This book, released this year, I picked up a couple of weeks ago at a night my WI (local? Come. It's fun) was co-hosting with a local Waterstones. It chronicles the the history of the WI from it's founding in Canada, it's move to England (Well, Wales) in 1915, and the troubles it has had along the way, right up to the current day.
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| 'A Dozen Ways to Kill an Institute' |
I love the inside cover with a list of 'A Dozen Ways to Kill an Institute' complete with illustrations of the people presumably doing the 'killing' and the inserted picture pages with pictures that range from the Canadian NFWI with the founder 'Addie' Hoodless, to fliers of upcoming Christmas dos down in London from relatively new WIs. There are also pictures of war work and the traditional jam, along with some wonderful pictures of some decorated record keeping.
One of the things I found most interesting though, was the strong personalities who not only started the WI, but kept it going over the years. Addie Hoodless (who wanted to teach rural woman about food hygiene after her youngest son died after drinking infected milk) was only the key in the ignition. In the UK another Canadian, Madge Watt took up the cudgel and after an unexpectedly long struggle finally managed to open the first WI in Wales at Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (No, that wasn't me hitting random letters) who promptly shortened the name to Llanfair PG.
This book is also about how the WI has changed the country with their campaigns from the introduction of phone boxes on public streets and free school milk to less packaging and more transparent labelling on our supermarket shelves.
"Here is a force to be reckoned with, woman who have changed the world. And you can't do that with just a pan full of plums and a song."
Authors website: www.jane-robinson.com
