The President, Jean Lewis, welcomed members to this our 20th Anniversary meeting. From small beginnings in 1992 we have grown to be the largest Institute in Berkshire and so we really felt we had something to celebrate. Jane Parnell and Ruth Daniel made birthday cakes which were appropriately iced and decorated by Ruth. Jean Lewis cut the cakes and photographs were taken to mark the occasion. We are looking forward to our 20th Anniversary Lunch at Moor Hall which will be attended by present, past and founder members and by Mrs Judy Williamson, Berkshire Federation Chairman.
Kath Pinto drew our attention to a new WI initiative against reforms to legal aid which aim to remove support for women affected by domestic violence. She urged us to write to Ed Vaisey MP, expressing our concern. Ruth Daniel’s winning Olympic Pennant design has been submitted to the organisers of London 2012 by Lord Coe, from whom she had received a congratulatory and encouraging letter. Ruth is to receive her award at the Spring Annual Council Meeting in Newbury in April and it is hoped that a group of us will be able to attend. Anne Wale is hoping to organise a trip to Avebury Circle and Manor in May.
Following our coffee break and copious helpings of delicious birthday cake, Edward Dixon gave an entertaining and informative talk on ‘Postcards of the Great War’. We now know that a collector of postcards is called a ‘deltiologist’ and that, after stamps and coins, postcards are the most collected items in the world. They were first produced in 1870 but the layout that we know today with a picture on one side and the reverse divided in two for the message and address, only emerged in 1902. ‘Naughty postcards’ are the ones everyone knows, designed by Don McGill – who was fined for obscenity! How times have changed! Charity cards were important during the War, a bit like our charity Christmas cards today. Propaganda cards were also printed, such as one portraying the murder of Edith Cavell, an act which caused such outrage around the world. During WW1, postcards were sent by family and friends specifically to boost the morale of soldiers and no fewer than 12,000,000 were sent in one week!! The soldiers also sent cards back home to reassure their loved ones that all was well, although of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Edward has collected some very moving and beautiful examples – some of them were embroidered often with decorative flower designs and some of these more expensive ones were never posted but kept until after the War. French postcards were often somewhat explicit! Delivery to the Front averaged three days which seems quite remarkable…
Jackie de Bromhead delivered the vote of thanks and we all agreed that this had been a very interesting talk contributing to a very happy birthday meeting. Our next meeting will be the Annual Meeting on Wednesday 7th March at Cookham Dean WI Hall.
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