I missed the actual date (16 September), but only by one day. Never mind, better late than never.
We had a fun afternoon one Saturday in the summer (remember summer?). Our allotment site was host to Mikron Theatre and their play celebrating the centenary of the WI – Raising Agents.
Getting set up
Everyone was there, from very young children to much older adults – we were a big crowd. Mikron put up their tent and gave us a hilarious and informative history of the WI, from their first founding in Canada (1897) – 1915 in the UK – to today. With just 4 actors. It was impressive – entertaining, witty, musical, brilliantly performed – such a fun afternoon!
Arriving and sitting ourselves down ready to enjoy the afternoon
I’m ashamed to say that I hadn’t realised just how forward-looking and forward-thinking the WI has been and is: their campaigns for equality have been hard-hitting and absolutely spot on. Very, very impressive.
There are several WI groups in and around Bath, and I’ll certainly be looking around to see if there’s one that suits my schedule.
Canadian beginnings
Mikron has an interesting approach to tickets – there are none but they take a collection at the end. They recommend you pay a certain amount, but I’m sure that if you can’t manage to, no-one would know (and why should they?). And if you can afford more, why not put in a bit extra in to cover those who can’t?
There was even a tea and cake tent (of course!) provided by the local residents association, raising money for Macmillan. And there was bunting (which inspired me to get round to putting some up along the side of my allotment later that week).
And with luck they’ll be back again next year with another play. This was their third or fourth summer at our place, but the first time Malcolm and I were free of visiting responsibilities and so able to go along. We’re already looking forward to next year’s visit.
If they come to a venue near you, be sure to go along! And you might want to check out the WI too (if you’re not already a member).
the magic jug 
There’s a WI group in our village. My mum is an active member and it’s mostly her generation. They keep trying to persuade some ‘youngsters’ to join. My London friends liked to joke that I’d be joining the WI when we moved here but I haven’t (yet).
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Well I gather from my internet reading that some of the newer groups are actually much younger people and very different – e.g. one in Bristol, one in E London, and actually one here in Bath. So I’m willing to ‘suspend my disbelief’ and give it a go.
Plus not sure if I can really count myself among the ‘youngsters’ now, at nearly 60???
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Ha ha, of course you are! This village is quite traditional but I think WIs in cities are much more progressive.
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But you could be the vanguard that moves things along!
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