Formation of our book clubOnce Filoxenia was established as a Virtual WI group meeting online via Zoom last year, members began looking for ’spin offs’ and a book group was suggested. There was support
for this and I offered to act as the coordinator. Members who were interested in joining the sub-group were asked to put forward suggestions for books for the group to read. It was decided to meet monthly on a Friday evening at 7pm UK time, during the week after our monthly meeting takes place. The very first meeting of our new Book Group was held in December of last year with seven members attending. Our first book was ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ by Bernadine Evaristo. The group had a lively debate after everyone gave their initial view and the group was evenly split – half of us absolutely loved it and half of us hated it or just couldn’t get into it! The format of the book group meetings is as follows: for each member to tell the group whether they enjoyed the book or not; their opinion of the style of writing and plot development etc. Not everyone always likes all the books we read, and the group decided to introduce a marking system for each book to keep a record of our impressions, with 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. So far the highest ranking book has been “My Brilliant Friend”. The aim of a book group is that it encourages readers to read ‘outside their comfort zone’ and thus find new authors to follow and our members have also enjoyed this. The books we have read cover a wide range of genres and time scales. Our book for the October discussion is Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead. It is a very different book compared to those we have already read, so we shall see if members enjoyed this one. We have books listed taking us up to November 2024. This is to enable those of our members living in a rural situation, outside of the UK (our President lives in Greece) and those who like to use a library, plenty of time to get hold of a copy and to read it before each meeting. If others would like to join us, please do contact us (details below). Guests are welcome. Happy reading! Verity Ladds Filoxenia Virtual WI member Filoxenia Book Group Coordinator Book listFeb- Girl, Woman Other by Bernadine
March – Gray Mountain, John Gresham April - The Midnight Library by Matt Haig May - Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers June - Where the Crawdads Sing - by Delia Owens July - Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquiven Aug - Lessons in Chemistry - by Elena Ferrente Sept - Great Circle by Maggie Shiostead Oct - On Chapel Sands - by Laura Cummings Nov - The Secret Scriptures by Sebastian Barry Dec - The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christie Lefteri 2024 Jan - Educated by Tara Westover Feb - Norah Webster by Colm Toibin March - Crow Lake by Mary Lawson April - The Salt Path by Raynor Wynne May - Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill June - The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah July - I’m Sorry you feel that way by Rebecca Wait Aug - Taking Flight by Michaela DePrince Sept - Under a Wartime Sky by Liz Trenow Festival GroupLots of virtual's are beginning to form and a "Festival Group" was started to offer virtual members more events.
2nd Group meeting 29th March 2023. A virtual Zoom licence will be bought for the pop up events which have already started. These add value for money to the members as they are all FOC. Each online event normally cost around £5 from the Wanderers or other virtual WI’s. Even Denman charges. Virtual Group meeting1. East Yorkshire Roses VWI will coordinate the Zoom meetings, forum meetings and all collective events for the forthcoming year. 2. A group would meet 4 times a year: June, September, December and March, to share best practice ideas and try to resolve virtual problems. This would be hosted by EY Roses and would last an estimated 1 hour. A representative from each VWI would be welcome. EY Roses requested a consistent representative. The first meeting is on 14th June 2023 at 7.30 pm. Any unsolved problems could be put to National using a collective voice. 3. A summer and winter Festival of events has been agreed, the first being in August, date to be decided. This would be at no extra cost to members. The Zoom costs born by EY Roses. All events would be for a couple of hours throughout the day. Volunteers were invited and Terry volunteered to do a quiz. The summer event will be an agenda item at the June meeting. A very successful meeting with definite outcomes this time. Email: [email protected]
Instagram: filoxenia_virtual_wi Twitter: @Filoxenia_WI Facebook Members Group: Filoxenia Virtual WI Facebook Page: Filoxenia Virtual Women’s Institute Our power point slide for the Festival Group |
scarecrowThis year a few members got together to make a scarecrow to exhibit at Federation House. This was Filoxenia's model - Shrek, we were entry number 5.
