Annual Reports and Accounts
Annual Reports 2024
2024 was another busy year for CFWI. Our amazing sub committees put on lots of new events for us – and also continued to provide many of our well established favourite activities, including the jigsaw challenge, the quiz and our trip to the theatre in Southwold. The number of events we organise has been growing, year by year – and in 2024 there were 42 activities for us to book. These included 7 coach trips, 4 lunches and 6 other events which involved food! There was also a wide variety of interesting talks, workshops and local walking trips. I want to say a huge thank you to all the subcommittee members who work behind the scenes putting together and delivering this impressive programme of events.
Our Annual Meeting in April was well attended. Our enthusiastic speaker, Dr Yeo from “Trust Me I’m A Doctor,” explained that not all calories are equal, answered questions from the floor and stayed to chat to members over coffee. Our delegates at the NFWI Annual Meeting enjoyed an inspiring day. The theme this year centred around sexual abuse, grooming and coercion. Speakers: Spice Girl Mel B, Crown Prosecutor Nazir Afzal and Archers Actor Timothy Wason all gave thought provoking presentations. There was also an interesting debate on the proposed resolution – Dental Health Matters, which was approved with a majority of over 95%.
CFWI Membership numbers are around the same as last year. In the 9 months from 1st April 2024 we received subscriptions from 1596 members – just 55 fewer than 2023. Sadly, we suspended Queen Edith WI – which takes the number of WIs at the end of 2024 down to 51.
Your subscriptions make up a large part of our income, but we also rely on raising money from events to help balance the accounts each year. This year we also banked just over £4,500 from the five WIs that suspended in 2021 (Isleham, Dry Drayton, Castle, Meldreth and Trumpington). We ended the year with a small deficit of just under £800.
We are always looking at new fundraising activities, so in 2024 CFWI joined the NFWI lottery. The 40p from each £1.00 ticket bought by our supporters raised just over £50 in December – and continues to raise a similar monthly amount in 2025. At the end of 2024 we also registered CFWI with Easyfundraising which we will be promoting in 2025.
There were some changes to the Board in 2024. We were delighted to welcome Helen Williams (Oakington and Westwick WI) as a co-opted Trustee in May. We also lost a Trustee. Sadly Judy Casey (Early Birds WI) died in August. Judy stayed involved in Board business right up to her death and is sadly missed.
Organising events is a big part of the work we do in the office – and the administration involved in processing these events is very time consuming. So, to make the process more efficient we started to book our events through TicketSource. Its early days – but it seems to be working well for members and it certainly saves staff and volunteers a lot of time and effort.
Thank you to the office team. To our bookkeeper, Jules McGuire, for keeping the accounts in order and to Helen Comiskey, our Federation Secretary for keeping the office running. We also have three volunteers who help out Diane Oakley (Newton WI and Board Trustee) and Maggie Dunn (Histon and Impington WI) who help Helen in the office and Vicki Reti (Cam City WI) who helps edit the Out and About pages in the newsletter. Their help has been invaluable.
My final thanks go to my fellow Trustees and committee members for their support and commitment. It has been a privilege and a joy to be chair in 2024.
Sue Smales, Federation Chair
Combined Activities Committee
Highlights from 2024 included Deborah Monteiro taking us on an amazing journey through the Royal collection entitled Sword, Sceptre and Sainthood. The Jigsaw Challenge was again very popular and we promised no more snowy scenes! The walking tour of Cambridge entitled ‘Quirky Public Art’ was so popular that we had to add another day. Murray our guide was so good we arranged a further Cambridge walk ‘Off the Beaten Track’. The WI Quiz was held in a new venue and again proved very popular. We held a very interesting photography workshop using smart phones. A number of attendees on the Bridge for Fun workshop have started playing on a regular basis.
Outings included a trip to Southwold to the Summer Theatre, Tolethorpe to see ‘Sense and Sensibility’, and how lovely it was to have a picnic lunch following the performance in Tolethorpe’s beautiful grounds. The trip to Holkham Hall was timed to see the wonderful Christmas decorations. Milton Keynes Theatre is always a good venue to visit and members enjoyed seeing ‘Come from Away’.
We have a great catering committee and throughout the year have served a delicious Winter Warmer Lunch, coffee morning with bingo, Spring Lunch with local author Nicola Upson, Summer Lunch with an Olympic theme, St Patrick’s Day feast, Autumn Lunch with Gytha Lodge, another local author, a beetle drive coffee morning and ended the year with a Christmas Brunch that included seasonal readings by the Federation Players and Christmas songs and carols by Oakington Choir.
The committee has got to grips with arranging an extensive programme for 2025 and it is hoped that as many members as possible will participate in these throughout the year.
Christine Wylde and Olive Swain, Joint-Chairs
Craft and Cookery Committee
We are pleased that we have been able to provide a variety of informative talks, day schools and coach trips over the past year. There has been an eclectic mix of talks ranging from upcycling to ecclesiastical embroidery, day schools on Japanese Sashiko to willow weaving and a little bit of indulgence with a painting weekend and a patchwork weekend. We went to Beth Chatto’s Gardens, a popular visit to the Knitting and Stitching Show and ended the year at Cadbury’s World in Birmingham where, as I am sure you have probably guessed they had a shop! Who can resist a bag of misshapen chocolates!
