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From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique.
Email: open.country@bbc.co.uk
Postal address: Open Country,
91热爆 Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.
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This week, Richard's off to Cambridgeshire where he's got special dispensation to (temporarily!) join the Women's Institute. He thinks he's just going to visit some gentle old ladies ... but he's in for a shock: it's a myth that the WI is only about jam and Jerusalem - it's a thriving rural organisation for women who are actively involved in improving the village life and the world beyond.
The first surprise is that the Cambridge Federation of WIs has commissioned a challenging piece of architecture for their HQ. Architect Jonathan Ellis-Miller tells Richard how he changed a redundant pig shed into an award-winning office and meeting place, full of steel and raw concrete. He says the combination of his "funky young practice" and the WI ladies is a good match - they're keen on all things new and insisted that the building was totally eco-friendly in line with their commitment to Agenda 21. Jonathan's original stereotypical impression of the WI was blown away and he has much respect for the organization, the women and the work they do.
Inside the building Richard meets two of these formidable ladies: Ruth Bond is the Executive Chair of the Cambridge Federation and she explains that the modern-day WIs are strong campaigners for issues that effect everyday life - children's diet, HIV, penal system reform - and she herself lobbies parliament, attends and speaks at conferences in Europe about issues that are relevant on both a local, national and at an international level.
Jean Coxall is the Federation Chairman. She got involved in the WI when she got married and now is actively involved in campaigning for local change - when the local bus service in her village of Lode was cut back, she got the bus companies to restore the service to one an hour. And then there were the campaigns to keep the local post office, a campaign for a public telephone box, a village sign, seating and annual planting of daffodils to brighten up the village.
Just down the road, Richard finds that men do have their uses in the WI when he meets Nancy and Derek Skipper. Derek is a "WISH" (a Women's Institute Supporting Husband) who helps out when he can. He says Nancy has changed from being a mouse to being a lion now ... and Nancy agrees that the organization has empowered her to organise meetings and events, even on cruise ships. And both agree it's an excellent way to make friends.
But even in the 21st century, the WI is still committed to traditional crafts. At Sandra Clark's house in the village of Bottisham, Richard visits a group who've got together to embroider exquisite pew cushions for the local church. He learns how the ladies are preserving and handing on old skills and developing excellence in new ones. And these informal gatherings can also be really supportive to women in times of trouble.
And if Richard needed any more convincing that the WI is a power to be reckoned with, he ends his visit at Madhu Davies' house. A British Asian doctor with two young daughters, she's delighted to be a WI member - it's helped her make friends as a newcomer to the village but most of all she likes the way small WI projects can have big results ... and says that the whole ethos of the WI is a fine example of how she wants her daughters to live.
Email Open Country: open.country@bbc.co.uk
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