Our Committee

Meet our Committee

You can easily spot our Committee Members at a meeting as they will be wearing their green rosette.

Hi, my name is Sheila and I am the President of Ely City WI. I am deeply honoured to be President of our WI; a role I have held now for 4 years. My role involves running the monthly WI meetings; chairing the Committee meetings and much more behind the scenes. I represent Ely City WI at local and federation events. Our WI is so much more than the 11 meetings a year: they never know what they might achieve! I get the biggest thrill when members want to join in with a project or event that previously they didn’t think they had the skills for. I have been a member of the Women’s Institute for approximately 20 plus years; the last 12 of which have been with Ely City WI. I was their treasurer for 6 years before becoming their President. During my time with the WI, I have been a dual member of 2 WIs across 2 different Federations and was at one point a dual committee member for about five years also.

I am here for our members: We are Ely City WI. We are. We can. We do.

Just a little about me: I am a line dancer (love Strictly Come Dancing), I enjoy arts and crafts; am passionate about all types of sewing and belong to a quilt group (have watched Sewing Bee since series 1), try to support the environment where I can (small steps, but they all add up), I enjoy baking ( but you don’t have to bake in order to join WI!) and run Ely Evening Scrabble group.

I cannot do my role as President without the help and assistance provided by our fabulous committee members and supporting officers, who you will read about below. I am so very fortunate to have their support and thank them for it.

Hi my name is Elizabeth and I am one of two Vice-Presidents. Together with Anne I support the President and Committee in the smooth running of our WI.

My partner and I moved to Ely from Stoke Newington, London in February 2020 and I joined the WI as soon as things opened up after COVID. I was very warmly welcomed and have made many friends and met a lot of very interesting people . The WI is a wonderful organisation where women can find their collective voice. The subgroups cover many topics of interest and the social get togethers are very enjoyable and jolly. It really helps me to feel at home in Ely to see people I know as I am out and about, always good to stop for a quick chat.

I am retired so have lots of time to spend with my family, 4 children and 4 grandchildren. When not with them I enjoy quilting, knitting and reading together with cinema and theatre visits. My big passion is travelling – I have been lucky enough to visit many places in the world and I enjoy planning the trip almost as much as the travelling.

Anne M is one of our Vice Presidents who along with Elizabeth supports the President and Committee in the smooth running of our WI.

My name is Helen and I am the Secretary in charge of taking minutes, liaising between the WI Committee, the local federation office, the national federation and the Members.

My sister and I moved together to Ely from Kent in 2021 after our mother died. We joined the WI at the first open meeting after Covid in November of 2021 and haven’t looked back. We have our monthly meetings that are varied from talks about ghosts to making gelatine flowers, campaigns to celebrations.

Our group is growing in numbers and activities and my sister and I have quickly felt welcome and needed. We love supporting the campaigns with different craftbombs and meeting up for coffee or dinner as part of the leisure group.

I am retired but enjoy the mixed age of our membership. I was surprised to be asked to become Secretary and but am rising to the challenge, I hope. I enjoy the comradeship and feel I can make a difference in the wilder world as a WI member.

Anna is our Treasurer. Anna manages the financial aspects of our WI, advises the Committee on all matters monetary and is responsible for ensuring our WI’s monetary matters are dealt with in a timely manner.

Anna has been a member of Ely City WI for a number of years and this is her first Committee role.

Hi my name is Jane and I am Secretary.

My role is to provide admin support to the Committee and membership and ensure that all of the administration is kept up to date. My main tasks are minute taking, liaising with members, and preparing for Committee and Monthly meetings. Thankfully, I have a brilliant Asst Secretary, Helen, to help me with everything!

I am fairly new to WI (I joined ECWI in January 2023) and have really enjoyed being a member. The monthly meetings are varied with speakers and activities and I was surprised at the number of Sub-groups I could join in with too. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly that I wish I had joined years ago! I have made lots of new friends and I especially enjoy the age range that is represented in our membership.

I live in Soham, am a centre leader with Ely Foodbank and enjoy flower arranging, crochet, theatre trips and socialising with friends. I also love to cruise and still have lots of places I want to visit, with Canada and Antarctica at the top of my list!

Hi, my name is Sylvia. I am the Subscriptions Treasurer of Ely City WI, a role I have just taken on and am very much looking forward to.

l joined Ely WI because my long term friend Pam joined and she kept asking me to join and I went along to some coffee mornings and thought I might like to be involved.

My interests are sewing knitting and have just started to learn how to crochet also like pottering about in my garden l like meeting people and getting involved in various charities.

