In 1937, the Blewbury and Upton WI brought forward the issue of the lack of milk in local areas. As we can see here in this news cutting, the matter was taken to a national level where Lady Denman, Chairman of the National Federation of WIs at the time, highlighted the problem.

Lady Denman, was Chairman of the NFWI for 29 years. Denman College is named after her and is based in Marcham, near Abingdon. It opened in 1948 and is a teaching centre offering courses on various subjects.

The WIs were committed to enabling their members to learn new skills and would set up demonstrations and classes on various subjects. Some examples were basket making, rug making, glove making, horticulture, agriculture, toy making, quilt making, sewing and embroidery.

Here we have some examples of programmes from Maiden Erlegh WI as well as Arborfield and Newland WI. They really highlight quite how varied the activities and talks could be.

According to an obituary, Mrs Emily Morrell, first Chairman of the BFWI, apparently stated that women should “show that they appreciated the art of Shakespeare as well as that of darning socks”.

Whilst meetings were a social affair, they enabled women to discover new subjects and skills, inspiring them to learn something new. An aspect that is just as relevant and important to WIs today.

In 1932, the BFWI created a book of recipes and household hints derived from contributions from Berkshire WI members. Entitled “From Hand to Mouth”, the book was reprinted several times as it was particularly useful during the war period when making do with very little was so important.

Here we can see a recipe for a Berkshire Pie taken from the 1944 edition of the book. If you would like see Royal Berkshire Archives staff making the pie, take a look at our YouTube channel.