WI Meeting May 2025 - "Pete Allen on “Pantomimes”, Annual Meeting 2025 and a WI Resolution

What a busy meeting: a talk on the past and present of the Pantomime by Peter Allen, the 2025 Annual Meeting, and a vote on this year’s resolution.  No one shouted “it’s behind you” or “oh no it isn’t" or clapped to keep a fairy alive, so one must conclude that the evening could be considered as a success!

The Pantomime comes from the Ancient Greeks; pantos – everything and mimos – mime, music, and dance.  It was a popular form of entertainment containing considerable erotic content in both Greece and then the Roman empire.  However, as the empire declined so did the Pantomime.  

The form was resurrected by Commedia dell'arte in the Sixteenth Century, arriving in the United Kingdom with the Mummers and Mystery Plays.  Like today, there were stock characters with stories people knew.  At the beginning of the Twentieth Century, it disappeared from the London theatres but remained in the theatres outside London as it gave the rural theatres a guaranteed income to allow them to put on more obscure productions at other times.  It was also a good money earner for the amateur crowd.  By the 1960s London realised it was missing out on easy money – so they re-introduced them.

And talking of the amateur crowd – Fairwarp WI has produced a number of pantomimes over the years:  Babes in the Wood, Snow White and her not quite seven dwarfs; Cinderella and her not so ugly sisters; and Sleeping Beauty with her very very irritating cat!

But there was more to come – the Annual Meeting!  Nadia Bonwick gave the Treasurer’s report; Caty Worlock Pope, the annual report; Janet Bradshaw gave her President’s thanks.  The committee was elected – Nadia Bonwick, Janet Bradshaw, Heather Dewhurst, Tracy Atchison, Carole Stone, Susan Guckenheim, and Wendy Hammerton, and Janet was re-elected as the President, and Birthday Posies were distributed.

The final action of the evening was to vote on this year’s resolution.  I am not sure many had read it, but it was unanimously accepted.  What was it?  The WI would like to see an increase in public confidence and training in CPR and see an improvement in the access to defibrillators. They are concerned with the number of cardiac arrests that occur each year, as well as the survival rate, particularly for women. The WI would like members to improve CPR training and awareness in their communities and to work with local organisations to improve access to defibrillators.

CWP