Annual Reports and Accounts
Annual Reports 2025
2025 was another busy year for the Federation. Our amazing sub committees put on lots of new events– as well as continuing to provide many of our favourite activities, including the jigsaw challenge, the quiz and our summer trip to the seaside and theatre in Southwold. The number of events we organise has been growing, year by year – and in 2025 there were 46 activities for us to book. These included 7 coach trips and numerous events which involved food! There was also a wide variety of interesting talks, workshops and local walking trips, plus a very successful swishing event. 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 for us all to enjoy.
Our Annual Meeting at the end of April was well attended, with our speaker Lucy Lewis, talking about her career as a bomb disposal officer and her recent appointment as Cambridge University Marshall.
In June we held a watch party at the office for the NFWI Annual Meeting which was held on zoom. The meeting was proceeded by a Companies Act meeting to adopt the revised WI constitutions. The speakers at the Annual Meeting were Angel Strawbridge and Emma Bridgwater. Emma produced an iconic WI mug to celebrate the occasion. The resolution, Bystanders can be Lifesavers, was approved with a majority of over 95%.
We invested in a couple of changes to the office in 2025. We installed a new wall mounted tv in the office meeting room. The screen was used for the National Annual Meeting as well as several of our events. We also removed the redundant photovoltaic panels from the front of the building to allow access to the area for maintenance.
Cambridge Federation Membership numbers are around the same as last year. In the 9 months from 1st April 2025 we received subscriptions from 1489 members – 100 fewer than 2024, however the income from subs over the year has remained around the same as the previous year. Sadly, we suspended Pampisford and Church End Cherry Hinton WIs – which reduced the number of Cambridge WIs to 49.
Your subscriptions make up a large part of our income and we also rely on raising money from events to help balance the accounts each year. This year we also banked just over £4,000 from two WIs that suspended in 2022 (Hauxton and Cambridge Ladybirds). We ended the year with a small surplus of just over £600.
At the end of 2024, CFWI signed up for the NFWI lottery and it has proved to be very popular in its first year. The 40p from each £1.00 ticket bought by our supporters raised over £900.
There were some changes to the Board in 2025. I want to say thank you to longstanding Trustee Linda Neech, who stood down at the end of April, and also welcome two new Board Members: Jane Stoner (Swavesey WI) was co-opted in November 2025 and Olive Swain (Over WI) in February 2026.
In 2025 all our event bookings went onto the TicketSource booking platform which appears to be working well for members and 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 two volunteers, Diane Oakley (Newton WI and Board Trustee) and Maggie Dunn (Histon and Impington WI) who help Helen in the office and with editing 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 ongoing support and commitment. I have relied on the office team and Trustees more than ever this year due to family commitments and want to say a particular thank you to vice chairs, Elaine Bailey and Lesley Challands.
It has been a privilege to be chair.
Sue Smales, Federation Chair
Combined Activities Committee
Combined Activities first outing of the year was to Sadler’s Wells Theatre to see Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake. A full coach of ladies had a thoroughly enjoyable day and the ballet was wonderful.
Thirty people enjoyed a cassoulet and sticky toffee pudding at the Winter Warmer in January which was a welcome meal at this time of year.
The Jigsaw Challenge was again a popular event (especially as the jigsaw didn’t contain sky or snow!) which was accompanied by soup and rolls followed by various flavoured muffins.
We celebrated Pancake day on 4th March in the traditional manner.
Our first Swishing Event took place at WI House on Saturday 15th March. What a turnout of wonderful clothes donated by our members. This involved a lot of work but it was totally worth it. The clothes which did not sell were then sold on Vinted which helped to raise a substantial sum.
Fish or Mushroom pie was on the menu for the Spring Lunch. Our speaker, Amanda Harrison, was very well received.
The first of two walks with Murray Jacobs around Cambridge took place in April.
Our first day school of the year was by Deborah Monteiro who we had enjoyed the previous year. This year she spoke on Impressive Women.
A visit to Tolethorpe Hall to see ‘A Mirror Crack’d’ was enjoyed in June followed by Bingo at the coffee morning a few weeks later.
At the end of April, we visited London to see ABBA which gave some of our members the opportunity to ‘dress up’.
Elton Hall was another coach trip this year which was well supported.
We visited Spain in July for this year’s evening meal where many Spanish delights were enjoyed.
The regular Southwold trip took place again where this year we watched a straight play instead of a farce. Again, the weather was kind to us.
In September 88 members took part in our annual WI Quiz. This year it was won by Barton so we look forward to their questions next year.
The Literary Lunch took place on 15th October and our speaker was Phil Oddy.
Another walk around Cambridge by Murray Jacobs was enjoyed in October.
Thursford will be celebrated again in December followed by the Christmas Brunch on the 15th. Then we start all over again!
