St Tudy Women's Institute

ST TUDY W.I. 80^th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS  

St Tudy W. I. Birthday Lunch Sunday 24^th October 2004

St Tudy WI was founded in 1931 and has continued ever since, except during the war years. It is affiliated with the Cornwall Federation of Women’s Institutes (Truro) and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (London). At the present time (2003) we have a membership of over 50 and women of all ages can join. An annual subscription is paid (£18.25 in 2003) some of which goes to the Cornwall Federation of Women’s Institutes and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and the balance goes to the individual WI’s. Extra funds are raised in various ways, coffee mornings in The Clink at least twice a year, putting on teas for other WI’s for a fee etc.

Meetings are held on the third Friday of each month in the Village Hall (except in August) starting at 7 p.m. and ending usually about 9 p.m. Each meeting is started with the singing of ‘Jerusalem’. A little while ago it was suggested by the President that this practice was stopped and a vote was taken, the result was a resounding vote in favour of continuing. After the ‘business’ has been conducted, minutes read, correspondence, notices given out etc, we are entertained (or educated!) by a speaker for about an hour. The subjects vary greatly from the ever popular Flower Arranging to talks on Fire Safety, Travel, Auctioneering, Local Radio to name but a few. However mundane the subject might appear, we are usually very pleasantly surprised by how entertaining our speakers turn out to be.

At each meeting we have a Flower of the Month competition, and a second competition which relates to the speakers’ subject. There is also a Charity Raffle each month, members pay 10p for a ticket, one member provides a small prize and the proceeds are sent annually to a designated charity. Any member who celebrates a birthday that particular month, is presented with a flower buttonhole. After the speaker has finished, we all enjoy a very welcome cup of tea of coffee and a biscuit – each member brings a small contribution, biscuits, cake, sandwiches etc. and a different group of ladies each month are responsible for making the tea and distributing the food.

Each year we take part in the Royal Cornwall Show which is held in July, and the Wadebridge Prime Stock Show in November. This year (2002) our institute won first prize for our depiction of Hogmanay.

These are times when the special talents of members can be shown as the exhibits usually include a cookery item, a flower arrangement, crafts of various sorts such as doll making, pressed flowers, patchwork, artwork etc. The St Tudy Carnival is held each year in July and a few brave souls from our W.I. usually enter the tableaux section, in 2002 our float depicted ‘Swan Puddle’.

In January we have a Christmas Dinner, usually at a hotel in Newquay, to which husbands and partners are invited and there are various outings during the year – to the Minack Theatre, Christmas shopping in Plymouth and during the summer perhaps a visit to a garden or a stately home.

In 2001 we celebrated our 80th birthday and had a special party to celebrate (see separate article) We also raised money to provide a new seat in the churchyard and also in the playing fields, one to celebrate the 80th Anniversary and the other for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Our W.I organised tea for the whole village as part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations which was a great success

Twice in recent years our village has taken part in the national ‘Village of the Year’ competition, all down to the efforts of the W.I. In 1998 we won the ‘Best Community in Britain’ section and with the prize money, a much needed light was erected on the steps leading to the Church. In the year 2000 we did even better, this time we became South West regional winners – you can find more information on this by clicking on the Village of the Year section.

To celebrate the Millennium, the W.I. brought out a book called ‘The Binding Stone’ memories of villagers from 1900 – 2000. These books are on sale for £5.99 each and every penny from the sales is going back into the village in one way or another (after printing costs were covered) At this time (January 2003) we have donated in excess of £2700 to the various village organisations (Church, Chapel, Youth Club, Luncheon Club, Carnival Committee, Village Hall, etc.) The organisations are invited to apply to the Binding Stone Committee for funds when they have a project which needs help.

The St Tudy WI is an extremely friendly organisation, the ideal place to make new friends and find out what is going on in the village. We are also bucking the national trend which shows that membership generally is falling, in St Tudy, like Topsy, we just keep on growing. So if you are new to the village, or just want to make some new friends, why not come along and see what we get up to! You will be very pleasantly surprised.

Binding Stone              Village of the Year