How the WI got Wythit

IT is a Sunday evening. The group of young women are gathered in a North Yorkshire pub, sitting clutching their drinks and chatting animatedly between themselves.

Many have only known each other a few months, but they have already bonded over a few sessions of African singing, drama and belly dancing. The belly dancing was one of the best ice breakers - no-one can swivel their hips like a modern day Salome with a straight face.

The women could be any young girls on a night out. Their average age is 33. But in fact they are all members of a branch of the Women's Institute.

At Wythit WI, there are no competitions to see how many items you can cram into a matchbox or talks on how to make the best plum jam. The name probably suggests as much.

Alison Mason, WI federation secretary for North Yorkshire West who helped set up Wythit WI, says: "WIs are usually affiliated to a village name, but we wanted to pick a name that, wherever the name went, we went 'with it'."

Wythit WI was started in February this year and meets at the White Rose Hotel at Leeming Bar on the third Sunday of every month. It is a prime example of how the institution is shaking off its 'jam and Jerusalem' image and is appealing to younger women.

The WI celebrates its 90th birthday today, and while it has kept its reputation for campaigning and charity work, there is a more youthful air breezing through the village halls across the country.

WI chairwoman Barbara Gill says: ''There was a time when WI members were seen as wearing pearls and twinsets. Now the WI is seen as a fun-loving group who can have a laugh at themselves, have a serious side and take on board the issues and concerns relevant to women.

"Branches with younger members are taking up activities like salsa dancing, and I can't remember ever going to a talk on '100 ways with broccoli'. They are shaping the future in different ways."

The WI was launched in Britain by Canadian Madge Watt who, with John Nugent Harris, secretary of the Agricultural Organisations Society (AOS), decided that WIs were needed to revitalise rural communities and to involve women in producing more food as part of the war effort.

The first meeting was held in the village of Llanfairpwll, Anglesey on September 16, 1915. By 1917, 137 WIs were up and running, the organisation became independent and The National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) was formed, with Lady Denman as chairman.

The institute swiftly gained a reputation for campaigning on women's and family issues. In the 1920s and 1930s the focus was on better health and housing. In the 1940s the WI contributed an enormous amount to the Home Front during the Second World War, helping to care for evacuees, at the same time as campaigning for equal pay.

In the 1950s, it founded the Keep Britain Tidy campaign and key issues in the 1970s were breast screening and family planning. In the 1980s it was issues such as Aids and today the WI is concerned with human trafficking, the environment and adult education.

It is, however, a non-political organisation, and few will forget the notorious incident at the WI annual conference in 2000 when Tony Blair was heckled and slow hand-clapped for making a political speech.

But with its up-to-date website describing itself as "a modern voice for women", the WI has 215,000 members in more than 7,000 branches nationwide. Younger women in their 20s and 30s have formed groups in informal settings, like that in the White Horse Hotel.

Alison says: "I think it's important that women have this camaraderie, particularly women of my age who are living in isolated areas. If you move to a particular area, say you work on your own and you don't have children, you're not going to be making friends at work or chatting to people on the school gates. It can be hard to meet people. The WI does bring people together. You learn things, you have a bit of fun and we raise money for local causes."

Alison freely admits she does not fit in with the WI sterotype - she drinks pints and rides her husband's motorbike for a start - but she is a member of two WIs, Wythit and the more traditional Aiskew. She gets a great deal out of each of them, she says.

There is no doubt, also, that the image of the WI was given an unexpected boost by the members of Rylstone and District WI in North Yorkshire. Its hugely popular nude calendar raised more than £1m for the Leukaemia Research Fund and inspired the Calendar Girls movie in 2003, which starred Dame Helen Mirren and Julie Walters.

But not every branch will want to go to such extremes. In the WI it is up to the people who open the branches as to where they are held, what they are called and what items are on the agenda.

"I thought if I opened Wythit in a village hall I would never get the girls there," says Alison. "So we meet in the pub."

Wythit was not the first branch to hold its meetings in a pub, but it was the first to hold them on Sunday evenings - and it was that which raised the most eyebrows. Alison says it's a good day for people who work during the week.

On the Wythit WI agenda is a charity ball on October 8, which the women are organising. There's also the possibility of a parachute jump. Before that, there's a bit of outdoor fun, zipping down aerial wires in North Yorkshire.

"I think we're going to do the aerial extreme thing before we start looking at parachute jumping," says Alison. "Then we'll see what happens."

* To find your nearest WI branch log onto www.womens-institute.org.uk or contact 020 7371 9300.

'We have ladies who have degrees'

ANN Coupe joined the Women's Institute 55 years ago - when the annual subscription was 3s and 6d. Today it is £21.

The 86-year-old is a member of the Ripon Centre WI and has been president of the branch twice and a county organiser.

"When I joined I was very interested in drama, country dancing and embroidery. We had no television then and our time was spent crocheting and embroidering so we learned a lot from the WI.

"We still do country dancing and competitions and I enjoy seeing people.

"The Calendar Girls did a lot to give people a rough idea of what we're about, although people aren't as droll as they were in the film. We have a number of very clever ladies who have degrees and our president goes off to Brussels every other week working.

"One of my proudest achievements was fighting to keep the little North Bridge Post Office (in Ripon) open. We made posters and went around with banners and we eventually won. Now it's the loveliest post office and shop.

"There have been lots of changes, but I think they've all been for the better because people want different things."

'It's like going out with your mates'

AT 22, Charlie Toothill is one of the WI's youngest members. Charlie is a member of the recently-formed Wythit WI branch, which meets at a pub at Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire.

So far, she has taken part in belly dancing classes, African singing and wine tasting. Tomorrow she will be zipping down an aerial wire.

"When we set up Wythit we always planned on doing different things and changing the image of the WI, rather than making cakes," says Charlie, of Northallerton. "We wanted to make it funkier without taking away what goes on at other WIs.

"I don't think we would have set up if we hadn't have had Alison (Mason). She's very enthusiastic and vibrant and if someone has a passion for it it makes you want to join.

"We meet once a month and it's like going out with your mates. A lot of members would never have tried belly dancing and it's really nice that they're getting the chance to do that."