Each November meeting is our AGM, where we look back on the year and start making the big decisions about 2018. To capture the spirit of the night, here are the speeches delivered by our President Claire and our Secretary Szara.
President’s Address It feels like no time since my last President’s Address and I’m so proud of how far the Swallowtail WI has come. Our members are amazing, the committee is fantastic and the meetings are always so much fun. The committee work incredibly hard to put everything together and I’m so grateful for all that they do. At our committee meetings we get a huge amount done accompanied by lots of laughter. Roisin isn’t here but she’s been a great Vice President and I’m going to miss her. She’s kept the membership database up to date and welcomed new visitors to our meetings with a smile and a warm greeting. Vicki has done a brilliant job with our accounts, she’s got our bank account sorted and put in place processes that made this year’s account submission so much easier. She’s the gracious host for our committee meetings and has learnt our tea order off by heart! Szara is really hardworking and efficient, she’s kept on top of the mountain of paperwork that we get and makes sure we all know what’s going on, whether that’s jigsaw races or federation meetings. She may be stepping back with some of the secretary work but she’ll be in charge of all the events, including our next quiz. If it’s like the last one she ran it will be fabulous. Jody is in charge of the rotas, she makes sure there’s delicious treats at every meeting, and that there’s always somebody adding to our tablecloth. Kate runs our blog and keeps you updated on all the fun you might have missed out on at our meetings. We’ve had some great nights with film club, no matter what we go to see. Kim looks after out tablecloth, so that it tells the story of our WI and this year she put together our beautiful bunting. Thank you for persevering to sew it all together. She also looks after all the birthday cards, a tradition that I really love. Fran stepped down from the committee but we appreciate all she did while she was with us, including baking an amazing rainbow birthday cake. Sophie and Rachel have just joined us and I already know they’re going to be brilliant additions. Their enthusiasm and new ideas are exciting and I look forward to seeing how the Swallowtails will grow with their input. This year we have had some members take on extra roles and I’m really grateful. Jenny B is our resolutions guru, she attends all the federation meetings and keeps us updated with everything we need to know. Kate B is our federation website editor, keeping our page up to date on the official site and she’ll be joining the committee from January. Rosemary attended the autumn federation annual meeting and reported back on all the goings on and she’s also our official teller tonight. Kerry runs our book club. We’ve read some fantastic books this year and I look forward to next year’s. Rachel is in charge of our craft club, we may only have had one meeting but it was a lot of fun and I can’t wait for next week’s. She’s also joined the committee and agreed to be secretary at her first meeting. I love that she’s keen. Jenny K has taken on Instagram and is doing a fabulous job. Make sure you follow us to see all her beautiful photos. Sarah is running our Twitter account and I think she sent more tweets on her first night than we’ve sent from the account in the entire two years before. I love the engagement you’re encouraging and you’re building our profile in a really positive way. And Anita makes sure the kitchen and bathroom are clean and fully stocked. I’d also like to thank all the people who support us to run the WI, whether that’s our family or friends who show up at events, drive us around or offer to be speakers, especially at the last minute, we’re very grateful and lucky to have you. Finally I would like to say thank you to you the members, I love our WI. When you walk through the door, we’re no longer seeing familiar faces we’re actually becoming friends. WI evenings are some of the highlights of my month. Over the last year I’ve learnt a lot, grown as a person and as a president, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity. Thank you for your part in that. Secretary's Report Welcome to this year’s Secretary report. Since renewals in January we had had 40 join or re-join our WI. The average attendance each month is 25 and we find football has an influence on the numbers. This year Claire and Kate represented us at the Norfolk Federation AGM where we won the award for Best New WI and we celebrated our 2nd birthday in style with Cake of course, made by Fran. We have had many trips out this year, Roisin won an award at the Clay Pigeon Shooting day and at Disco Bingo. We entered a puzzle competition, a quiz and tried our hand at solving Norwich Murders. Members have come forward to help with attending Norfolk Federation Events, attending other WI’s and representing Swallowtail WI, we have always received positive feedback of how our members are so lovely and how we make people giggle. We have supported many charities this year by donating food, bras and pennies in a bucket. Fundraising has come in the form of the Ceilidh, the quiz, book sales and the raffle. Speakers this year have been a good mix from our members, the local community and a husband put on the spot. The evenings are also made a success by the donations for the raffle and charities, refreshments and our beautifully made table cloth squares. It is always good to hear the laughter and I hope to hear much more in the year to come.
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