Advertising posterOur new logo and the first advertising poster. This is to go on Facebook and Instagram
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Filoxenia bannerWe had a chance to get together and used the opportunity to make a banner for Huntingdon & Peterborough Federation house to advertise ourselves.
online newsletter
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help yourselfCards and leaflets for people to take away with our details on.
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Article for Federation News July editionFiloxenia Virtual WI ‘Igniting and passing on the WI Flame from Mother to Daughter’ We are proud to be a part of the first virtual WI in Huntingdon & Peterborough Federation ‘Filoxenia WI’ making WI history. The WI flame has been ignited and we are attracting members from Bristol to Athens. The name Filoxenia was chosen at the Formation meeting in April this year and means ‘Friend to a Stranger’ in Greek. President Antonia Svensson Dianellou lives and works in Athens and is the daughter of Jacqui Svensson, President of Sawtry WI and dual member with Filoxenia WI. This is the second time the WI flame has passed from mother to daughter in the same family. Nearly 10 years ago Jacqui’s 99-year-old mother, and long-time WI member, Marion Gunn passed the WI flame to Jacqui. Jean Greaves of the recently closed Glatton WI has also been igniting the WI flame by passing the Glatton President’s brooch to Filoxenia, which we are honoured to receive and will treasure, originally gifted to Glatton by the late Betty Ratcliffe. Brooches were initially functional, utilitarian items used to secure clothing. The passing of this President’s brooch from a WI that has closed down to a new WI is symbolic in that it secures two WIs for generations to come. Filoxenia Virtual WI meets on the second Monday of the month, 7.15 via Zoom and is an excellent way for family members to connect and share the WI experience. Filoxenia Team
Amanda / Catherine / Terry
Jacqui / Antonia / Tricia 2022/3 Programme
Our pennant at Federation House
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Our contact accountsEmail: [email protected] Instagram: filoxenia_virtual_wi Twitter: @Filoxenia_WI Facebook Members Group: Filoxenia Virtual WI Facebook Page: Filoxenia Virtual Women’s Institute ARTICLE FOR FEDERATION NEWS
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On Saturday 30th July, International day of Friendship, Filoxenia WI held its first “in person” social event for members, a coffee morning followed by a shared lunch, which took place at the Huntington and Peterborough Federation WI Centre. Members enjoyed meeting each other in person for the first time, cementing friendships already forged online. We were pleased to be joined by Phyllis Brooks and Dawn Hetherington from H&P Federation as well as Jean Greaves, former President of the discontinued Glatton WI, who presented the Glatton Presidents brooch to the Filoxenia WI President Antonia.
Since launching the new - and first - Virtual WI of Huntington and Peterborough Federation Filoxenia has gathered 17 members (as at beginning of August). Filoxenia VWI was founded in April 2022 with the main aim of being inclusive and meeting the needs of ladies who are unable to attend a traditional “in person” WI.
We meet via Zoom every 2nd Monday evening of the month, and have speakers, social events and sub groups, much like traditional WIs. Our Zoom meetings often include tea and cake, essential ingredients of a good WI meeting… and the occasional glass of wine, since nobody is driving!
Some of our members work full time, some have caring duties, some don’t like to drive in the evenings or have mobility limitations leading them to prefer a Virtual WI. Some of us simply have no other way to join the WI since we are British ladies who live abroad (in Greece and the USA). Many of us are dual-members who enjoy the best of both worlds! So, how about it? Will you consider joining us? All ladies are welcome to attend up to two free monthly meetings before deciding on joining.
Antonia Svensson Dianellou, President, Filoxenia Virtual WI
Article for October 2022 Federation News
annual report 2022
Filoxenia Virtual WI - Annual Report 202
The formation meeting of Filoxenia Virtual WI, the first virtual WI within the Huntingdon and Peterborough Federation, was launched on the 11th April 2022. Dawn Hetherington, our WI Adviser, guided us through the procedure. A team of six were voted on by the members and Antonia Svensson-Dianellou, who lives in Athens, was elected as President.
Vice President, Tricia Quail
Treasurer, Terry Webb
Correspondence Secretary, Jacqueline Svensson
Minute Secretary, Amanda Cox
MCS Rep, Catherine Bamber
Suggestions for the name of the Virtual WI were submitted by the prospective members and then voted upon. The name Filoxenia was chosen meaning ‘Friend to a Stranger’.
We agreed to meet on Zoom on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7.15pm. Eleven meetings during the year apart from January.
