It's been too long

There’s been the light at the end of the tunnel for a little while, but in the last couple of days I really feel I’ve come out blinking into the sunshine. Though the CV figures here are as high as they’ve ever been, we just soldier on and learn to live with it and to treat it as endemic rather than the pandemic of the last two years. Because yes, it’s two years ago around this weekend that we found ourselves needing to stay at home. We cleared our diaries and retreated from the outside world and I remember wondering how on earth we were going to cope with not going out for what might be six weeks.

What a good job it is we don’t know what’s in store for us!

I stood in this empty room on Tuesday morning waiting for my students to arrive and took a deep breath. There have been times when I wondered when this day would come, for not only have I not been able to work face to face with students for two years, we don’t even have a college any more.

Everything changes!

Of course, we’ve found ways to manage the situation and learned a whole new range of skills along the way. Both groups of students I’ve worked with during the last couple of years have been terrific but it’s taken patience and there really is nothing like being able to get together in the same room and actually hold things in our hands rather than view them through a video link.

So Tuesday was a breath of fresh air; a new start with six enthusiastic and very talented women who had travelled from different parts of the country to meet together for the first time in a brand new - to us - location. It was a wonderful day and I drove home feeling invigorated from the shared enthusiasm and optimism.

That in itself would have made for a pretty great week here, but the following day, I had another milestone in my diary. After two years, I had been invited to the first “proper” Annual Meeting of Gloucestershire Federation of WIs in the Town Hall in Cheltenham in a long time.

Such events bring back memories. Having sat in that chair myself with a thousand women (and my favourite supportive men: my Hero and our son) in the audience, I know all too well the stress associated with The Annual Meeting and wrote about the most memorable one here. This time, it was good to sit back and simply enjoy the event, the extraordinary speakers and of course, the company of friends. I took just the one photograph in the afternoon, following the instruction to put all phones and cameras safely away in our bags until then, respecting the wishes (and the protocols surrounding) our guest for the morning session.

HRH The Princess Royal was there too.

My previous posts describing my encounters with Her Royal Highness have described how impressed I am by this remarkable woman and yesterday merely reinforced my admiration. As we sat listening to the speaker during the morning session, I noticed the copious notes HRH was taking. I already knew of the extensive research she and her staff do in preparation for any visit and sure enough, the small bundle of cards held together with a treasury tag in the corner proved useful for these further jottings. The speaker, Jennifer Wearden is one of those rare people without a website or a handy online presence with which to link. She has a background in textiles and the V&A museum and was on the agenda to speak about “Sustainable Fashion”. She also proved to be one of those speakers who could speak for hours and leave the audience wanting to know more, even though the story was horrifying really. The cost to the environment from the increasing popularity of “fast fashion” was outlined by Jennifer in a clear and uncompromising way and as she gave the evidence in the form of staggering numbers and stark pictures of the dried up Aral Sea, for example, we all wished we’d brought along our daughters - or in my case, our 19 year old friend. Because as one of the audience commented later, perhaps the WI is not the best audience to act upon these things, being generally older and more inclined to make do and mend than most. Indeed, there had been a collective sharp intake of breath when Jennifer told of someone who no longer washed socks, but bought new each time “because it’s cheaper than washing and drying them”.

When the talk had ended, The Princess Royal put her notes into her bag and stepped up to the microphone with the anticipated thanks and good wishes. However, she went on to speak with authority on many of the points we’d just heard. Not only was she aware of the Aral Sea situation, she had seen for herself the canal which had been built to transport water to the cotton fields of Kazakhstan and spoke of her horror that 50% of the water evaporated before it even reached its destination. She went on to speak - again with authority - about the tartan weaver she’d visited in Scotland last week and the kilt maker creating kilts which would be worn by generations of wearers. She amused the audience with her story of the Harris Tweed suit which, having been worn to the races on a rainy day, “stood in the corner of the room and quietly steamed dry over a few hours”. But most importantly, she used her time to issue a rallying call to the women of the WI, because “who could be better placed to begin this important conversation”? She is 100% correct of course. It is a conversation we need to have, because in Jennifer Wearden’s words, “There are enough clothes on this planet to dress the next six generations. We do not need any more”.

Before lunch, Her Royal Highness was introduced to “the great and the good” (of which I am one, surprisingly) and I was pleased to have a chance to talk “bunting” to her, one useful means of reusing fabric at least.

The afternoon speaker was Mary-Jess, about whom I knew nothing, though had been admiring her pretty dress all lunchtime and assumed that perhaps she too would speak about fashion in some form. Not at all! This young Gloucestershire woman had a remarkable story to tell - how she won the Chinese X-Factor - and for another hour or so, several hundred women listened intently whilst she shared her experiences and, finally, sang a beautiful Chinese folk song (in Chinese, of course!)

Quite a day then.

Not to mention all the other lovely things too: Sitting next to an old friend and sharing a smile and a wry comment from time to time, bumping into people I haven’t seen for months - no, years - and hearing my name called from a few feet away, then turning to see someone dear there, waving. We’ve managed online with our video meetings and chats, but some things can only happen “for real”. Throughout the meeting, I was looking at that GFWI tablecloth, remembering how it was designed and made but mostly, thinking of the women who’d worked together to make it. How one had insisted on having a box made for it, so that it could be stored “properly”, only to find that when the box arrived and the tablecloth put inside, it would fit in none of our cars!

I’ve probably quoted a verse from my childhood autograph book here before,

“Make new friends and keep the old. One is silver, the other gold”

A week filled with friends such as this one is a happy reminder of what we’ve been missing and hopefully, what we have to look forward to.

More please!