‘It’s nothing like Jam and Jerusalem’

She tells Sarah Foster what she gets out of an organisation most people still associate with grannies

THE WI - or Women's Institute - may be a thriving organisation, but it seems fair enough to say that it has suffered image problems. It has struggled with the stigma of its jam and Jerusalem' tag and is often dismissed as something hopelessly oldfashioned.

Then with the hit film Calendar Girls, which told the true-life tale of members stripping off in aid of charity, there was a sudden new perception of the WI as cool.

Today the WI seems to have reverted to being thought of as outdated, and indeed it was established in a vastly different age. Begun at Stoney Creek, in Canada, back in 1897, it was originally founded for the local farmers' wives. It spread to Britain in 1915, when the First World War was under way, its mission to revitalise neglected rural outposts, as well as encouraging country women to get involved in food production.

Now in its 92nd year, the WI is just as active, with 211,000 members belonging to 6,800 groups. It has become the largest women's organisation in the UK, and aims to offer education and the chance to build new skills. It campaigns on modern issues like cutting down our carbon usage.

No longer bound up with the countryside, it can be found in towns and cities, and is enjoying a brief revival among the young wives of Kensington and Chelsea.

And for Sara Hough, who's just 16, it is a blessing and a lifeline.

Though she must surely be among the organisation's youngest members, this doesn't mean that Sara feels that she's in any sense out of place. She joined her local WI, in her home village of Newbiggin- in-Teesdale, when she was only 14 years old, and since attending her first meeting has apparently been hooked.

"My mam and my nanna are both members and there was a talk going on and it sounded quite interesting, so I decided to go," she explains. "I think it was about chocolate making, so that definitely interested me. That was about two years ago and my mam did push me a bit by asking me to go, but I wasn't doing anything so I decided I would. I've just been going ever since really."

What helped persuade her to attend was Sara's feeling of frustration. She says there really isn't much for the young people of the area. "There was a youth club and we used to do all sorts of things - there were games and a disco and different events each week - but it didn't get much interest from people to help run it, so after a while it was shut down, which was a shame," says Sara. "Now there's a lack of facilities really, so people either hang round the streets or stay in and are bored. If you're hands-on and like to be kept busy there's not much you can do, so that encouraged me to join the WI."

Her first encounter with the group lived up to Sara's expectations. She says that right from the beginning she felt entirely at home. "The people there are very welcoming - they like to see new faces and younger faces," she says. "It completely changed my view about it because to start with, I thought it was going to be lots of older people just silently listening to a speaker but it wasn't - it was a bundle of laughs.

Everybody was talking, everybody was having fun. It was sort of strange, but I knew most of the people there anyway and they were really nice to me and just welcomed me with open arms."

The monthly meetings feature speakers on a range of different subjects and members also have the chance to try out practical activities. Far from being dull or out-of-date, in Sara's view, they are absorbing. "There have been talks about Marie Curie, fudge making, flower arranging - everything and anything," she says. "Normally we do minutes from last month, any announcements, and then have the speaker, who normally talks for about an hour or so, and most months we end up doing something. We've done chocolate making and flower arranging and at Christmas we learn how to make things like chocolate roulade cake."

As well as going to the branch, based at the local village hall, Newbiggin members also organise a range of trips away.

In recent times these have encompassed Disney On Ice and Holker Hall, and Sara clearly views the visits as just one more added bonus. She may enjoy the WI, but she admits it makes her different, so what do others in her class - she's doing A-levels at Teesdale School - make of her unconventional hobby?

"Most of my friends know and people have come up to me and asked me what it was all about," she says. "Some of them have said they might try and join up."

If others follow in Sara's footsteps, she believes they'll only benefit. She feels the WI is perfect for escaping from school stress and would encourage teenage girls to give their local group a try. "It's kind of a release because you've been doing school work and you come home and do homework, then once a month you can go to the WI and have some fun," she says. "You never know what it's going to be like unless you try it, so just go for it."

The main thing, says Sara, is that people shouldn't listen to the myths, and she for one claims she has never sung Jerusalem or made jam. "It's nothing like jam and Jerusalem," insists Sara.

"It's just a place for women to go and meet people and join in and generally have fun."

* www.womens-institute.co.uk The Durham County WI can be contacted on 01388-819100, Teesside on 01642-219665 and Tyne and Wear on 0191-567-6024.