show the real Africa(spots and all!!). Sue A's talk about the Southampton conference was cut short as the meeting was running late due to Harriet Hs late arrival. Janice got in a good punch-line for ACWW and sheets were given out in the lunch hour for the proposed ACWW concert next March. Very tasty lunch. Workshops (debatable value!) but final sheet could be really useful - in fact I hope I can use it if we have the event we are thinking about.

As I said earlier - very disappointed to miss last speakers due to having to rush for train at Paddington. Went for the tube but Circle line was shut!!! So it was a taxi after all - but lovely sunny journey past Buckingham Palace and view of the London Eye through the back window made the £11 (shared) fee worthwhile - and we got the train!!! It was good to have the extra time in London and I enjoyed the show but really I think I prefer to come up via Templecombe and Waterloo as I would have been able to stay until the end!!! (it is cheaper too!!!)

Remember, - the best way to help ACWW is to encourage individuals or WIs to join ACWW as members. Let's take that as a challenge for 2009 - and encourage this via our county newsletters - more members or groups will improve the circulation of the 'Countrywoman' magazine. Print run was 13,000 now down to 4,000 approx!!

Good News

An excellent meeting was held in Derby re: starting a group in the Midlands - name to be announced. Am sure Sue Watkins or Jackie Gregory will fill us in when we visit London next week - got my rail ticket today!!! 24.11.08. Just packing - off on the train this afternoon. Harriet Harman is booked to speak and Sue Atrill has a 25mins slot for ACWW and the European Area Conference.

Sweatshirts arrived

Arrived today - will now need to arrange delivery!! Will take one to London and maybe arrange for others to be delivered at Carol Services. Wore mine today (18.11) to talk about ACWW (Finland) - no comments BUT good advert because the badge needs explaining!!

Raffle Prizes from Wincanton

Have I mentioned this before? Can you believe it 5 prizes were left behind. Tickets are:
Green 69, Yellow 177, Orange 283, Green 350, Green 413

If not claimed from Wilton Lodge (phone no. 01823 284261 ring Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday between 10.00am and 3.00pm) by 1st December - they will be used again in another raffle - watch out Somerset!!

South Pacific Area Conference

I know it's not SW news BUT I wondered if some of you will be interested in this ACWW report by an ACWW member in S Australia: note the climate change variables over their area of the world! Picture is of Dr. Peter Dingle - speaker mentioned below - for more details - he is on the net!!

ACWW 14TH SOUTH PACIFIC AREA CONFERENCE

The Conference was held over a period of 5 days, in Perth, Western Australia, at the Burswood Convention Center. Perth is a long way from the rest of Australia so it is surprising to report that in some sessions there were more than 300 members and friends present from all over the South Pacific region of our Organisation. It was a very well organized event, excellent catering, interesting keynote speakers, transport on time, pre-conference training workshops for the Islanders, exceptional entertainment and organized daily tours for husbands and family of visitors making the experiences a memorable one. Of course the best part was meeting up with friends and acquaintances from previous conferences.

Dato Ursula Goh PSBS PBK ABS BBS was present along with Mrs Ruth Shanks AM, South Pacific Area President, Mrs Lesley Young CWA of Australia President, but I’m unsure how many state Presidents were there apart from our own Mrs E J Crocker.

The key note speakers were Dr Peter Dingle, Assc Professor of Health and Environment at Murdock University. He was a most entertaining and inspirational speaker and he told us how to live to 101 years of age by following the Dingle Deal. This involved advice on Diet, Environment, Attitude and Lifestyle. He has of course written a book on the subject and it presents some unusual facts that are worthy of further investigation.

The other speaker of note was Professor Max Karmien, who I found especially interesting as he spoke on his lifelong work in the field of Aboriginal Health. As this was also my field of expertise, I was able to relate to his work in the southern states and the NT at a different level and after the session we exchanged some reminiscences. He spoke of one project set up to improve the nutrition of Aborigines by adding vitamins to flour supplied to the settlements. Some bright spark labeled the bags ABORIGINAL FLOUR and no one would eat it.

Reports from the many Associations represented were received and they presented many problems from our regions including drought, rising water levels on the islands, health problems and the struggle of women in more primitive cultures to feed and educate their families. They also outlined success stories bought about by just a little help from those of us with the will to help. We received a comprehensive report on the tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia

The next Conference will be in TONGA - sounds exotic doesn't it?

Many thanks to Lotus Appel, an email friend of mine from Adelaide, who is a member of Happy Valley CWA Group. My WI in Somerset are linked with them. In fact Lotus 's great Granny lived in a village in mid-Somerset and so did one of our membes. We were able to send news of that village for her.

Women Reaching Women

Very short report in WI Life - not even enough space for a photo!!! Good job we have some on site - more further back if you're interested!!! Did you notice Somerset got a write up!!! Can't remember saying exactly that - but I did chat to the WI Life reporter and my WI will be pleased to get a mention. Thought I'd put the picture on again just to show it really happened.

Preliminary list of Resolutions

I see your resolution was not included in the short list, Hampshire. I was sorry about that - it did make an excellent TV programme. I see you got a mention in the recent WI Life tho'. Also excellent report about Emma as WI Icon. There are still some interesting inclusions and they are out earlier this time which is helpful.

Sweatshirts being ordered NOW

Am just ordering sweatshirts (8) at present. 11.11.08 ordered today - cost will be £12.93 each. Hope they will be delivered so that I can bring as many as possible to NFWI event.
Also - just got ticket for 25th November. Should be interesting - might see you there!

2nd Security Test

Test only - to show that - you can get in - but you might have to set up a google account. Have a go and then you too can add comments to this Blog. As you can see there have been two Tests to show it is possible!!! Good Luck - hope to see you soon. If you live in the SW are interested in ACWW and want to add to this Blog - email my wife, Eileen (eileen.hurd@btinternet.com) for further details.

Security test

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News from Dorset - thanks to Valerie Stevens

Valerie tells me she went to a Home Economics Group meeting last week in Dorset to hear all about local cheeses and farm products - yes, - you've guessed the speaker didn't turn up!!! Valerie was volunteered by her friend to talk about the European Area Conference. One of the things she told everyone about was the Eastern European political situation, which leaves everyone looking over their shoulders, wondering what is going to happen next. (I was told by one visitor to the conference that you can never trust anyone - a group of us had a long chat about this one evening and we were told she couldn't possibly have this type of conversation in her home town - she could never be sure that it would not be reported and that there could be repercussions. This may not be true in every E European country but is hard for us to consider - our freedom of speech is taken for granted. Valerie asked the audience to compare this to their own WI where sometimes the subject that causes the most consternation is, ...... yes wait for it, ...... whether the biscuits are soggy this month!!!! A lady in the front row said, 'when you think of those two situations it makes you feel ashamed doesn't it?'

Valerie described items from the Wednesday entertainment evening with the King John's Mummers Men also an inspiring reading of 'Tiger, Tiger burning bright' in Hungarian. Yes even with a different language the rhythm of the poem was still very moving. (Therese's poem further down the blog- was also read). I must say Valerie always reminds me of things I'd almost forgotten (I certainly value having my memory jogged!) Valerie tells me she is planning to visit Hungary and Belarus next year and I'm sure we will all want to hear about her travels and book her to speak about her experiences. (In fact, I'm sure lots of us would want to go too - but your stories will be the next best thing!!!) Thanks Valerie.