04/06/2026
So today I enjoyed watching the WI National Meeting online.
Jeryl Stone, Chair of NFWI welcomed and thanked everyone for coming including former members of the NFWI board, delegates, observers, guests and the legal representation Irwin Mitchell.
After the voting process was explained we all got a chance to sing Jerusalem, the anthem of the WI. The appointment of the tellers for the meeting and the adoption of the standing orders were voted on, seconded by Hampshire Federation and Lincolnshire South Federation. These were both passed.
A video of all the trustees of the NFWI board was played so they could all introduce themselves, a couple of trustees I know from virtual WIs. NFWI officers were announced and Jeryl thanked them.
Jeryl, Chair of NFWI then made her address:
She thanked everyone for embracing the online approach as this was the 3rd meeting of the cycle. As well as saving NFWI money it allows those who can't travel to enjoy being at the meeting. She mentioned there was lots to embrace and challenge NFWI this year such as EDI policy change. The sisterhood groups were explained. Lots of new WIS had formed this, over 50 despite difficulty retaining older WIs, demographics and the problem with appointing officers. She also mentioned that we have seen the virtual WIs thrive with their being 22 at the last count and that they are entering their 4th year of their annual festival.
There have been 25,000 new members this year and the supporter numbers have also been growing. The latest high profile supporter being the new Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally. She also mentioned the WI education opportunities. The WI online
education platform, formerly The Learning Hub, now VIA has grown. There have 500,000 of bookings last and this year and 140 talks each month. The Denman fund gives grants to federations for face to face learning and to date has given £89.000 to 11 federations.
The newest campaign Bystanders Can Be Life Savers has trained 2.000 members in CPR and the WI has continued to work on other campaigns such as dentist shortages, microplastics and violence against women.
The NFWI lottery was explained which helps sustain individual WIs. Commercial endeavours include collaboration with Emma Bridgewater and Hobby craft and the National Mint for the 100 years of women's suffrage. New collaborations will be with Seasalt and Hug Rug. A new range of personalised WI items that Wis can customise and sell has been introduced. Two significant fundraising events are to go ahead, climbing Snowdon and the 3 Peaks in Yorkshire. Social Responsibility fund will offer grants for WIs to set up initiatives. The WI are re starting their work with prison WIs, a couple of WIs have linked with their link with their local prison through a craft group and a book group.
Jeryl thanked members who gave their views on the 5 year strategy for the WI and the strategic plan will be launched on WI day. Pledges based on views of the members will be worked on from now until 2030.
The finance report by the NFWI treasurer was given.
It was now the turn of the first guest speaker. Unfortunately due to her death last year Dr Jane Goodall was unable to be there so Mary Lewis, the chair of the Jane Goodall institute in the UK came to speak instead. She explained how her path crossed with Jane. She left her job with Kaone to travel with Jane.
Jane travelled to Tanzania when she was 26 to study chimps at the Gombe stream National Park. She created a small sanctuary with Kaone intending to house 50 chimps. The sanctuary then moved to 3 small islands in Tanzania and house 150 chimps. She employed local people, mainly women to care for the baby chimps. In 1990 Gombi celebrated its 30th anniversary with a gala in Hollywood.
Jane Godall set up a community pioneering programme TACARE in 1994 which works on the philosophy to protect local wildlife you need to support the livelihood of local people. It improves community health, education, sustainable agriculture and economic opportunities.
Jane Goodall also set the roots and shoots programme which empowers young people to take action in their communities. In the year 2000 she was UN Messenger of Peace, a position she held till she died. She had many honours including becoming a Dame, the medal of Tanzania, US Presidential Medal of Freedom, Kyoto prize. She has a camellia named after her and 2 orchids, She worked in more than 28 countries in the last year of her life and was working on climate change in New York the year she died. Anne Mitchell Vice Chair of NFWI gave the vote of thanks.
Michelle Dougherty was the 2nd speaker of the day. She is the first female Astronomer Royal in 350 years. She is also a fellow of the Royal Society and has a bachelor of Science degree. She is a professor of space science at Imperial College. She shared her excitement of planetary exploration. She talked about the Cassini mission which was a joint space mission by NASA, European Space Agency and the Italians to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its systems, including rings and natural satellites which she worked on. She also spoke about the Jupiter Mission which she works on. The proposal was launched in 2008 but was not launched until 2023 in French Guyana and it will take until 2031 to get to Jupiter. It is focusing on studying the 3 moons of Jupiter Ganymede, Callisto and Europa to see if their is potential for life form. Helen Kestle, Trustee of Board of NFWI gave vote of thanks.
The first of the resolutions was then discussed. The NFWI calls for the access to clean, free public toilets which are fundamental to inclusion and well being especially for women, older people, disabled individuals and parents and carers.
