St Tudy Women's Institute
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 (2009) we have a membership of around 35 (slightly down on previous years) and women of all ages can join. An annual subscription is paid (£29.00 in 2009) 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 (for the last couple of years we have had a Tea Party at President Maggie Lobb’s home 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 and 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. Recently we were delighted to have the honour of listening to one of our favourite Cornish poets, David Prowse. His poetry is a delight, simple, and full of humour. We were also entertained by local artist and sculptor Richard Austin. He creates life-size sculptures of people which are so realistic; his ‘old gentleman’ who sits on a bench outside Trelawney Garden Centre is often mistaken for a real person. The picture below shows his latest creation, a Chelsea Pensioner which has been installed at Chelsea and is apparently a great hit with tourists who have their picture taken alongside it.
At each meeting we have a Flower of the Month competition, and a second competition which relates to the speaker's subject. There is also a Charity Raffle each month where members pay 20p for a ticket (this includes the cost of our tea), 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. In 2008 our Institute won first prize for our depiction of "A Farmhouse Tea" at the Prime Stock Show.
Exhibit almost completed . The backdrop is a photograph of a kitchen in St Tudy with a few minor
computer generated additions.
"From Jam & Jerusalem to Tai Chi & Technology"
Our entry for the 2009 Royal Cornwall Show did not win any prizes, but we were pleased with it. It was a very difficult subject to interpret as we were not sure what the judges were looking for.
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. Each year we also enter the Cornwall Federation competition for best Programme. In 2007 we came second and in 2008 were delighted to come first and were presented with the Goldsworthy Cup. Several years ago we decided that the cost of getting the programme printed by a professional printer was becoming too expensive so one of our members, Sue Dibble, offered to produce it on her computer. All the hard work of arranging the programme, finding speakers etc. is done by two members of the Committee - recently this has been Judith Jasper and her sister, Margaret Slater. Not an enviable task as it takes a lot of effort. Sue then designs a layout, enters the details and prints the booklet.
The St Tudy Carnival is held each year in July and a few brave souls from our WI 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 WI 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 WI. 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 WI brought out a book called "The Binding Stone", memories of villagers from 1900 – 2000. These books are still on sale at a reduced price of £2.50 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 (October 2009) we have donated £4576.80 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.
Some of our members take part in the various competitions arranged by Cornwall Federation of Women’s Institutes. One member has been successful twice in the past few years in getting her photographs in the annual calendar. In 2008 at the Annual Council Meeting in Truro, members of our WI performed a short play written by a member from St. Breward, which received huge applause. Another member, Yvonne Nobbs, helps to organise the "Festival of the Spoken Word" where members of different WI’s perform poetry, readings etc, in fact anything "spoken".
You don’t have to take part in any of these competitions or activities; some people are just happy to come along to the meetings, listen to the speakers, have a cup of tea and just generally socialise. Although most people have hidden talents, some just like to be in the background. 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. 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.
St Tudy WI 80th
Birthday Celebrations
St Tudy WI Birthday Lunch Sunday 24th October 2004