What do you know about the WI...?
Are there many WI members these days?
Yes, there are thousands of us! In Shropshire alone there are over 3,200 and in the country there are a staggering 215,000 in nearly 7,000 WIs.

When and where did the WI start?
If you think the WI is the quintessentially English organisation, think again. It started in Canada in 1897. The first in Britain was formed in 1915 in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrnd-robwllandysiliogogogoch.

You hear of the WI speaking out on political issues these days, when did they start doing that?
That’s political with a small ‘p’. We’ve always been a campaigning organisation. In the 1920s we were calling for stiffer sentences for child abuse and members wanted at least two women on every magistrates’ bench. In 1943 there was a call for equal pay for equal work and for equal facilities for children in education from nursery to university. In 1957 members were concerned with the suffering caused by the live export of animals.

Why do people go on about jam and Jerusalem?
In the Second World War, when sugar was rationed and the need for food was great, the WI stepped in to to make jams and preserves and to can fruit and vegetables to meet national shortages. We still run courses on cookery. As for Jerusalem, Shropshire composer Sir Hubert Parry put Blake’s words to music in 1916 for the Fight for the Right movement. In 1918 it was sung at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate the granting of votes for women. It seemed appropriate to adopt it as the WI hymn and it was first sung in 1924.

So that’s what you’ve done in the past. What are you up to now?
This year we’ve been campaigning to retain post office services in rural areas. We have put our strength behind calls for better care for elderly people and to combat growing obesity in children. We discovered that WI members give a staggering 3.5 million hours a year in voluntary work of all kinds. On the fun side, we have holidays, theatre trips, outings, run courses and competitions - and laugh a lot.