For Ivy Bebb, the 80th birthday of Hadnall WI brings back particularly poignant memories – as her mum Annie was one of the founder members of the branch.
Annie helped set up the group in 1927 when members of the local girls club decided they wanted a group aimed at them. In the first year the group had 48 members.
Present-day members of the WI are holding a host of activities throughout the year to celebrate the milestone and, although membership is now less than half the original number, the group is still at the heart of the community.
Looking back to the group who founded the WI in the 1920s, Ivy said: “They were beginning to grow up and get married, they had heard of the WI and decided to set one up.
“There are now 16 members, we’re part of the village. We do a carol service – in fact we realised this year we’ve been doing that for 25 years.”
“Eight years ago we started a project with the fire service. We give them cards for every house in the village with the grid reference. In the country a house can be a mile from the village and they often only have a name, which is hard to find.”
Two years ago the group helped raise funds to buy materials to replace all of the kneelers in the church.
They built 70 kneelers using the funds donated by residents in memory of friends and family.
More recently they asked the parish council to build a flower bed outside the church which the WI maintains. It flowered for the first time last summer and is an on-going project.
Mrs Bebb said: “I think it’s a great achievement, it’s a long, long time. Quite often in a village things don’t last that long but the WI has proved permanent.
