Back on the road again

I'm back on the road again today after ten days off, during which my son was married surrounded by the WI. Several of the guests are WI members, not to mention his sisters, cousin and aunt, as well as his grandmother, mother-in-law and mother! He can't get away from the WI just as many men are finding these days, with their women folk joining the WI in their thousands. It's never too late – or too early! – to join the WI.

At my own WI last week it was great to watch an expert demonstrate the art of jointing a chicken and then prepare chicken chasseur and chicken in a white wine, cream and tarragon sauce. Cookery has long been a forte of the WI; indeed the WI's own Cookery School can be found in Marcham right next to Abingdon in Oxfordshire. All types of courses are on offer here, not only to WI members but non members, gentlemen and sometimes children are welcome too. Recently, the making and icing of cupcakes have been discussed at many WI meetings – particularly with newer WIs. I don't know if Hebdon Bridge WI in the Yorkshire West Federation has embraced the cupcake in their first year of meeting, but I expect I shall find out this evening when I attend their first annual meeting. New WIs are springing up all over England and Wales proving yet again that the WI is many things, but it is definitely what its members make of it.