WOMEN from across County Durham have spent the weekend celebrating the local centenary of a national institution.

The County Durham Federation of the Women’s Institute (WI) marked the milestone with an event at Beamish Museum, near Stanley, with hundreds of women from branches across the county taking part this weekend.

Carrying banners and wearing sashes, women took part in a grand parade through the museum, while members also hosted a 1917 WI meeting with Suffragette songs and stories.

There was also time for two of the WI’s best known activities – jam making and a rendition of Jerusalem.

The County Durham federation was formed two years after the national organisation, which celebrated its centenary in 2015.