Chat from the Chair

Dear Fellow members,
May was a very busy month in the WI calendar. Annual meetings to attend, a very successful and enjoyable afternoon at our Behinds the Seams event and the Living Crafts show (see the photos on our website).
We cannot run and attend events without your help and support. I would like to say a big thank you to Bricket Wood WI for organising the refreshments and baking for Behind the Seams and a special thank you to the members of other WIs who baked for this event. Many of you kindly donated your cakes. Thank you. We had a lovely selection, much enjoyed by all. As you know, it is necessary for the Federation to fund-raise as members proportion of the subscription fee does not cover staff salaries and the running of County House. This event was very successful, and I am very pleased to report we made a surplus of £2102.
The organisers of Living Crafts at Hatfield House, run over a 4-day period in May, are kind enough to donate us a stall to demon-strate craft and promote the WI, free of charge. Thank you to our members who crafted and manned the publicity stand for us, and many thanks to the members who made the colourful and much-admired flowers for the backdrop to our stand. If you would like to be part of either of these teams, or both, next year, please do let us know. We were very lucky with the weather this year and the event was well attended. We gathered names and email addresses to follow up with a letter from myself, an electronic copy of the newsletter and an invite to a prospective member meeting on 28th May at The Speckled Hen in St. Albans.
From speaking to ladies at Living Crafts, there is definitely a need for us to set up new Institutes in Hatfield and Watford; our Members Support Team will be following this through. Speaking of the Members Support Team, if you would like to join, we would be very pleased to welcome you. You don’t have to be a WI Adviser to join. However, Adviser training has been stream-lined and is now on-line, available to complete in approximately 4 hours. Just one small negative I would like to share with you - we had at least 3 ladies that I spoke to at Living Crafts, and I was not there for 4 days, mention they had been along to a WI meeting as they were interested in joining and were not made to feel welcome, they complained it was clique. It is a big step for some ladies to make that initial move to go along to a meeting and then not to be welcomed is disappointing. None of them joined or even visited another local WI to see if it suited them better. I recently suggested that WIs organise a buddy system, not just for an initial visit but until you are sure the member is settled.
I have recently written about recruitment – necessary for us all to be mindful of and continually working on. I am sure you are at WI level. We recently distributed to our WIs posters to pop into local library/surgeries/shops/school gates etc. I hope you will find these useful in raising awareness. Social media is always such an effective tool. Communication with your local newspaper or any other medium too.
You will have seen a “Save the Date” for the residential weekend we are organising for 3rd and 4th October 2026 at Aubrey Park Hotel, Hemel Hempstead. Thank you for those of you that have already expressed an interest. We are in the process of organising speakers/activities for you to enjoy. If you have any suggestions of anything you would like to see, please let us know. I am always mindful of how many talented members we have in our Hertfordshire WIs. Untapped talent. If you are ever able to offer your services for any of our Federation or Team events, please make contact.
Mrs Jill Profit - Chair, Hertfordshire Federation of Women’s Institutes