When all the necessary paperwork had been completed, we could sit back and enjoy Anne-Marie Hamilton MBE talking about her vast knowledge of arable and livestock farming and the rural support charity which she set up operating across Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
The first job for the team was to quickly organise a varied and interesting programme for the rest of the year:
Anna Bradley-Dorman talked us through the process of submitting a Resolution plus the criteria and timetable in May. We also enjoyed the presentation on the History of the WI Resolutions.
In June Gill Hodgekinson Price gave us a fascinating talk of the long, and at times turbulent, journey of St John Ambulance. An enjoyable and informative talk.
David Chapman joined us in July. He had a power failure at his home in Cornwall but didn’t want to let us down and went to great lengths to be with us. We saw wonderful wildlife photography plus lots of hints and tips for attracting wildlife. The team always has a back up plan just in case there are last minute issues.
We were busy bees in August when Felicity Jennings, founder of a craft school in Harrogate, showed us how to make flowers, leaves and a wreath with different colours and shapes to suit all seasons.
In September Nicky Reynolds gave us a very interesting history lesson on the Land Army/Soil Cinderellas project. Nicky’s inspiration for this subject came from three men in her life: grandfather, history teacher and latterly her husband.
Jon Crisp, Waste Education Officer at Cambridgeshire County Council joined us in October. He gave us lots of information about what should be recycled and the length of time different materials take to decompose.
In November, we were privileged to hear Genny Brown’s journey from the beautiful island of Aruba followed by the three year ordeal she endured following a tick bite in Turkey. We heard how she overcame the devastating effects of Lyme disease and is now attempting to become the first person from Aruba to ski solo and unassisted to the South Pole. An inspirational lady and we look forward to hearing how her expedition goes.
We soon forgot how cold and miserable it was outside in December with Debra John’s brilliant monologue from the perspective of a Victorian lady in her drawing room. Debra from Wales is a freelance actress and storyteller.
Our speaker in February was Jean Jeffries, Climate Ambassador for the Federation. Her talk entitled Recycle, Reuse and Repair was very interesting. Jean demonstrated how to turn a plastic charity bag into a shopping bag and also how to make wax wraps, which can be used to replace most cling film needs. A short quiz followed with information on how long it takes to decompose different items. Lots of inspiration and information on how we can all help to reduce waste and make a difference.
In July we were fortunate to be able to use the facilities of the WI Centre in Huntingdon for a social gathering. A delicious pot luck lunch was enjoyed and it was a nice opportunity to meet in person those who could attend. Glatton WI had sadly closed and Jean Greaves had kindly gifted the President’s brooch to Filoxenia. Jean presented it to Antonia.
Whilst we were at the WI Centre it was the perfect opportunity to set up the foyer display for the month of August. The theme of the display was items and photos representing where our members live in England, Wales, Greece and USA. Members made pennants with the letters of Filoxenia to form bunting. We also made flowers with labels promoting Filoxenia. These have been used at a number of events to promote membership.
Thank you to those members of Filoxenia who have submitted articles for the Federation News.
Virtual Coffee Mornings run every month and recently a monthly Book Club has started meeting on Zoom.
A pennant showing the hands of friendship has been created by one of our very talented members. The pennant will be on show in the WI Centre.
Some of our members have enjoyed various Federation events, including lunches, afternoon teas, trips to the theatre, programme inspiration workshops and resolution meetings. Members also joined virtually the NFWI Annual Meeting held in Liverpool.
East Yorkshire Roses VWI has been exploring the idea of forming a Virtual Group. This is a ground breaking initiative in the evolution of VWIs and an exciting journey. We look forward to being part of this new venture.
The team meets monthly, usually the week before the main meeting.
We have grown in numbers since the start of the year. We have 21 fully paid up members. (16 full, 5 dual). The majority of our members live in the UK apart from 2 who live abroad.
All relevant information plus minutes of our meetings are circulated via email to members.
We have a closed group for members only on Facebook as well as a public Facebook page. We have over 120 followers on Instagram (filoxenia_virtual_wi).
Finally, on behalf of all our members, we would like to say a huge thank you to the Federation for their support throughout the year and allowing us the facility of their Zoom account free of charge during our first year.
The formation meeting of Filoxenia Virtual WI, the first virtual WI within the Huntingdon and Peterborough Federation, was launched on the 11th April 2022. Dawn Hetherington, our WI Adviser, guided us through the procedure. A team of six were voted on by the members and Antonia Svensson-Dianellou, who lives in Athens, was elected as President.
