Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2006 | Page 26

INTERVIEW
1915
John Nugent Harris (Secretary of
the Agricultural Organisations
Society (AOS) and a Canadian
woman, Madge Watt (Mrs Alfred
Watt MA) met on February 11th
. The meeting was to provide
the catalyst for the start of the
WI Movement in Britain

1921
Mrs Margaret Winteringham was
elected as Member of Parliament
for Louth. She was the first English
born female MP, and the second
woman to be elected to Parliament.

1924
Jerusalem was first sung at the
AGM starting a tradition that
continues to this day.

Joan Kirby...”The WI
serves up more than
just cakes and tea!”
“I feel it’s time for the WI to shake the image of grey-haired
ladies who just spend their time baking cakes and serving tea
at local shows… there is a lot more to the WI than most people
would think.”

1934
Nancy Tennant was the NFWI
delegate to International Peace
Conference in Geneva, resolution
at AGM reaffirming faith in
the League of Nations urging
the government to continue
to press for world peace.

1939
WI’s helped with the evacuation
scheme during the war

1943
Resolutions were discussed at the
AGM to urge the government that
equal facilities for full education
at all levels should be provided in
town and country, and a demand
that men and women should
receive equal pay for equal work.

1952
Malayan Government invites
NFWI to form WIs in Malaya.

1955
Keep Britain Tidy group formed

1974
AGM asks for national policy
for reclamation, re-use and
recycling of waste.

1979
AGM resolution urging provision
of single sex wards in hospitals,
and voicing concern about the
closure of village schools

1980s
There was a three year campaign
to raise the profile of the WI
and the promotion bus, toured
the country while Federations
staffed promotional stands
in British Home Stores

2005
The WI celebrated its
90th anniversary

26

The hit movie Calendar girls, starring Helen Mirren
and Julie Walters, was probably the best bit of
promotion the Women’s Institute has had in years.
Not that it’s the norm for WI members to pose naked
as calendar pin-ups like the now-infamous Yorkshire
members did, but the award-winning film was just one
indicator of how the organisation best known for its

“Jam and Jerusalem” meetings has moved effortlessly into
the 21st century.
A look at its highly professional website – illustrated by
a photo of a contemporary-looking young female and the
tag line “A modern voice for women” – gives another hint
at the way the WI is evolving. Sitting alongside news
of a quilt fabric sale are items on rather more energetic
pursuits such as the cycling challenge
in Cuba.
This fascinating mix has led the
BBC to commission independent
television production company
Century Films to make a two-part
documentary series about the WI.
They plan to film a couple of WI
groups and reveal the huge range of
activities, initiatives, and individuals
within the organisation.
In fact, the film makers could do
worse than come to the Isle of Wight,
where they’d find no shortage of
material lurking within the 40 WIs
we have here.
Joan Kirby, who chairs the busy
Isle of Wight WI Federation, says
things have come a long way since
the Island’s first two WIs – Wooton
Bridge and Ningwood & Shalfleet
- were formed on the same day in
1919.
Back then it was tea in giant metal
teapots, served in a primitive meeting
place that was little more than a tin
shack.
A huge contrast to the opening of
the latest group – Yarmouth – which
opened in style in February this year,
with 62 members gathering at The
George in Yarmouth. Many of its
members are professional women
and some commute to and from
London. The tables were dressed

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