The Power of Welcome

A lovely letter written by one of our new members and sent to WI LIFE magazine. They published the letter which was sent to all members in the country. She also won a hamper of goodies for the best letter. Thank you, Josephine, for your kind words.

Early last year, my husband passed away after 62 years of marriage. I was devastated and went down a dark road for some time. My GP told me to get out and join things as I was a 'people person', and someone suggested I join the WI.

I thought it was for only for old women who liked knitting and jam making, but in September I decided to give it a go and joined Ferndown WI. I drove to my first meeting and sat in my car deliberating on whether to go in. Finally, I thought: 'Come on, just do it!'.

At the door, I stood with a few other women waiting to go in. I'm new', I said to one of them, 'What do I have to do? She took me by the hand, asked me to come with her and soon I was sitting at a table with her friends. I could not have been more welcomed. Before I went home that first night, I had booked for the Christmas lunch and several other things. At our Christmas party, the members got me up on the floor dancing and gave me a card which read: "Welcome to our gang

I'm going to be 85 this year and the women of the WI have made such a difference to my life. I now go out more and I've also joined the U3A. Hooray for the WI.

Josephine Green, Ferndown WI, Dorset Federation