My name is Valerie (Val), and I am responsible for organising the programme of speakers for the coming year.

I moved from Duxford to Ely in August 2021 and made the excellent decision to join the WI in January 2023. From the start, I felt very welcome and have thoroughly enjoyed the meetings. In the autumn, I joined the Committee and later became the Programme Officer in December 2024.

Most recently, I worked for Cambridge University, primarily within the Colleges. My last permanent role was as Personal Assistant to the Master of Peterhouse. After that, I took on temporary positions to allow for holiday travel, including visits to Australia, where my two sisters live.

I have two married daughters, one in Haddenham and the other in Witcham, and I am fortunate to have four wonderful grandchildren: a grandson who is nearly 18 and three granddaughters aged 15, 3, and 1.

In my free time, I enjoy sewing, reading, and learning to play the piano.

Joining the WI has been a fantastic experience, bringing new friendships and opportunities, and I look forward to many more great moments ahead.

Hi, my name is Ruth. I am Membership Officer of Ely City WI.

My duties are to keep the National Federation of WI's database up to date with members details, adding new member details as required and to send information to anyone who makes an enquiry.

I have been a WI member for 22 years and a Committee member for most of them. My Mother and Grandmother were both Presidents of Pymore WI when I was growing up so it was inevitable that I would become a member sooner or later.

Before retirement I was a Primary School Teacher for 28 years. I have a City and Guilds Certificate for Sugarcraft and I have spent many hours making and decorating celebration cakes, demonstrating some of the techniques to WI groups. It gives me great pleasure to see the results they produce. Recently I have taken up knitting and crocheting again for our craft bombing projects. Jam making and baking are also pastimes I enjoy.

My name is Pam, I have been a member of Ely City WI for ten enjoyable years, I am on the committee my role is Membership Support and the federation diary which entails presenting all the events from around the isle.

I make all the Ely city members birthday cards and give them out together with a present on their birthday month. I have even on arranged trips such as the embroiders quilt at Norwich cathedral.

Myself and Sylvia co-host the monthly craft club.

A little info about myself, I have been sewing since I was ten years old am now retired, I am also a member of Elysain quilters which have meetings twice a month. I enjoy baking, but they don't always turn out as they should !!! I love reading and always have a book near me.

We are a very friendly group and look forward to meeting new members.

The Committee is ably assisted by the following members

Hi, my name is Veronica and I look after our website and social media presence. I have been with the WI for around 7 years. I have served as part of the committee previously as Secretary.

I was born in Ely and have lived in Ely all of my life. I had always wanted to join the WI and eventually plucked up the courage and received a very warm welcome.

My role is to develop and keep our website up-to-date, plan and post on our social media and also ensure that we take pictures at all of our events.

I work as an Office Manager at a local Architectural Practice. My husband and I love spending time together trying out different restaurants, cinema visits and spending time at home pottering. I love baking and do so every week. We have lots of nieces and great nephews and enjoy spending time with them.

Hi, my name is Helen and I am the Welcome Officer.

My role is to welcome visitors and new members, explain the format of the meetings and introduce them to our wonderful, friendly members.

I joined the WI in April 2022 so I am a fairly new member and know how it feels to walk into a meeting for the first time! I hope to give new members and visitors the same warm welcome I received at my first and subsequent meetings.

I have lived in Ely with my husband and (now adult) children since 2001. I work in the accounts department of a local GP surgery. When I am not at work I enjoy reading, baking, bowls, quizzes and Escape rooms.

Hey there, I am Vickie, and I am the Press Officer.

I really enjoy being part of Ely City WI, there is so much going on, so many great people to get to know and lots of wonderful activities and initiatives to be involved in. It’s ultimately about friendship, having fun and learning…. Which ticks every box for me!

Our members really are fantastic, and the WI is everything each individual wants it to be. Belonging to the WI gives me the opportunity to make friends and discover shared interests and participate in events that I perhaps would never have even considered previously! I can be a part of something that is able to make a difference and to add my voice to campaigns not only within our local community but also on a national level.

I am married and Mum to a son and daughter. I work in Human Resources and am kept busy with family life, work and a full diary. I am a Trustee of Ely Museum and also a Parent Governor. I enjoy the theatre, singing and writing and am looking forward to what else Ely City WI will be doing over the coming months.

I look forward to joining in with our existing members and meeting new members so, if you’ve always wondered how you can have some ‘me time’, learn new things, meet other people or even share some of your own skills and hobbies; then come and join us! We would love to see you!”