Olive Swain and Christine Wylde, Joint Chairs
Membership Committee
The Federation has welcomed two further WI Advisers during 2025, both benefitting from the online training now offered. They have honed their skills in both visits to WI and attendance and discussions in Federation committees.
In the year the WI Constitution was revised the WI Advisers, supported by Federation trustees, have hosted two Speakers’ Showcase events and a reception to thank Presidents and Secretaries for their leadership and work within their own WI. This is also a splendid opportunity for an exchange of ideas and to raise troublesome or celebratory issues; a chance to share our WI lives.
The Membership committee met three times during the year. Sadly, two WIs were suspended and two WIs moved to new venues in 2025.
After two years of consultation with federations and all members the Constitution reviewed by the NFWI now enables multi-members, formerly dual (and triple+) members, to hold office in each WI they attend as subscription-paid members. The need for a bye law in this situation has been removed. Rule 43 sets out what to do when a committee finds itself in difficulty. Also, “A multi-member can vote on all matters within all her WIs including national matters such as Public Affairs resolutions.” This and all relevant notes are to be found in rules 15 – 17 of the said Constitution.
All changes were voted on, unusually, at the end of the NFWI annual meeting which was held via Zoom. It was hosted from the NFWI headquarters, 104 New King’s Road London. A few members came together in the Cambridge office to watch the meeting with speakers, ceramicist Emma Bridgewater, who had crafted a commemorative mug for the 110th anniversary of the organisation, and Angle Strawbridge.
Changes within the WI as a whole continue to enable it be a noteworthy women’s organisation for the twenty first century which the decision-makers trust. New issues do arise, some sadden and some gladden WI members. But WI Advisers are ever on hand to give advice and help with all WI matters, even they don’t wear brown corduroy suits and arrive at a WI meeting on their bicycle as they did decades ago; more often than not advice is given via email and telephone conversations. But they are always present at the suspension of a WI, or the opening of a new WI.
Ruth Bond, Chair
Craft and Cookery Committee
We have been able to offer a variety of informative talks, day schools and coach trips over the past year. Many of the events were a “first” for us including an Air Fryer Talk, a Lavender Afternoon Tea and a Festive “Try It Day”. Among our day schools we made fused glass, learnt to stitch foundation paper piecing and were delighted to welcome a renowned expert on Shetland Lace knitting. As always, a very popular destination was the V&A this time to enjoy the Cartier Exhibition and we must not forget our annual pilgrimage to Alexander Palace to the Knitting and Stitching Show! Thank you very much to all the Cambridge Federation members and their friends for supporting our events resulting in a very successful year for the committee.
Sally Kingman, Chair
Public Affairs
2025 has been another busy year for Public Affairs and once again a lot of it has been down to your support. Following on from the success of our Dental Health Matters Campaign last year, we launched an Anti-Violence against Women initiative identifying two charities we would be supporting: Women’s Aid and the Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre. We sent out a much-needed donation list and our needlecrafters quickly got to work making tote bags. These bags will be filled with goodies (mainly your donations) and then given to the survivors as court support bags. To say the response was overwhelming is an understatement. Your generosity (and sewing skills) exceeded not just our expectations but those of the charities we were supporting. You really did make a difference this year and we thank you for that.
Our dental bag campaign from last year was recognised early in 2025 by NFWI. Our dental bags were pictured in WI Life and WIs were encouraged to replicate our initiative. It was good to be able to support NFWI with this but even better to see other Federations also making a difference to dental health. This year’s resolution, ‘Bystanders Can be Lifesavers’ was also well received with many WIs holding or attending CPR training sessions. We will certainly be looking at how we can support this going forward.
This year we have also continued to support the ‘Clean Rivers for People and Wildlife’ campaign running a very informative and enjoyable riverside walk and an evening of film and discussion when we showed the award-winning film ‘Pure Clean Water’.
We also organised a visit to Westminster College which was a huge success.
In October a PA representative attended the resolution selection meeting for 2025/26. 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 these activities we have spent a lot of time working on information sharing and writing articles for the newsletter.
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 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 2025 has continued to manage the overheads of running and maintaining the office. The solar panels have been removed, which will give easier access to the leaking windows. Estimates are being sought to maintain the external fabric of the building, and to improve the quality and economy of lighting the interior. A significant amount of time has been spent managing changes in banking systems, and supporting WIs who have also been experiencing challenges with their banking providers.
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.
Thanks are also due to Joan Dearman, who retired from the Finance Advisory Panel this year. Her longstanding experience was always very much appreciated.
A Treasurers’ Training Day was held in May, 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.
Using Ticketsource to manage event bookings is proving to be a great benefit, and we can cautiously look ahead to providing more exciting and profitable events, to support the work of the CFWI in future.
Valerie Ridgman, Chair