ECKINGTON WI held its Annual Meeting on Wednesday 3 May. Reports were given by the Secretary, President and Treasurer on our activities and financial status over the last 12 months, before we then went on to elect our new Committee and new President. Although 2 members of our 2016/2017 committee resigned, we were pleased to welcome two new members, Jo Eyres and Marilyn Riley. We also confirmed our President for 2017/2018 as Cynthia Mortimer. Thanks were given for all work done over the last 12 months before we then breaked for refreshments.

During the break, we enjoyed a short presentation of posters and photos showing our activities throughout the last 12 months. Suitably refreshed we carried with the business of the night. Every year, the WI nationally considers various resolutions brought forward by its members as an issue for a national campaign. A short list is compiled leading to eventually one or two of the resolutions being presented to the National Meeting for voting on by delegates. This year the WI is considering (a) the impact of microfibres on the environment and (b) the impact of loneliness on members of society. There is an excellent short film on the problem of microfibres (https://youtu.be/BqkekY5t7KY) and we fortunate to be able to view this, thus helping us in understanding the problem. After discussion, we voted in favour of this resolution. The resolution on loneliness did not gain support; whilst of course we support initiatives in combating loneliness, the resolution wording was not persuasive. So our delegate will have one vote for and one against! We are grateful to our visiting WI Adviser, Anne Smith, who guided and directed us through our annual meeting, the elections and the resolutions.

After all the business, we were reminded of our upcoming social events: coffee morning, lunch club and the re-introduction of our walking group.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday June 7, 7:30pm at Eckington Village Hall. Our speaker will be from Tigley Textiles.

Look out for more news on our Facebook page or on our website, www.eckingtonwi.weebly.com.

BARBARA EVANS