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Gifts were warmly received by Women’s Institute chapters in the UK. Insert, Moira Dye.
by Alisha McLennan
Communications student
Warkworth Women’s Institute (WI) has used its relative freedom from lockdowns to make and send gifts to more restricted WI chapters in the United Kingdom.
“We came up with the idea by thinking about the food parcels sent during wartime – they weren’t much but they made such a difference,” Warkworth WI president Moira Dye says.
Women’s Institutes in the UK have been unable to meet for months due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. Walking, film, and craft groups have been cancelled. One annual meeting was held via Zoom, but many members did not have computers and could not participate.
Moira says that even now, with lockdown restrictions being lifted, the people of England can only meet in groups up to six if they are in an open-air environment.
In a show of support, women from Warkworth WI set out to make presents and handmade cards for their more confined fellow members.
The group sent more than 40 gifts to the Great and Little Warely WI in Essex, and more than 40 more to the Shelford WI in Nottinghamshire. There were enough gifts and cards for each member of the WI chapters.
“We wanted to let them know we were thinking of them and sort of brighten their day really, and we did.
I’ve had emails back from the members, the president and the secretary,” Moira says.
Moira says that WI leaders in the UK expect they will still not be able to meet with all of their members until June or July at the earliest.