The proposer spoke for the resolution:
Public toilets are the first service to be cut as they are not are statutory requirement for local councils. People can be trapped at home due to the lack of public toilets. It will be a local focus because of the different nature of cities, towns and villages. This resolution will empower WIs to work with community groups to give voice to people who can't get out and to challenge idea that public toilets are a luxury. Lack of public toilets can become a public health issue and a concern for the environment if people adopt unsanitary toilet practices. It has a negative impact on daily lives and the community.
The expert speaker for the resolution was Raymond Martin, managing director of the British Toilet Association:
There is no funding from the government for local councils for public toilets as they are discretionary service not a statutory service. They have to find money from different sources. The British Toilet Association whish to lobby government to make it legal for councils to provide public toilets. He explained it effects lots of people including women with children, children and people with health issues. If you can't go to the toilet you retain poisons in your body which can lead to may health issues. 40% of people need toilets on an urgent basis such as people with disabilities, health concerns and older people. Street defecation and urination is growing due to lack of public toilets. The presence of public toilets in a town can increase footfall and spending power decreases in towns if people do not have access to public toilets.
A trustee from NFWI explained the points against the resolution:
Delivering free accessible toilets costs a lot including costs for maintenance, cleaning, security and safety. Is it more useful to focus on the community toilets scheme and is it a good idea to introduce a small charge to use public toilets.
It was then time for questions before the proposers right to reply. She mentioned:
This resolution is to be focused locally as every town, village, city has different needs. We should also consider the cost of doing nothing such as stopping people participating in community life. The WI has been good in the past at restarting conversations on issues and building partnerships. This resolution is practical because its locally focused.
The resolution was passed with 95%
The 3rd speaker Anne Bowden spoke after lunch. She talked about how she started bank at the age of 54 in 2014, The Starling Bank worth £5 billion. At first she had problems raising the money and she had to persuade people to back her. She hired a team but they all left to start Monzo Bank. 18 months in she had a phone call from an investor trying to invest in Monzo Bank but couldn't. She went to the Bahamas to meet the investor. She was invited on to his yacht and he told her he wanted to invest £48 million for 66% of the profits, Anne accepted the money to start the bank. The bank got its banking licence in 2016 and launched its customer base in 2017.
She explained about the time when her team walked out on her in 2015. There was an article in the Financial Times about her team leaving to start Mozo Bank which made her feel embarrassed however she accumulated a new team and made a success of the bank. It is possible to get free banking and provide a great service and make money. She also talked about what she thought about AI. The vote of thanks was given.
The second resolution was then proposed, seconded and discussed:
NFWI calls on WI members to support homelessness organisations in their communities and campaign to ensure all women have a place they can safely call home:
100.000 people experience homelessness. Women's homelessness is hidden due to the fact they live on night buses, sit in restaurant and A and E waiting rooms rather than on the streets. 90% of the figures recorded are wrong due to this. Homeless women are 9 more times likely to take their own life. Homeless women include single women, low paid jobs and suffer domestic abuse. 167.000 kids are without a stable home. Temporary accommodation does not provide a home just shelter.
The WI can support this resolution by donating to women's refuges, raising awareness and campaigning for change.
Melissa Green, Chief Executive of NFWI also spoke in favour of resolution:
10 times as many women sleeping rough then reported in The Rough Sleeping Census in 2024. 132,000 households in temporary accommodation. Many women are placed in shared shelters which are not suitable for them as they are designed around men's needs.
A video was shown of Women's own testimonies of being homeless.
The expert speaker was Juliet Mountford from Crisis. She also irriterated that homeless services were primarily focused on men. They launched the first women's homeless led service / pathway in 2023.
If this resolution is passed the WI could help put more emphasis behind the rough sleeping census as not all councils participate, work with Homelessness Alliance, group of employees committed to end homelessness amongst their work force, fundraise for a donate to shelters. It was then question time. This resolution was passed with 92%.
NFWI trustee Natasha Huckle announced the results of the recruitment awards:
For WIs with under 25 members the winner was Longford WI in Gloucester federation. For Wis with 25-50 members was Lilley WI in Hertfordshire federation and for WIs with over 50 members was Flyingdales in North Yorkshire East federation.
There were 2 surprise inspiring women who sent videos congratulating the UK WIs. One was Julia Gillard AC, former PM of Australia and the other was former PM of New Zealand Dame Jacinda Arden.
It was then time to wrap up proceedings for the day. There was closing remark from the Chair of the NFWI Jeryl Stone thanking the inspiring speakers and the inspiring members and talked about the new WI pledges. The day finished with the singing of the Welsh and English National Anthems.
