The Women’s Institute on the islands is looking for younger members to join their group. The island institution has just celebrated its 50 year anniversary.

The community group was set up in December 1953 by Mrs Gibson and Mrs Browse. The group now has 40 members although back in 1953 there were over a 100 women on the islands going to meetings. Elsie Thompson, President of the Isles of Scilly WI, told Scilly News ‘It’s a pity there aren’t more younger members because we have so many interesting speakers and issues to discuss.?

In two week’s time the WI are being treated to a speech by Janet Ethorne from Radio Cornwall.

The group celebrated their 50 year anniversary on Tuesday night. The troop had a raffle and wine to celebrate the occasion and Mrs Legg and Mrs Tieddeman made a special birthday cake. Elsie Thompson is soon to become a founder member after joining the group 49 years and 11 months ago.

Kristine Taylor, from Bryher, is one of the newest members of the island’s WI. She told Scilly News “It was a really enjoyable evening.”

There are 220,000 members of the WI around England and Wales. It was founded by Adelaide Hoodless.

Melanie Taylor the PR Manager for the WI told Scilly News how important the Women’s Institute is to small communities like Scilly.

“The work and interests of the WI are as strong and important now in the 21st century as they were at the birth of the WI in 1915. The WI enables women of any age to provide an effective role in the community, to expand their horizons and to develop and pass on important skills. At a local level the WI can act as a strong galvanising force by strengthening the community.”

In November the Women’s Institute launched a campaigned that was based around one of Scilly’s key industries. They decided to promote Scillonian flowers and encourage people but Isles of island narcissi rather than imported flowers. They hoped to help the industry survive and save millions of ?flower miles’ in aviation fuel.

The WI has some famous members including the Queen who joined in 1947. It has recently had an image change after the hit British film ‘Calendar Girls’ encouraged numbers to rise.