The WI flower festival at Newport Minster.
WIGHT LIVINGThe WI is a trendsetting organisation. It spearheaded the campaign to get a national screening programme for breast cancer, it was behind the launch of the Keep Britain Tidy group and it was WI members who produced the first tasteful nude charity calendar, of which there have been so many pale imitations.
On the Island, the movement is flourishing and there are 37 WI’s, the newest of which — Cowes — formed when its founders used Facebook and Twitter to get the message out that they were there. On trend as ever.
This year, the WI has been busy celebrating the 90th birthday of the founding of the Island Federation and the resulting look back through the history books has made members keenly aware they set trends then and they continue to do so today.
For an organisation that seems so British in character, the WI movement began in Canada, where it had been established as a result of a grieving mother’s campaign to teach others about the importance of hygiene in the prevention and spread of disease — a topic that, sadly, still has resonance today.
She talked to an agricultural association and a WI was formed with the aim of teaching women new ideas about how they could best protect their families.
The WI movement came across the Atlantic to Anglesey and rapidly spread around the country. On November 25, 1921, there were already 11 WIs up and running on the Island and so the Island Federation was formed to link them together.
Since then, the WI has been part of the lives of generations of Island women but probably it means different things to each of them.
For many it is simply about friendship, a monthly chance to get together with old friends and make new ones. To learn new skills, listen to an interesting speaker, or try something a bit different.
Others get more involved, join committees, become an officer of the Federation or even become part of the national set-up.
Two of the Island Federation’s leading lights are perfect examples of just how involving the WI movement can become.
Federation secretary Doreen Kent has been a lifelong member of the WI — her mother even took her to meetings when she was still in her pram. She doesn’t remember those meetings but she has fond memories of joining in country dancing sessions and making furry mittens when she was still a child and not old enough to join in her own right.
She is still an active member today and has spent this anniversary year compiling a fascinating archive of material about the WI on the Island, finding pictures of ladies in wonderful hats setting off on the ferry for trips to London, unearthing records of campaigns to send food and clothing to poverty-stricken countries around the world and the WI involvement in every aspect of Island life.
Federation chairman Anne Longford has been a member for the last 30 years, joining when her mother-in-law, newly arrived on the Island, thought they should both go as a way of making new friends.
Some of Anne’s fondest memories are of getting involved in drama groups and appearing in pantomimes, something she would never have contemplated had it not been for the WI.
Anne has also had a long connection with the national board of the WI and was on the platform at that famous national conference when Prime Minister Tony Blair was slow-handclapped by members, infuriated his speech had become too party political. As Anne escorted him off the stage, he turned to her and said: "I don’t think that went awfully well".
The WI, you see, prides itself on being non-political and non-sectarian. It is issues that are important, not party politics.
Every year the national conference debates a number of resolutions, which have already been debated at local level so every member gets their chance to have a say on what the WI stance should be on a particular issue.
The focus can often be on issues of importance to women and their families, like the historic campaign to get a nationwide screening programme for breast cancer, or to improve our environment by inspiring the formation of anti-litter groups.
Support from the WI can move mountains in protecting our rural shops and post offices and this year members on the Island are considering whether to back a resolution calling for protective helmets to be made compulsory for cyclists.
While the meetings about resolutions are among the most popular of the year and the WI is proud of its record in giving women a voice, there is a lot more to the WI.
The historic jibe is that it is all about jam and Jerusalem. And what’s wrong with that, says Anne.
Yet again the IW is right on trend. A new generation is learning to love making jam, bread, knitting, sewing and much more but for the WI those traditional skills have never gone away.
The WI’s Denman College is the school of excellence when it comes to flower arranging and cake decorating but, just to show there is no end to what the WI gets involved in, members taking trips there can learn how to research their family history, take up yoga or Pilates or a thousand other things — even belly dancing.
Within their individual WI’s, members try out new crafts, make theatre trips, learn about personal safety, have their own book groups, go on outings and walks and enjoy meals at favourite destinations around the Island.
One of the highlights of the year is the great bake for Bestival. The WI tent is often the place to be and it is staffed by a WI team and backed up by the 7,000-plus cakes and other goodies prepared in homes around the Island.
Three days standing in a tent, making tea and dishing up cake to an endless queue of festival goers is plain hard work but so popular is it with WI members there is a waiting list for those willing to volunteer.
Yes, Anne says, the WI used to be quite rigid but now it is up to each WI to set its own agenda. Sing Jerusalem or not, have a speaker or not, hold competitions or not and so on.
"We used to be about red tape, now it is pink elastic," she said.
This anniversary year has highlighted all that’s best about the WI on the Island. There has been a fantastic celebration lunch at Cowes Yacht Haven, a chance for everyone to enjoy the friendship of the WI, and the major archive exhibition at Ventnor Botanic Garden — when even long-established members were surprised by the extent of the WI’s involvement in the best of Island life. There was a walking festival in May, when members were encouraged to walk from their WI to a nighbouring group.
Best of all for many was the flower festival at Newport Minster, when every WI on the Island contributed an arrangement that together transformed the Island’s principal church. The thanksgiving service to mark the end of the festival was a moving and memorable occasion.
The actual 90th anniversary date is next Friday, November 25, and the Federation is hosting a celebration concert at Medina Theatre, Newport.
Stalwart of the Island music scene, Howard Wilkie, has put together a variety concert to entertain. It will include the Ryde School Swing Band, an Island soprano, a folk band and the WI’s own celebration choir. Tickets are selling like hot cakes, home-baked ones of course, so move fast to get one.