Sally Kingman, Chair
Membership Committee
At the beginning of 2024 the Membership committee is small; three well informed, experienced and enthusiastic WI Advisers meet to discuss the state of the organisation, discern what can be done to augment the WI experience in the coming year and offer advice to the Federation’s members on all types of issues.
During the year the training for new WI Advisers was moved online and it is pleasing that now another WI Adviser, still ‘learning on the job’, has elevated our number to four.
WI Advisers across the country came together on Zoom under the auspices of the NFWI to speak of the role, discuss difficulties and triumphs and to discern the way forward for those members who take on this demanding and most enjoyable task. Still opening and suspending WIs is the main thrust of the work but as members know, help and advice and information is the forte of a WI Adviser.
Virtual WIs, of which to date CFWI cannot boast, have been under discussion, especially as several members of the federation are also virtual WI members. The opening of another Morning WI too is expected to happen before long, since the current one held in the office is proving successful. The WI Advisers are always ready to hear members’ suggestions of time and place for the formation of a new WI.
Presidents and Secretaries and WI Advisers exchanged information and ideas at a social gathering on a summer evening. Here, the history of the WI office provided the evening’s entertainment while members from different parts of the federation got to know each other.
Two Speakers’ Showcases were held during 2024 with more than 18 new speakers adding to the great choice of subjects to be learned at a WI meeting.
The problem of appointing new officers in a WI continue to exercise all members. But the leading of a meeting may be shared, minutes and records can be taken by other than the secretary and a treasurer does not have to be a WI member and may receive an honorarium. These steps may keep a WI on a positive road to the future.
During 2024 the constitution has been reviewed with members’ views due to be received by March 2025. A review takes place every ten years. Now, there are changes proposed that will hone the WI for the next decade and give it a future, a future different from the days many members have known but, nonetheless, one that retains the ideals of the organisation - fellowship, truth, tolerance and justice.
Ruth Bond, Chair
Public Affairs Committee
2024 proved to be a busy year for Public Affairs and much of it is down to your support with our ‘Dental Health Matters’ Campaign. As soon as the resolution was passed at the Annual Meeting in June, we launched our Christmas Tree campaign, and the response was overwhelming. Many of you attended a session making fabric bags to hold the toothbrushes and toothpaste, and as a result of your generosity not only did we manage to decorate two large Christmas trees, we also managed to decorate a large part of Girton’s meeting room! The donations were gratefully received by Women’s Aid, the Haven (a charity for vulnerable homeless women) and Cambridge food banks. In addition to this, many WI’s made individual donations to local charities, so the dental health message travelled far and wide throughout Cambridge!
This year we have also continued to support the ‘Clean Rivers for People and Wildlife’ campaign running a very informative and successful visit to Haslingfield Water Treatment Centre and having a committee member represent us on the National River march.
Other activities organised include a scams coffee morning, a visit to the Cambridge Collection and a Morsbag workshop in line with the Great Big Green week.
In October a PA representative attended the resolution selection meeting for 2024/25. A comprehensive report of that meeting was sent to all WIs to provide members with the information needed to make their vote. In addition to all our activities we have spent a lot of time working on information sharing, writing articles for the newsletter and producing our first Public Affairs news in December.
Thanks must go to my fellow committee members for all their hard work and enthusiasm and to Helen and Diane in the office who continue to support us and keep me focused!
Lesley Challands, Chair
Finance and Advisory Panel
The Finance Advisory Panel meets every two months, with its main purpose being to oversee the Federation finances and monitor its financial position. On behalf of the Board of Trustees we are responsible for the preparation of the Federation’s budget. This is then submitted to the Board for final approval before it is circulated to all WIs.
The work of the panel through 2024 has continued to manage the overheads of running and maintaining the office. New smart meters were installed in the summer, so that we have more confidence in the accuracy of the meter readings. Discussions are ongoing concerning the source of the water leaks that frequently appear, and it is to be hoped they will diminish as the windows are resealed.
The payroll is managed by Prentis & Co. Thanks are due to our book-keeper, Jules McGuire, for all her hard work in keeping the accounts in good order.
A Treasurers’ Training Day was held in July, with the Independent Financial Examiners, giving new and less-experienced WI Treasurers the opportunity to ask questions about the accounts system, and to discuss common issues.
The introduction of Ticketsource in November, to manage the booking of our events, is proving a benefit in requiring less time to be spent on checking our bank statements, and processing cheques.
Other sources of income, such as the Lottery, are becoming more popular - we have just learned that the Cambridge Federation is in the top 5 in the country for members buying lottery tickets - keep it up! We also have our own 200 Club, with a monthly prize of £25 - shares cost £5 each year, and I am very pleased to report that more shares were sold in 2024 than in 2023.
Valerie Ridgman, Chair