Chat from the Chair

Welcome to our Festive edition of the Hertfordshire WI’s newsletter.  Another year has passed so quickly.

At the Appointments meeting of the Board of Trustees, held immediately after the Annual Meeting in October, I was re-elected Chair of the Federation. This is my 4th year in office. As many of you know I was Chair from 2015 until 2018 and only took the role for a second term because no other member of the Board wanted to stand and has not wanted too for the past 4 years! I am proud and honoured to be your Chair, it is a role I enjoy and fully embrace. I have met so many lovely ladies, you the members and others who we hope to convert to name a few, I have grown in confidence and learnt so much. I am now pleased to report we have a succession plan in place with very capable and willing ladies wanting to take over the role in the fullness of time.

We have restructured our teams. We now have two main teams – Community and Education, both covering the ethos of the Women’s Institute. A wider but focused remit. Our aim is to provide education and friendship to our members under these two headings. We are going to run these Teams on zoom. I know we have a lot of untapped talent amongst our members, so please do consider coming forward and joining us either on a Team or as a member of the Board.

We are looking to move forward into 2026 with events already being planned. Two very important focuses will be “Bridging our Digital Divide” and our residential weekend to be held on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th October at the Aubrey Park Hotel in Redbourn, AL3 7AF. We guarantee a weekend of learning, fun and friendship, full details in this newsletter. I look forward to seeing you there.

We have a new method of forwarding your monthly newsletter to you for those that receive it electronically. We have experienced teething problems but we hope by this edition they will be resolved. From the data received we can monitor who opens the newsletter and very interestingly only 65 per cent of recipients clicked on the November edition. This is of concern to me because it is our only way of communicating County information to you all. I’d love to receive your feedback as to why you did not bother to open the newsletter?

I will close by wishing you all a Happy Christmas and may 2026 bring all you hope and wish for.
Mrs Jill Profit - Chair, Hertfordshire Federation of Women’s Institutes