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Lower Stondon |
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The Women's Institute was formed in 1915 with two clear aims: to revitalise rural communities and to encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Since then our aims have broadened and we are now the largest women's organisation in the UK. We celebrated our 90th anniversary in 2005 and currently have 205,000 members in 6,500 WIs. Stondon WI has been meeting since 1935 - so 2010 will be our 75th birthday !
We play a unique role in providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, to take part in a wide variety of activities and to campaign on issues that matter to them and their communities.
In Bedfordshire there are 88 WIs of various sizes. Every WI is special in its own way and many take part in additional activities over and above the monthly meeting.
We meet in the village hall at 7.45 pm on the third Wednesday of each month, except August. Often our July meeting is in a members garden, usually with a theme.
Our meetings start with singing "Jerusalem" and then we have about 15 minutes of "business" - quite a bit of this is about happenings in the county. We attend quite a few of the many events that the Beds County Federation organise.
Back to School!
Members get into the spirit at a fascinating talk by the Hitchin British Schools Museum. No-one's had to put the dunce's hat on (foreground)........yet !!
Most months we have speaker on a variety of subjects, some craft oriented, some serious and some amusing. The speaker usually takes up 45-50 minutåes then we have tea and biscuits. You can see what's on in the next few months on the "events" page on www.Stondon.net .
We have occasional outings, and particularly enjoy visiting the Gordon Craig Theatre. We also do some fundraising and this is often used to subsidise activities.
Membership is about £29 a year, payable in January, (some of which is paid to County & National) then we pay £1 a meeting and have one raffle ticket. Non - members are very welcome and they pay £3.00 per meeting. Why not come and enjoy an evening with us and see what you think ? We get a great deal of friendship, learning and fun from our membership of the WI, so don't miss out!
Two of our members showing off their finery at our 1920's Garden Party.
We occasionally let men attend - If they're dress to impress !!
To find out more about the WI or any of our events, please contact:
Jane Hubbard | Ruth Simkins |