Vice President, Tricia Quail
Treasurer, Terry Webb
Correspondence Secretary, Jacqueline Svensson
Minute Secretary, Amanda Cox
MCS Rep, Catherine Bamber
Suggestions for the name of the Virtual WI were submitted by the prospective members and then voted upon. The name Filoxenia was chosen meaning ‘Friend to a Stranger’.
We agreed to meet on Zoom on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7.15pm. Eleven meetings during the year apart from January.
When all the necessary paperwork had been completed, we could sit back and enjoy Anne-Marie Hamilton MBE talking about her vast knowledge of arable and livestock farming and the rural support charity which she set up operating across Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
The first job for the team was to quickly organise a varied and interesting programme for the rest of the year:
Anna Bradley-Dorman talked us through the process of submitting a Resolution plus the criteria and timetable in May. We also enjoyed the presentation on the History of the WI Resolutions.
In June Gill Hodgekinson Price gave us a fascinating talk of the long, and at times turbulent, journey of St John Ambulance. An enjoyable and informative talk.
David Chapman joined us in July. He had a power failure at his home in Cornwall but didn’t want to let us down and went to great lengths to be with us. We saw wonderful wildlife photography plus lots of hints and tips for attracting wildlife. The team always has a back up plan just in case there are last minute issues.
We were busy bees in August when Felicity Jennings, founder of a craft school in Harrogate, showed us how to make flowers, leaves and a wreath with different colours and shapes to suit all seasons.
In September Nicky Reynolds gave us a very interesting history lesson on the Land Army/Soil Cinderellas project. Nicky’s inspiration for this subject came from three men in her life: grandfather, history teacher and latterly her husband.
Jon Crisp, Waste Education Officer at Cambridgeshire County Council joined us in October. He gave us lots of information about what should be recycled and the length of time different materials take to decompose.
In November, we were privileged to hear Genny Brown’s journey from the beautiful island of Aruba followed by the three year ordeal she endured following a tick bite in Turkey. We heard how she overcame the devastating effects of Lyme disease and is now attempting to become the first person from Aruba to ski solo and unassisted to the South Pole. An inspirational lady and we look forward to hearing how her expedition goes.
We soon forgot how cold and miserable it was outside in December with Debra John’s brilliant monologue from the perspective of a Victorian lady in her drawing room. Debra from Wales is a freelance actress and storyteller.
Our speaker in February was Jean Jeffries, Climate Ambassador for the Federation. Her talk entitled Recycle, Reuse and Repair was very interesting. Jean demonstrated how to turn a plastic charity bag into a shopping bag and also how to make wax wraps, which can be used to replace most cling film needs. A short quiz followed with information on how long it takes to decompose different items. Lots of inspiration and information on how we can all help to reduce waste and make a difference.
In July we were fortunate to be able to use the facilities of the WI Centre in Huntingdon for a social gathering. A delicious pot luck lunch was enjoyed and it was a nice opportunity to meet in person those who could attend. Glatton WI had sadly closed and Jean Greaves had kindly gifted the President’s brooch to Filoxenia. Jean presented it to Antonia.
Whilst we were at the WI Centre it was the perfect opportunity to set up the foyer display for the month of August. The theme of the display was items and photos representing where our members live in England, Wales, Greece and USA. Members made pennants with the letters of Filoxenia to form bunting. We also made flowers with labels promoting Filoxenia. These have been used at a number of events to promote membership.
Thank you to those members of Filoxenia who have submitted articles for the Federation News.
Virtual Coffee Mornings run every month and recently a monthly Book Club has started meeting on Zoom.
A pennant showing the hands of friendship has been created by one of our very talented members. The pennant will be on show in the WI Centre.
Some of our members have enjoyed various Federation events, including lunches, afternoon teas, trips to the theatre, programme inspiration workshops and resolution meetings. Members also joined virtually the NFWI Annual Meeting held in Liverpool.
East Yorkshire Roses VWI has been exploring the idea of forming a Virtual Group. This is a ground breaking initiative in the evolution of VWIs and an exciting journey. We look forward to being part of this new venture.
The team meets monthly, usually the week before the main meeting.
We have grown in numbers since the start of the year. We have 21 fully paid up members. (16 full, 5 dual). The majority of our members live in the UK apart from 2 who live abroad.
All relevant information plus minutes of our meetings are circulated via email to members.
We have a closed group for members only on Facebook as well as a public Facebook page. We have over 120 followers on Instagram (filoxenia_virtual_wi).
Finally, on behalf of all our members, we would like to say a huge thank you to the Federation for their support throughout the year and allowing us the facility of their Zoom account free of charge during our first year.