“We started the Shoreditch Sisters WI because we wanted to create a space for a community of like minded women to come together in order to share similar interests and skills.”

“The original members were initially all friends. I knew there were loads of people out there who would want to join but it was just spreading the word and advertising our existence to the rest of the community.”

“The group began in October 2007. It was mostly through word of mouth, friends of friends would hear about it and then come down, and then we set up a Facebook and a MySpace. This is now where we do most of our promoting of the group.”

“Most members are in their twenties. However, we have had a few older women join recently which has created a nice diversity of membership and it is something we are hoping that will continue growing over the next year.”

“Our WI meetings allow us a space in which the members can get a sense that they are a part of a larger community of women.”

“My favourite meeting so far had to be the talk we had on Fairtrade and the fashion industry. The talk was given by a lovely lady called Claire Hamer from the ethical fashion division of a well known fashion retailer. Following the talk we had a clothes swapping evening in order to reinforce this kind of ideology.”

“Over the next year we hope to continue building up the membership in order to connect and become as much a part of our community as possible – we are currently working on an exciting programme of events for 2009 including: a talk by Ian Crane on organic farming and complementary & alternative health industry, a swishing party, and talk on quilting.”