Unfortunately we did not win 2023/24 ProgrammeHUNTINGDON & PETERBOROUGH'S CRAFT COMPETITIONOne of our members entered this competition and came away with the Upton Trophy
christmas game for a social evening
article for federation newsFiloxenia Virtual WI
At Filoxenia VWI we follow the same general format of a “traditional WI”, but with some differences. Our monthly meetings begin with an invited speaker giving a talk about a topic of interest, or sometimes an adventure in the case of Genny Brown who gave an inspiring talk about her expedition to Antarctica to raise funds for Lyme Disease. Other times we have enjoyed a live “show” such as Alia el Asmar’s entertaining and informative “Vegan Treats” cooking demonstration. After the talk or demo, an interesting discussion and Q&A session always follows with the speaker and members. Next, we have a bit of social time and discussion of the usual WI business. But the bonus is we don’t have to drive home and we can make our own tea just as we like it in the breaks! In addition to our monthly online meetings, we’ve also enjoyed some social events such as an in person get together at the WI Centre in Huntingdon last year, online coffee mornings and most recently a “Filoxenia Festive Friday Fun” event in December 2023. The Festive social was on Zoom and began with members sharing some of their own Festive traditions, stories and habits. We learned about the legend of the Christmas Spider (which originates from Ukraine and may explain the origin of tinsel on Christmas trees), dancing Christmas in and out in true (Pagan) Swedish-style, and the Greek Orthodox traditional celebrations for New Year and Epiphany. The picture provides a taster of a group activity led by Filoxenia VWI team member Terry Webb during the Festive social event, that we all thoroughly enjoyed. We also have a Book Group that meets on a Friday evening at 7pm UK time, during the week after our monthly meeting which is on the second Monday evening of each month. The Book Group is a big success, with the members thoroughly enjoying reading and discussing a very wide range of books. We have room for more Book Group members, and we are currently able to accept new members of Filoxenia, full or dual. Why not consider joining Filoxenia VWI as a dual member, in addition to the traditional in person WI you already belong to? It doesn’t have to be either or – you can have the best of both worlds. Find out more via Facebook (Filoxenia Virtual WI) or Instagram (filoxeinia_virtual_wi). We are always happy for guests to come along to one of our monthly meetings or Book Group, for free up to two times. You can request this by emailing [email protected] Antonia Svensson Dianellou President, Filoxenia Virtual WI Annual Report 2023Filoxenia Virtual WI Annual Report 2023
Filoxenia commenced its second year with 17 members and the same team as the previous year: Antonia Svensson-Dianellou, President Tricia Quail, Vice President Terry Webb, Treasurer Jacqueline Svensson, Correspondence Secretary Amanda Cox, Minute Secretary Catherine Bamber, MCS Rep Throughout the year we have had a variety of speakers and demonstrations which have been thoroughly enjoyed by our members. Guests are welcome at all of our meetings. Linda Parkhouse, a knitwear designer, joined us for our first meeting in April. “I’m never happier than when I have a needle of some sort in my hand” summed up Linda’s long and interesting career. Lindsey Barrell, a Mindfulness Teacher was a confident and humorous speaker with a wealth of knowledge. Lindsey took us through the benefits of Mindfulness with practical examples and exercises, ending with a relaxing guided meditation. In June, Tricia introduced her husband, Dr Michael Quail from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, who introduced us to the world of DNA, the blueprint for life. A very interesting and complex talk took us through the vocabulary (DNA, RNA, chromosomes, genes, genome, proteins, etc.) and history of the science of this genetic information responsible for the development and function of living organisms. Dr Gerald Price from the Woodland Trust joined us in July. Gerald gave an interesting presentation with beautiful images of woodlands. We were shown various improvements which the Woodland Trust has made to ancient woodlands and other areas within the UK. In August, Anna Bradley-Dorman, one of our members, gave us an inspirational and uplifting talk on how cake, community and campaigns have been very much part of her life. We were privileged to view photos which covered the many aspects of Anna’s valued work and what a significant effect she has made on people’s lives. Anna also reminded