Princes Risborough Morning WI was formed twenty-four years ago, in 1997. At the time there was already a WI in Princes Risborough that met in the afternoon, so it was thought that having a WI which met in the morning would be ideal for those founder members who wanted daytime meetings.
This past sixteen months during the COVID pandemic have been very difficult for everyone. Our last face to face meeting was in March last year, and since then we have had our committee and monthly WI meetings using Zoom. It is not ideal, but it has proved to be a good way of keeping in touch with those members who are happy to use Zoom. We have been lucky to have speakers who are able to give their talk by Zoom, rather than the face to face talk which had been arranged last year by our programme planner Sue. Talks in the coming months include the power, politics and scandals of Cliveden, the personal recollections of a member of the Regional Crime Squad, Eugene Matthias with his comedy, magic, fun and laughter show in December, the bombing of Saunderton Station by a group of suffragettes in January and the story of tea, from plantation to cup in February.
We all hope that we can get together for face to face meetings in the not too distant future, but if not we will continue to meet by Zoom. Until things are once more back to near normal, our regular outings by coach or car will also have to wait.
We are a friendly group of around sixty members who meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 10 am at the Wades Centre in Princes Risborough. Visitors and new members are always most welcome.
Each year we hold a bring-and-share lunch in the president’s garden in August. Because of the pandemic it couldn’t happen last year, but this year we are hoping it will go ahead with a little more caution than usual, but with the addition of a plant stall and a special raffle. It will be a chance to catch up with all those members we haven’t seen for the past year and a half.
We hope to resume our regular meetings in September, but we are very conscious that it may still not yet be prudent to do so. Discussions are still underway with the committee and those responsible for hiring out the hall.
Please give me or our secretary Angela Adlam a ring if you would like any further information or details of forthcoming meetings.