Get Out! Get Active! Get Involved!

LADY DENMAN CUP

The 2012 competition is to write an original piece based on the title ‘My Moment of Glory’. Using no more than 500 words (not including the title), WI members are invited to write an original piece explaining their wishes or dreams, whether for sporting, social, political or for just plain humorous reasons, as to why they would have liked to have participated in, or been at, a specific sporting event. Members can choose a sporting event from any year, and the piece can be either written as a competitor or a spectator.

As before, individual entries must be sent first to the federations for initial judging. Federations can then submit up to three entries for the national competition and these must be sent to the Administrative Secretary at the NFWI Unit, Denman College, no later than Friday 3 August 2012. Please pay particular attention to this year’s schedule; entries can now be submitted either by post or electronically.
 
Entry fee is £10 per member (incl. VAT). As a federation you should be registered to be able to claim back the VAT element. After the national closing date, I will arrange for your federation to be invoiced accordingly. This invoice will show the breakdown of VAT which you will be able to reclaim.

The prizes are as follows:-

1st prize - £75 book token
2nd prize - £50 book token
3rd prize - £30 book token

The winner/winning federation will be presented with the Lady Denman Cup at the NFWI Annual General Meeting in 2013.

Click here for more information.
Click here for an entry form.

All forms relating to the Lady Denman Cup Competition 2011 can also be downloaded from the Moodle.

LOOKING FOR GREAT STORIES FOR WI LIFE MAGAZINE

WI Life magazine are on the lookout for some great ideas for features, so they would love to hear from any WIs that are doing something interesting in the coming year. Have you got any interesting events or activities planned, or are you visiting any interesting places? Perhaps you’ve got a special anniversary or celebration coming up? Some events we’ve covered in the past include a WI who made sculptures out of sand and a WI who held an ancient Rush bearing festival. We’re also interested in individual members who are remarkable in some way, whether they have a particularly interesting day job or have an amazing talent they’ve been hiding under a bushel.
 
Here are some more ideas:

Crafts
We’re looking for great crafters amongst you who would be interested in sharing their patterns/handiwork with other WI members.

Cover girls
We’re always looking for interesting members to feature in our member profile. Perhaps you know of a member who has a particularly interesting job or hobby or is remarkable in some way. We’d love to hear about them.

Gardens
We’re looking for members with interesting gardens for us to come and visit and write about.

Events
We’re looking for WIs with interesting events/trips or celebrations planned for the coming year. The more unusual/quirky the better! Or does your WI take part in any interesting local customs or traditions? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Please get in touch with Liz Frost if you have something that might be of interest.
Tel: 020 7371 9300 x220
Email: l.frost@nfwi.org.uk
www.nfwi.org.uk

WI Gardening Club Project

The NFWI Education Committee is pleased to launch an exciting and rewarding new project: WI Gardening Clubs. This project aims to encourage WI members to get gardening in their local communities, such as:

• Take responsibility for renovating and maintaining small prime locations in their areas, e.g. entrance to village.
• Start a community orchard to grow local varieties of fruit and vegetables.
• Work with schools to encourage children to get outdoors and lead healthier lives by showing them how to grow their own flowers, fruit and vegetables.
• Work with other groups in your area to encourage the setting up of productive gardens and food growing and tie in with WI efforts to reduce household expenditure and encourage healthy eating and home cooking.

This project will start in January 2012 and will take place over 2 years. The total funds allocated for this project is £39,800. WIs are encouraged to form their own Gardening Club and put forward an application to the Education Committee as to what they plan to do; how, where, when and how much it will cost. All ideas will be welcomed; big projects as well as more modest ones! Applications will then be considered and funding awarded to those successful WIs. Successful WIs will be required to provide photographic results of the growing spaces and the success of this community activity.

Click here to find out what to do next.
Click here for an application form.

Want to brighten up a piece of land in your area or get children outdoors

growing flowers and vegetables?