2009 was an auspicious year for the institute, being our 25^th anniversary. 

Diana Thomas and Mary Wheeler organised a wide variety of talks of a high standard, which provided us with entertaining monthly meetings throughout the year. The subjects ranged from Penny Platts talking about Five Extraordinary Churches; Flowers for an Anniversary by Esther Simpson; Hearing Dogs for the Deaf with Tom Kane; Daphne Everett on the Garden at the Bannut; Shaun Ward's Music for All on the Harpsichord; Gillian Hales with her Native Owls, and Heather Dulson our Federation Denman representative.  Also our own members Barbara Bulgin and Ann Hornsby's talk describing their latest adventure holiday.  Perhaps we may give ourselves a pat on the back for launching what appears to be their highly successful public speaking career!

During the year we supported the activities of the Ludlow South Group.  Ten of us attended the group's social evening and were entertained by “Eight Men in a Bar”. Dorothy Loades modelled the hat she had made for the competition, the theme of which was "90 Years of the Shropshire Federation".  The cup was won by Caynham/Ashford WI, but we were glad to have Dorothy representing our institute.  Several members went on the group Christmas shopping trip to Chester.

Barbara Edwards has been on the Executive Committee of the Shropshire Federation, as well as the Craft and Home Economics sub-committee.  Ann Cawthorne is on the Public and Rural Affairs sub-committee.  A number of our members attended the Annual Council in April.  Liz Woodall supported the Meet the Trustees days by taking along her WI memorabilia to display at these get-togethers, and also has addressed some of the county institutes, as well as going to Llanfair PG in Wales at their request after the write-up she was given in WI Life.

Local activities continued to absorb the attention of members. To represent the WI we accepted invitations to the Mayor-making ceremony and official services in St. Lawrence's church. Individual members have been doing an enormous amount of voluntary work in the town, and other members support by turning up and spending money at promotional and fund-raising events. 

Both the annual Discussion Meeting in March, and this year's New Members' Meeting were hosted by President Linda Binns.  The Discussion Meeting, to which members' bring their ideas for the following year's programme of talks and activities, is always a useful forum for ideas and comments, and perhaps even idle chatter as a congenial background to proceedings.

Under Christine Grundy's knowledgeable leadership, the Craft Group continued to meet weekly for two terms in the year.  As well as making progress with their various pieces of craft work, the members do enjoy their pleasant social afternoons.

The Art Class, led by Barbara Bulgin, has met monthly throughout the year, and we always enjoy seeing the high standard of the work that they exhibit at our AGM.

The Lunch club has also met once a month; it began the year at 'The Penny Black' in Knowbury, then began to meeet at Burford Garden Centre, where not only could its members take their meal, but also be tempted by the other attractions. There will be a move to another new venue in 2010.

There is a small but loyal nucleus of enthusiasts in the Bridge Club, but they would welcome more support.

Our President was the delegate at the NFWI AGM in June in the Royal Albert Hall in London, representing the institutes in our link group; Linda enjoyed the experience of attending and reporting the events of that day.

The committee intended this, our 25^th anniversary year, to be a special year. One of its most significant events has been the grant of nearly £10,000 from Awards for All which has enabled us to celebrate our Silver Anniversary in style. The money funded the purchase of a laptop and peripherals for use by members, especially to help them develop IT skills, together with the creation of the website.  The remainder of the money funded many courses for members, both at Denman and Westhope Colleges, and also via workshop days run for us in Ludlow.  Nine members joined the Shropshire Federation's weekend at Denman in October.  The most popular courses have been silk-painting, enamelling and jewellry-making.  A condition of the grant was the cascading of skills to other members, and indeed to people outside the institute.  This was achieved largely through a number of workshop open days which were very popular. 

On 6th October members past and present joined in our 25th Birthday Celebration which was a splendid tea party at Overton Grange Hotel.  It was a wonderful social event, which gave everyone a chance to browse through our institute's scrapbooks, catch up on news, and hear a delightful talk on The private life of Aunty May. 

The number of outings was curtailed by the weather, but members did succeed in getting to the garden at The Bannut, which had been the subject of a talk, and also to spend a day touring Herefordshire to visit the churches described by Penny Platts. 

At the County Federation's Annual Council Meeting in April there was a very moving talk by Mo Williams, manager of the South Shropshire Women's Refuge. As a result of this, our institute decided to support this cause, and began by making up welcoming gift boxes which were presented to the refuge in September. These appear to have been well received, and we hope to keep the link going.