Bicton & Oxon WI Centenary: 1924-2024

WI centenary logoIntroduction

Bicton & District WI (Women's Institute) was founded on 10th December, 1924. It included Bicton, Montford Bridge and Oxon. In 1947, Oxon formed its own WI and so we became Bicton WI. In 1995, Oxon WI rejoined Bicton WI and so became Bicton and Oxon WI.

Notes:
SFWI – Shropshire County Federation of Women's Institutes - (t/a Shropshire Federation) –
https://www.wi-shropshire.co.uk/
NFWI – The National Federation of Women's Institutes of England, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man –
https://www.thewi.org.uk/

Our information has been obtained from various sources, including: the Committee and Monthly Meeting minute books (unfortunately we don’t have them all); the Shrewsbury Chronicle reports held at the Archives Library in Shrewsbury; NFWI and memorabilia collected from members past and present.

When I had the idea in 2023 to put together a history of our WI and to release a blog of a decade in each month of 2024, I didn’t realise quite what I had undertaken!

In 2021, we started to plan for our centenary and to search out memorabilia. I had been trying to track down our minute books. As secretary, I had committee minute books from July 1973, and monthly minute books from February 1977, but nothing earlier. There was no mention in those minutes of where the earlier minutes were to be stored. I went to check at the Records Library – they had Oxon WI minutes, but nothing of Bicton WI.

Two fanned rows of minute and record booksSo,  how to find out about our history? Fortunately, June is a local history buff and knows her way around the Records Library. She spent numerous hours from May 2023 onwards finding the articles in the Shrewsbury Chronicle of our early monthly meetings and making notes.

In August 2023, most of the missing minutes were found in a member’s attic. We now had the committee minutes from January 1925 to November 1944 and May 1965 to February 1977, and the monthly meetings minutes from December 1932 to April 1954 and July 1965 to June 1973. The committee minutes from 1944 to 1965, and the monthly minutes from 1925 to 1932 and 1954 to 1965 have never been found.

A newspaper report deep in the inner margins of the bound copies of Shrewsbury ChronicleIn order to fill those gaps, June carried on digging out reports of our 1950s and 1960s meetings all through October 2023 then January to May 2024. She found reports not just of Bicton WI, but interesting articles about SFWI and the wider WI. [The newspaper report reads: W.I. - The monthly meeting was held in the village hal [sic] on February 3, Mrs H. Ratcliffe presiding. Mrs R. Nicholas gave a demonstration on "Curries and Indian Dishes." A competition for the best plate of home made sweets, judged by Mrs Nicholas, was won by Mrs Moakes, Mrs Paddock and Mrs Harrison. Hostesses were Mrs S. Dee and Mr[!] M. E. Evans. Mrs Harrison won the lucky parcel.] These were not just in the Shrewsbury Chronicle, but also in genealogy sites and other newspapers. As she was letting me have reports, I was writing the monthly blog! The articles were on microfiche until 1950, then the Chronicles were bound into huge books.

Some of the dusty old archives at Shropshire Records OfficeFor the larger format newspapers each book covered a year but when the newspaper changed to a smaller size, there were two books to a year. From around the 1980s the nature of reporting changed so there was less focus on reporting the individual WI meetings and the papers were full of pictures of houses and cars for sale. Some of the pages were torn, the edges on some crumbling away and they had that unique old paper smell! 

In May 2021 past President Mary Fowles died. Margaret and Gillian collected various WI photos and other items from her house. Tricia, Ann and I visited Jessica Pannett to gather more documentation and photos. Everything was scanned into the computer, with a folder for each decade.

Six books referenced for the articlesSo, month by month, I wrote an article about a decade of Bicton & District WI, then Bicton WI and finally Bicton and Oxon WI. I used the minute books, making notes of interesting items. I used June’s reports of the meetings and her reports from the wider WI to give a broader view of the WI movement through the decades. I used WI books such as ‘A Force to be Reckoned With’ by Jane Robinson. And I used the numerous photos, yearly programmes and newspaper articles that we had collected from past members. It was hard to know how much to include, even harder to know what to leave out! What was striking, right from the first records in the 1920s, was how we still have the same rhythm to our meetings and still keep the old traditions no matter how modern we feel. It was so interesting to see familiar names from early on, and then to see the WI life of current members some 40 or 50 years ago.

Each month, I emailed the article to Gillian for proofreading – it came back with ‘red pen’ to make sure it was correct, and with suggestions and comments about the wording. Together, we finished with a version that was as good as it could be! Each was saved as a PDF and sent to members, and Gillian added it to the website, making sure the photos fitted.

I hope members and past members have enjoyed it and learned from it, and that it may have  brought back memories. 

Cathy Swan – December 2024

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