WI members should be called in to teach craft and cookery in schools, a government advisory group announced this month. But some village schools in North Yorkshire have already beaten them to it - with brilliant results. Sharon Griffiths reports.

IN Manfield school, between Richmond and Darlington, seven-year-old Thomas triumphantly snips the final thread and shows off a little felt Christmas present he has made to hang on a tree. Next to him, John, ten, and nine-year-old Ian have made ornately decorated butterflies while eight-year-old Jessica is carefully stitching gold thread to her bright blue and pink bird.

All this under the guidance and supervision of a lady from the Women's Institute...

The secretary of the head teachers' union last week dismissed the Government's suggestion that WI members should pass on their craft and cookery skills to pupils as "laughable" - which only goes to show that he's never been to the village schools at Manfield or Middleton Tyas.

For two years now, WI members from Middleton Tyas, near Richmond, have taken regular sessions in two local schools, teaching the children sewing and embroidery skills to higher standards than would normally be possible.

Meanwhile, a display in the entrance of the village school in Manfield shows a photograph of a splendid wall hanging depicting the tiny Victorian school set among the fields and hills. The work, to which every single pupil contributed, was made with the help and guidance of a WI volunteer who oversaw the entire project.

The original now hangs in a children's home in Romania, sent (along with money raised by the school children and a box of craft materials) via the charity Hope and Homes for Children.

"We couldn't have done it without the WI," says Manfield head teacher Mrs Elizabeth Croft. "By working with small groups, they can tackle more complicated work than we could do if we were teaching an entire class. But it's not just a question of teaching sewing. Producing the wall hanging contributed to a variety of skills, as well as the children's global education. As well as the physical skills, they learnt about planning, complex design skills and co-operation. It was worthwhile on a great many levels and it would have been very difficult for us to do that as part of our normal school day."

The project was inspired by the WI's Crafts in the Community initiative. WI members in Middleton Tyas ran a series of craft workshops for adults but also decided to offer their skills to schools.

"A lot of traditional craft skills are in danger of disappearing," says WI member Lindsay Deeble. "Many mothers haven't got time to sew, even if they know how, and certainly no time to pass those skills on to their children. Many grandmothers these days are working too, so there are not the same opportunities for children to learn at home."

Their offer was taken up enthusiastically by Middleton Tyas, where the new school has a wonderful wall hanging to prove it and where WI member Susan Mahaffy helped ten and 11-year-olds make a new altar cloth and frontal for the village church - and then later by Manfield, just down the road.

Each week, one or two WI volunteers go into the schools and take small groups of children out of lessons to work on a variety of projects. The children clearly love it and both boys and girls enjoy the challenge.

"We made badges last term," says Thomas. "Mine had a big T on it. I liked doing it, so I made another one at home."

The Romanian wall hanging was planned entirely by the children.

"We started with a bit of curtain and asked them what they wanted to send," says Lindsay Deeble. "They wanted to show the Romanian children their school and the fact it was in the countryside, so that's what we did. They made sheep and tractors, trees and horses and put them on. Even the little four-year-olds made the flowers for the border. But it was very much their ideas and their work

"What was also wonderful was the way they worked together. It's very typical of the spirit of helpfulness and cooperation in this school."

In between helping the children and their Christmas tree decorations - "neat little running stitches..." "choose a colour thread you would like...." "no, no right through..." - Lindsay explains another ongoing project.

"Each of the Year 6s is making an A4 size piece of needlework about somethings that's important to them," she says.

There are only three children in Year 6. The only girl is basing her design on horses, one of the boys on football, and the other, whose father is a gamekeeper, a design of fields and pheasants.

"We set off with their plans and then we work on them to make them do-able, so they learn about drafting and re-drafting. When they are complete, they will be displayed on a hanging. Every child who leaves the school will do one and it will gradually build up until it covers the entire wall. As well as looking good, it will be a permanent, very individual record of the children who were here."

And of the skills they mastered - thanks to the WI.