Holmfirth WI Taking Action
Christmas Care
In December 2023 our members kindly donated a range of items around the theme of warmth - cosy socks, scarves, blankets, etc - to the Pennine Domestic Abuse Partnership so they could provide Christmas presents for their clients.
This charity was chosen as it ties into one of the WI's ongoing campaigns ... no more violence against women.
The charity were also selected in a member vote to be our Charity of the Year in 2024.
To find out more about PDAP visit their website at - www.pdap.co.uk
Craftivism ... very WI
In July/August 2023 we undertook our first bit of craftivism ... gentle activism through craft.
One of the more recent WI resolutions, to raise the awareness of the signs of ovarian cancer, was our topic and knickers were our vehicle!
Some cardboard knickers were decorated and stated a sign of the disease and these were hung in ladies toilets around Holmfirth, along with a sign giving details of ovarian cancer symptoms and contact details for more information.
Also, some 'real' knickers were embrodered and fabric painted with the various signs of ovarian cancer and hung on a washing line at the edible garden in the centre of Holmfirth.
Hopefully our little bit to raise awareness of this secretive disease will save a life. To find out more about ovarian cancer and get support, go to - www.targetovariancancer.org.uk
National WI Resolution for 2022/23 - Thinking Differently about Autistic and ADHD Women and Girls
Each year we have a charity of the year that we support and recently we decided to try and link our charity with the current WI campaign/resolution. There are several autism groups in the Yorkshire area but the members voted overwhelmingly to support The Huddersfield Support Group for Autism as it was the one most local to our WI.
At each of our monthly meetings we hold a raffle and the proceeds of the raffles over the year will be donated to the charity in December. We will also be pleased to welcome one of the HSGA staff to our meeting in September to tell us more about their work and the support they offer to individuals with autism/ADHD and their families.
To find out more about HSGA got to their website - www.hsga.org.uk
Green Issues
WI have long been involved with green/climate issues, being the originators of the Keep Britain Tidy movement back in the 1950's off the back of one of their National Resolutions.
Nationally WI have a Climate Ambassador scheme and we have 2 of our members who signed up to be Climate Ambassadors to promote work for and support of climate issues.
Each year we do something to recognise the National Coalition's Show The Love campaign in February. In 2023 we created green heart bunting by making origami hearts which we put a pledge on for making changes to help the environment. The local Co-op Cafe displayed the bunting for the latter part of February. Click here to see our news article.
10th - 18th June 2023 is The Great Big Green Week, again a National Coalition event that is supported by WI. Our WI are planning several things to promote support of green issues amongst our members. We will be organising a litter pick, which is always positively received by local residents; the Gardening Group will be organising visits to some members allotments/veg patches to see how we can 'grow our own'; the Book Club will be reading books in June related to green issues.