Dear Member of Wimbledon WI
HOT TOPICS NOVEMBER 2016
Fiona welcomed 69 members and 2 guests. Before the AGM and our two guest speakers, the following notices were read out.
Christmas Meal: Gillian asked members to be aware of the following details regarding the Christmas Meal at Taste on 6th December:
PARKING: Although there are quite a lot of parking spaces they do share them with the college which has night classes so it is a case of first come first served.
BAR BILLS: It would greatly help if people buying drinks could pay by cash as they have only one card machine, which could cause a bit of a back log.
ON ARRIVAL: 6:30 for 7:00 please collect your place setting which has on it your name and choice of menu.
Julia’s Kenya Trip: Eileen read out the following report from Julia. “Excellent visit to Mbaraka Chembe Health Centre, the teddies, knitted clothes and blankets were a great hit here and at the Kenya Coast Maternity Hospital, Tumaini Orphanage and the Baby Life Rescue Centre at Mombasa rubbish tip.
Items needed for December and for next year: more knitted items, teddies and blankets, ALSO BOOTIES.
When we visited the schools the Primary loved the tennis balls (thank you Caroline) and the Secondary loved the small amount of stationery we provided. They need A4 lined paper pads, document wallets (manila folders) and scientific calculators. CAN YOU HELP? Thank you so much for your support”.
Booties patterns link http://www.allfreeknitting.com/Baby-Booties
Poppies: Eileen went on to thank Dulcie and her posse of poppy makers for all their hard work and as a result this year £523.75 has been raised for the British Legion making a total of £1,904.25 raised over the last 4 years.
St. Lawrence Christmas Fair: Fiona mentioned that this will be next Saturday, 26th November, at Morden Parish Hall from 11.00 – 3.00 and that Wimbledon WI will be having a stall. So it would be lovely to see some of our members and their families.
Toy Collection: Fiona thanked everyone who had generously brought in toys for Merton Police Foundation to hand out to the needy children in the borough.
AGM: Following a show of hands, indicating WI members’ approval, the existing committee will continue as before with the addition of Sheila.
Wendy – Treasurer
Chris – Assistant to Treasurer
Lys – Secretary
Lesley – Assistant Secretary
Linda – Committee meeting minutes
Gillian – Vice chair and outings/entertainments organiser
Margaret – Crafts
Dulcie – MCS Preview Notes/Hot Topics and Crafts
Daphne – Catering
Sheila – Charity Liaison
Following a further show of hands, indicating WI members’ approval, Fiona will continue in her role as President.
Chris presented her Financial Statement for the past year. The Financial Statement was audited and passed by The Surrey Federation Treasurer – Jane Randell. Fiona proposed the adoption of the Financial Statement. The proposal was seconded by Jill and members indicated by a show of hands that the Financial Statement was accepted by all present.
Lys gave a review of the speakers, outings and events that we have enjoyed over the past year. Fiona thanked Gillian and her team for all their hard work of planning and organising the programme. Members indicated by a show of hands that the report is accepted.
Fiona spoke about happy and sad events this past year. In particular Fiona spoke about the loss of our much loved and missed president Joanna. Fiona said how much she enjoys being part of our WI and she said she is happy to continue in her role as President. Fiona thanked the committee and all members who have supported her so well over the year.
David Cowling, Head of Political Research for the BBC and our first speaker for the evening, gave us an insight into the proposed new constituency boundaries released by the Boundary Commission. Their goal is to reduce the number of MPs by 50, and make the number of people living in each constituency more equal. Their proposals for Wimbledon and Merton would bring big changes and in some respects the Boundary Commission’s own guidelines on community interest and cohesion seem not to have been followed.
Wimbledon is split up, with Wimbledon Park and Village joining the Putney constituency. The remainder of the current Wimbledon constituency is joined by Colliers Wood, Lavender Fields, Ravensbury and Cricket Green from the current Mitcham and Morden constituency, which will be abolished, to form a new ‘Merton and Wimbledon Central’ constituency. Lower Morden and St. Helier wards would be absorbed into the existing Sutton and Cheam constituency and Graveney ward into existing Tooting constituency. Several wards in Mitcham will be part of a new Streatham and Mitcham constituency.
Under these proposals the London Borough of Merton goes from having two Members of Parliament to five.
The Boundary Commission are interested in hearing from affected residents about the local ties that are impacted by these proposals, so if you feel that they do not respect Wimbledon’s community links, please get in touch with them on this link https://www.bce2018.org.uk/ or by emailing
information@boundarycommissionengland.gov.uk by the 5th December.
Lucia, Fundraiser from St. Raphael’s Hospice, was our second speaker and she told us a little about this charity and how they have to raise £4.4million a year which is 80% of their funding, only 20% coming from the NHS. This works out to £15 per hour if patient is a resident in the hospice: £107 per hour if patient has home visits or £571 per hour to run whole hospice. They have 14 beds and care for 1,000 patients a year from the Sutton and Merton areas either as in patients or day patients. They provide specialist palliative care for patients and their families who are affected either by cancer or another life-limiting illness. All the care and support provided by St Raphael’s Hospice is provided free of charge to patients and families. They also help families of the patients through a very difficult and distressing time. More information about St. Raphael’s and details of events can be found on this link
http://www.straphaels.org.uk/ After thanking Lucia for her very informative talk, Fiona then took a vote, which was unanimous, that St. Raphael’s Hospice will be our Chosen Charity of the year.
Knit and Natter: Please note the next session of I Knit at Lower Marsh, Waterloo will be on Wednesday, 30th November and not 7th December.
WI Life : Please keep your November issue of WI Life which gives you information on the resolutions which might be considered at the 2017 NFWI AGM in Liverpool. We will be discussing these at our January meeting. So don’t throw away your copy, study it and bring the AM 2017 resolution selection form with you to complete at our January meeting.
Dates for your diary:
Tuesday, 6th December, Christmas Dinner
Next Meeting, Monday, 19th December
The Committee
