WI (womens institute)

jollymummy

Well after dithering for ages-see my previous posts on this thread I met a lovely lady at our school craft fair and we're in the process of setting up our own group.

We have a website - I'll post a link when the website is ready.

We are in our 30s and 40s, welcome everyone and our meetings will have a lot of crafting involved.. If you live in sunny West Yorkshire and fancy joining us get in touch

Our first meeting is scheduled for November 19th - we intend to meet on the third Monday of each month. The great thing about being involved right from the start is that we are asking people to put forward suggestions for the 2013 programme.

Anyhoo enough waffle from me,wish us luck:)

mrsdwhite

I'm 31 with a 6yr old. I've just found a newish WI group just down the road from where I live, on the face of it it looks like a fairly modern group with people my sort of age.
I've taken the plunge and booked myself a place for their next meeting as it's not in their usual meeting place. I'm excited to be meeting new people with the prospect of making some new friends. Though I am a bit apprehensive as I'm not a great baker, nor am I particularly crafty/creative. Also is there still a stigma attached to WI for people my age?
I do like the idea of leaning some crafty things and meeting up for coffee and cake, but don't want to be totally out of my depth! Does anyone have any experience with it?

notanewuser

Good for you. The local WI here is renouned for its !!!!!iness and inhospitable members. Think the average age is about 80 there though!

Linda32

Although I'm not a member I believe the WI are quite modern now and have had to move with the times.


I see no harm in trying out a couple of meetings, I'm sure you will get the feel of things pretty quickly.

Islandmaid

^^^^^^

I agree with Linda the WI is very 'in' in some areas, its a great organisation, my MIL is trying to get me to join her group, but the youngest member is in their late 60,s and although i,m more than happy to go and help out and jumbles and table top sales etc I do feel like i,m being press-ganged by wrinkly moonies LOL no offense intended, but they are VERY enthusiastic about enrolling younger (46?) members, saying that I do love to hear the post war year OS stories and am slowly coming round to the idea

Give it a go, you might enjoy it.......

suki1964

I'm also thinking about joining the Wi (49). I have heard there is a local group, not sure of the age range. I too would like to learn new tricks. I mean I can cook, and cook well, just never learned any other homemaking crafts

Let us know how it goes

mrsdwhite

Thanks all! I've seen this groups Facebook page and their pics seem to show people my age and one or two younger!
I did enquire about another local group a while ago but they didn't respond, that told me enough about them!
I'm really hoping I fit in ok, just hope also hope that the pics I've seen aren't a decoy or they turn out to be cliquey and inhospitable. I shall report back after Thursday evening next week

ringoroses

My daughter is 28 and loves WI! She has lots of friends her age there (as well as some older)

Last weekend she was on the Tea & Tents weekend near Buxton,

http://www.teaandtents.co.uk

her first time camping as an adult, and they all had an absolute blast! I don't want to identify her on here without her permission, so i'll just say she belongs to a vibrant city centre branch. Not sure if that makes a difference to the breadth of membership although they came from far and wide to Tea & Tents!

ETA. I have seen her pics of the "Alice Gets Bombed" yarn bombing and they were just awesome! Great fun, but very skilled.

mrsdwhite

ringoroses wrote: »

My daughter is 28 and loves WI! She has lots of friends her age there (as well as some older)

Last weekend she was on the Tea & Tents weekend in Buxton,

http://www.teaandtents.co.uk

her first time camping as an adult, and they all had an absolute blast! I don't want to identify her on here without her permission, so i'll just say she belongs to a vibrant city centre branch, so not sure if that makes a difference to the breadth of membership although they came from far and wide to Tea & Tents!

It's this sort of thing that I find encouraging! Until now my only knowledge of WI comes from watching Calendar Girls :rotfl:

ringoroses

mrsdwhite wrote: »

It's this sort of thing that I find encouraging! Until now my only knowledge of WI comes from watching Calendar Girls :rotfl:

If you click on that Tea & Tents link and then the "We did it and it was awesome' pic, you will get an idea of the range of ages there.

I will say though, that my daughter originally joined a different branch which was a little staid for her and the average age generally much older (older does not have to equal staid though! :rotfl:). She then transferred to her current one and for her the mix is much better.

Good luck!