us of various Resolutions which the WI have taken forward. We spent the evening of our September meeting enthralled by Alia El Asmar demonstrating a vegan afternoon tea in her own kitchen in Cheshire. Alia had gone to great lengths pre-preparing the food, thus ensuring the demonstration flowed without a hitch. Alia gave us loads of ideas, hints and tips and the tea looked amazing. Antonia introduced her husband Stefanos Dianellos in October who gave us a talk entitled “Tales of Journalism”. We had an insight into the world of journalism through Stefanos’ eyes and what an interesting and varied career it has been. Stefanos has covered so many events through his work with the BBC World Service. In November, Chris Dodson, a fourth-generation award winning Master Thatcher, talked us through the history of thatching from cave to dwelling – and what an interesting craft it is. We were told about the different and somewhat rather unusual finials which may be commissioned to appear on the ridge work. A wild boar was initially rejected due to some “missing undercarriage”, while another homeowner wanted a ballerina. A very interesting and entertaining talk from a highly specialist craftsman. For our December meeting Pat Hall kept us entertained with funny stories, clips from magazines and newspapers and a couple of poems. I doubt anyone had heard about the Waitresses’ Strike of 1908. Ann Featherstone, retired university lecturer and writer, was inspired by a newspaper cutting, purchased on eBay, to investigate the story: “A Storm in a Teashop”. At lunchtime on 8th April 1908, the waitresses at the Cabin Restaurant, Piccadilly Circus, came out on strike and made headlines in national and provincial newspapers around the country. The Cabinettes, as they were known, were working women who chose to take on a major company, set up their own restaurant and, against the odds, succeed. Their example is still inspirational – and a great story. A summary of other events during the year … Jacqui received our 1st birthday certificate at the 2023 Huntingdon and Peterborough Federation Day in April. Pauline was our delegate at the NFWI Annual Meeting in Cardiff in June 2023. Pauline gave us a brief report on the Resolution which was passed “Clean Rivers for People and Wildlife”. The Federation held a Midsummer Show in June and we were delighted that some of our members entered the various categories. The team entry, a scarecrow, which in our case was based on Shrek, although didn’t win, was amazing and huge thanks to Terry and Julie for their creative and hard work. You did us proud. Congratulations to Terry who came first in two of the categories, the crochet item and also a stitched item, and who went on to win the Lottie Upton Craft Trophy (best in show). Terry has been our representative and latterly Sally Dalley, on the new VWI Group, joining meetings and giving feedback to our members. 250 virtual WI members from across the globe came together for the first VWI Group Festival in August. After an opening ceremony the guest speakers were introduced: Ann Jones, NFWI Chair, Alison Peek and Michelle Gordon, founders of WI Wanderers. Royal messages were conveyed from HRH Queen Camilla and HRH Duchess of Edinburgh. During the morning, craft sessions were held where members had a chance to learn new skills and make new friends. A picnic and quiz followed and, in the afternoon, Sarah Seabrook hosted an afternoon tea from her home in Northern France. After tea a small bank of players disappeared to change and ready themselves for the Murder Mystery – “Malice in Wonderland”. It was a wonderful finale to bring the day to a close. The VWI festival team were thanked, which included our own Terry, for their involvements and especially those directly involved in the pre-festival events and the day itself. The Team was delighted that Myfanwy joined the programme planning committee. On a cold and frosty Remembrance Day, a few of our members attended a special service to commemorate 100 years of the Thinking Soldier War Memorial in Huntingdon. The money to pay for the statue had been raised by Huntingdon WI. In December we held a Festive Friday Fun event. Members shared some of their own festive traditions, stories and habits. We learned about the legend of the Christmas Spider (which originates from Ukraine and may explain the origin of tinsel on Christmas trees), dancing Christmas in and out in true (Pagan) Swedish-style, and the Greek Orthodox traditional celebrations for New Year and Epiphany. Terry Webb provided a group activity which rounded off a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
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