My original impression of the Women’s Institute (WI) was of an organisation for grey haired, mostly old ladies sitting around drinking tea and discussing cake and jam making. Though the film Calendar Girls and my mother taking part in a WI pantomime did make me question my first impressions.
A few years ago, I was invited, as a guest, to my local WI meeting. In my late 60s at the time, I was one of the youngest people at the meeting and wondered if this was a forum I’d want to join. Fast forward a year and the branch had a revamp. The President is in her mid-30s and most of the committee are much younger than me. I am now a fully paid up member of this thriving and lively WI group.
One of the first guest speakers I heard was someone talking about the history of the WI in the UK. It is worth telling a potted history here:
Although a form of the WI started in Canada at the end of the 19th century, the first WI in the UK began in Anglesey in Wales in 1915. It was originally brought into existence to revitalise rural communities and to encourage women to be involved in food production in the first World War. Only two years later the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) was formed and mainly led by women involved in the suffrage movement. Its aims have broadened over the years, and it is now the largest voluntary women’s organisation in the UK.
In 1924 the WI adopted the Hubert Parry’s setting of Blake’s Jerusalem as its national anthem, as suggested by one member, Grace Hadow, in the original WI magazine “Home & County”. Previously Jerusalem had been used by the National Union of Suffrage Societies in the 1918 celebrations of women’s enfranchisement, and many of the leaders of the NFWI, including Grace Hadow, had been part of that struggle for the votes for women.
Later, in 1938, the British Government asked the WI to help with the preparations for the possible evacuation of children to the countryside in the event of war. At this point in time the WI already had 290,000 members. To help out in the war effort this large workforce set up a ‘Produce Guild’ to encourage members to grow and produce more fruit and vegetables in their gardens and allotments, and to preserve them for future need.
Perhaps as a consequence of more women being involved in the ‘home front’ during the 1940’s, the WI movement became more politicised in its outlook, for instance, in their demands for equal pay for men and women.
Their campaigning for a better society in Britain did not end at the end of WW2. In the 1950’s the WI and 25 other organisations formed the Keep Britain Tidy group of volunteers which still exists today. On the 50th anniversary of the WI in 1965 it supported a ‘Freedom From Hunger Campaign’ which promoted and raised public awareness of the problems then of worldwide hunger and malnutrition, and in their appeal for funds the WI managed to raise over £180,000. During the 1970’s the WI increasingly became more politically involved in a range of diverse issues of the time. Its members requested a governmental policy for the recycling of waste, it raised awareness of marine pollution and urged that more rented accommodation should be made available to alleviate homelessness - think how topical these issues are today! They even campaigned to sell jam to the public without permission! This zeal for campaigning for a better society continues up until today, with no group being excluded – recently the WI logo shone in the colours of the Pride flag to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride week.
During the 1970’s the WI increasingly became more politically involved in a range of diverse issues of the time. Its members requested a governmental policy for the recycling of waste, it raised awareness of marine pollution and urged that more rented accommodation should be made available to alleviate homelessness - think how topical these issues are today!
I have been privileged to hear a huge range of guest speakers at our meetings over the last few years. They spoke about bee keeping, orienteering, Pilates, local charities and the work they do, science in the kitchen, organ donation and transplants! The session on the history of knickers had us laughing all evening!
Of course, all this came to an abrupt halt during lockdown, but we are fortunate to have a President and committee who made great efforts to keep us connected. We shared, via email information about ourselves, recipes, as well as reviews of books we had read. We even had some guest speakers using Zoom. Once we were able to meet outside, we shared walks together informally, as well as meetings in the open air. It was during these post lockdown meetings that we began having coffee mornings again where we would learn new crafting skills as well as continuing with old ones. We began producing banners using our craft skills and the banners were a way of highlighting some of the themes of WI campaigns - our knicker banner drew attention to the campaign for awareness of ovarian and cervical cancers.
I am so glad I joined the WI, and one only has to look at the WI magazine called “LIFE” to realise that it is a thriving, active organisation that attracts and informs women of all ages and backgrounds.
And by the way, the cakes, scones and sandwiches at our meetings are delicious!
By a WI member
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