The Women in the Community

This was a strategically planned campaign ‘to put the WI in its rightful place on the map of contemporary Britain’. With the help of commercial sponsorship there were a number of different strands to this three-year campaign. The promotion bus was provided by the National Bus company who fitted out a double decker bus with a kitchen and demonstration and display space and also supplied drivers. The bus travelled the country for nine months Each federation organised their own events and Voluntary County Organisers staffed at each venue and recruited new members. British Home Stores gave space in each of its stores for a WI promotion stand staffed by WI members and they also offered special fashions shows and shopping evenings. The International stores offered a till roll collection – more than 20,000 miles of till rolls were collected and in return the NFWI received £20,000, more than half of which was given to innovative, ongoing WI projects for the very young or the elderly in their communities.

The culmination of the Women in the Community events was the huge Life and Leisure exhibition at Olympia opened by The Queen. Lasting a week it was attended by 55,000 people and raised the profile of the WI. There were a large number of trade stands, but even so the overall result was a loss because of the expense of constructing such a huge and ambitious exhibition. It was costly to pay the travel and accommodation for the 400 WI members involved in running the exhibition; London events are never cheap.