Time for tea, cake....some bubbles and maybe a little jam making?

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends - I hope you are well today!

Today I wanted to share something a little different with you as this week I was part of something rather exciting......I attended the preliminary meeting of the Farnham Women's Institute (WI). When I received the Facebook invite to join a group interested in setting up a brand new WI in Farnham at the end of September I was so excited. Since moving to Farnham three years ago I have wanted to join a group just like this....somewhere to make new friends, learn new things and of course eat cake!

For anyone who hasn't heard of The Women's Institute, it was initially formed in 1915 to revitalise rural communities and encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Since then the organisation's aims have broadened and today the WI is the largest voluntary women's organisation in the UK, celebrating its centenary this year and currently it has 212,000 members in over 6,300 individual WIs.

Anyone who has popped by the blog before will know that I am rather partial to a bit of cake and a nice cup of tea....I also love a good natter and enjoy crafting and learning new skills. These are all things that I will be able to participate in at our monthly WI meetings and sub-groups.

This WI has been set up by local lady Cat Hoare, and there is a group of us who have volunteered to form the committee to get things up and running and organise the monthly meetings. Our joint vision is to uphold the traditional values of the WI but give it a modern twist....more cakes, crafts and cocktails than jam and Jerusalem (although Cat's not ruling out a spot of jam making!)

This week we held our very first meeting.....we're not technically set up as a WI yet as we haven't signed the constitution, but we needed an initial meeting to vote on forming the group and also....very importantly....our name! Cat managed the meeting information on Facebook where we got considerable interest.....but I don't think any of us expected the 60 wonderful ladies who joined us at the first meeting to find out more!

The preliminary meeting of the Farnham WI - 60 lovely ladies meeting for
cake, bubbles and to find out more!

I'm pleased to report that our first meeting went well, we were given a general introduction to the group from Cat and also WI information from Ann Heward. There was plenty of literature available about the WI, the campaigns they are involved in (current campaigns include SOS for Honeybees and More Midwives).

Ann Heward giving an introduction to the WI

.....and of course 

there was a lot of homemade cake, bubbles and a little tea consumed during the evening.......

First scrummy bakes from the Bake, Natter and Roll (Farnham WI) ladies!

We voted on our name....and Bake, Natter and Roll (Farnham WI) won by a landslide! 

We also put our names down for sub-groups that we might be interested in.....not surprisingly the pudding and wine tasting groups were really popular....the cycling group however wasn't quite so popular!

Our WI will officially form in January 2016 and I am really excited to be part of this group of like-minded women. If you happen to live in Farnham (Surrey), why not pop by our Facebook page and take a peek at what we've been up to. 

Are you already a member of a local WI? We'd love to hear all about your group - leave us a comment below!

The most amazing Brownies made by Lydia!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel