NFWI-Annual-Review-2020-21

22 Annual Review Annual Review 23
EDUCATION & TRAINING
he Head of Education and
Training oversees the work
T of Denman and the NFWI
Centre for Training and
Personal Development (formerly
known as the NFWI-Unit). The
Centre is responsible for all special
interest activities such as craft,
cookery, art and science, to
training and lifelong learning
opportunities for members.
Denman is a separate charitable
entity which is the WI’s
educational arm, running courses
for both WI members and the
wider public.
Since its launch in spring 2020,
following the first Covid-19
lockdown, Denman at Home has
reached out to more than 91,000
people and delivered over 1,000
online courses and events. It offers
WI members and non-members
alike a chance to take part in
Denman educational and lifestyle
courses online; anything from
craft-alongs to IT skills courses
and travel talks.
Cath Cole took Claire Salmon’s
stitched picnic accessory set class
and made this beautiful set
educational providers. Live
subtitles were added to every
course to increase Denman’s
inclusivity and accessibility.
In September 2021, the Denman
team started the trials for
Denman on Demand and Denman
on Tour. Denman on Demand
allows you to tune into prerecorded
demonstrations and
talks at a time which suits you.
Denman on Tour takes you on an
in-person guided walking tour
around different locations in the
UK. These new avenues of
delivering Denman courses will
continue into 2022 and their
popularity will be assessed by the
Denman team.
After taking Pat Lumsdale’s
Patchwork Block course for
beginners, student Janet Anstiss
made this beautiful quilt
Similarly to other educational
providers, there was a need to
analyse the emerging educational
needs of WI members as the
pandemic unfolded, but also to
look at educational trends, and
how current and future members
wanted to access educational
activities. Reaching out to
members who were not digitally
active remained a challenge
during the pandemic, which was
the case for many other