President's Welcome
 Hello members,
Here we are at the end of our first year! We’re celebrating at our May meeting with a bit of a party, so please bring a plate to share. We’ll have birthday cake and what one year old’s birthday party would be complete without a bit of pass-the-parcel too?! There will be the formal bit first but as we now have 10 people standing for 10 committee roles we wont need a formal election for the committee but there will be formalities to go through, not least voting for President, which happens every year.
I hope you all appreciated our first more political meeting last month. Vivienne was presenting on a hard hitting topic and she illustrated that talk with images that haven’t made it onto our own social media presence for obvious reasons! Vivienne has put together some links for further information which you’ll find below.
Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday,
Becky
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Feedback from Last Month's Members Meeting: From Pop to Porn, Women in the Media
For parents worried about their children the first port of call should be to their Internet service provider (ISP). If they're with one of the big 4 - Sky, BT, TalkTalk or Virgin. They all offer ISP level controls to block porn on any device accessing your wifi and that's a great place to start. Obvioulsy as soon as you start accessing someone else's wifi you're not protected but all public wifi in the UK is now clean so they can no longer access it in Starbucks or McDonalds.
Resources:
You can find more info here at Safe Online or The Naked Truth Project.
For people concerned about their own porn use Porn Scars Conference.
For those wanting to campaing you can get involved with Mediawatch-UK and Stop Porn Culture.
-Vivienne Pattison, Director of Mediawatch-UK
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Members Meeting: Annual Meeting & Birthday Party!
Tuesday, 10 May
19:30 - 21:30 Angel Centre, TN9 1SF
Join us for some cake and celebration on our 1st birthday! We will have a representative from the federation go through the official business of electing the 2016/2017 committee. We won't have a speaker, just more time to enjoy the new friendships we've made! Please bring a plate of nibbles to share!
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2016 Resolution Voting
 Every year members propose, and select, resolutions that could form the basis for NFWI campaigns and activity. At the meeting this week we will be voting on the final 2 resolutions:
1. Avoid food waste, address food poverty
2. Appropriate care in hospitals for people with dementia
Find out more on our website.
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New Committee
At last month's meeting, the 10 people joining the 2016/2017 committee stood up to state their intention. There will be a formal process at this month's meeting to officially elect them. Find out more about each of your new committee members here on our site.
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Ceilidh time!
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Annual Accounts
In preparation for our annual meeting next week, I have put together a full set of our accounts and worked with the federation to have it audited by Susan Wood, independently. These are for you to review to understand how our funds are used. We will have to approve them at the meeting tuesday.
- Lesley Mason, Treasurer
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Ceilidh Success!
Thank you everyone who turned out on Friday for our Ceilidh! it was a roaring success and we made a profit of £175! There were 75 enthusiastic dancers and a lively band which made for a fabulous evening!
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Need Rota Volunteers
We are short on volunteers to help with the tea and raffle at upcoming meetings. We can't run the meetings with out your help, so let us know if you're able to help! We need 1 tea person and 2 raffle people for June.
Please contact Mary Peterson, Meetings Co-ordinator
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STWI Visit North Tonbridge WI to Celebrate their Birthday
Following an invitation to join them for their birthday party, Becky, Lesley P and I went along to North Tonbridge WI on 19th April. The speaker was a chap who talked about British cheese amongst various digressions, accompanied by 3 small samples. The North Tonbridge ladies put on a party spread of food and after the welcome, talk and a refreshment break they started the business section of the meeting. Becky drew a raffle for a bursary which they do at their birthday party each year. We gained several other ideas such as having more information and signup sheets for outings (e.g. to the Queen’s Birthday party with Hadlow WI and the Women in Science day), so watch this space. We left about 10.30, feeling quite tired but having scooped up two raffle prizes: a plant (Becky) and I, a basket of fruit!
Ruth Davies, Vice President |
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Upcoming Events
- District Walk, West Peckham, 11 May, 13:30-15:30, £4
- Spring Fashion Show, Sevenoaks, 17 May, 14:00, £8
- Drama Workshop, Wrotham, 2 June; 9:30–16:00, £15
- Queen's 90th Birthday Tea Party, Hadlow, 4 June
- 10 available tickets, £5 each
- STWI Members Meeting, 14 June, 19:30-21:00
- Tonbridge Summer Carnival, 19 June
- Pocahontas Boat Cruise, London, 21 June, 11:00-19:00, £47.50
- Women in Science, Hadlow, 8 July, 10:30-15:30, £9
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Denman Day Visits: Applications due 10 June
Visiting the WI College of Denman is a great way to expand your learning and experience what the WI is all about! There are Day Visits both with and without a cookery demonstration at Denman available, you just have to sign up! A visit of this type is the perfect way to introduce members to Denman and all it has to offer. For those who are familiar with Denman it is an opportunity to enjoy the house and grounds that they have come to know and love.
Courses and Information Sheet
Application Form
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Tonbridge Community Garden
A big THANK YOU to all who donated plants and shrubs to the Tonbridge Community Gardens and to those who came along to lend a hand. Please contact me at Lesley.penney@hotmail.co.uk or join the Facebook page if you'd like further information on how you can get involved this summer. 
- Lesley Penney, Committee Member
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Twiddle Mitts
As you may know, we've been asked to help people with dementia in the community by knitting twiddle mitts. You can find the pattern here. Please bring along your completed Twiddle Mitts to the next meeting. Lesley Penney will be collecting them to donate to the local Alzheimer's society.
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Win £10k!!
Enter to win the annual national federation raffle where the proceeds will go to strengthening the WI at the national level, as well as the Kent West Kent federation getting 60% of the proceeds of the tickets we sell! Email us if you would like to buy a ticket and find out more here.
Ruth Davies, Vice President, will be selling them at each members meeting by the sign in table.
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Member Profile: Lucy-Ann Bett
 Age: 37
Where are you originally from: Near Rochester in Kent
How do you spend your days: I work for Tunbridge Wells Borough Council in Sherwood managing a multi agency neighbourhood project with the Police, Housing, CAB, NHS and the County Council. I also manage the TN2 Community Centre in Sherwood.
My favourite thing about Tonbridge: The large choice of amazing coffee shops!!
What unique skill or area of knowledge can I share with members: I can drink a bottle of port in 25 minutes!!!!
What is your theme tune: Nelly the Elephant - you can't help but smile if you sing that to yourself!
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Quick Links to Information on our Website
Sub-group Updates
Federation Events
Members-Only area (Password: tonbridgewi)
About the Committee
Find the Kent West Kent federation (the regional section we belong to) on Facebook!
Created by Newsletter Editor: Laura Olley
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