It is fascinating to see a flavour of life in Bicton WI during the 1960s. Meetings took place on Wednesdays at 7pm from April to October and on Thursdays at 2.30pm from November to March.
Monthly Meetings
As ever, there were a wide range of talks and demonstrations throughout the decade:
There was of course gardening – talks on herbaceous borders, roses, the care of house plants and modern garden layout. There were talks about local and charitable issues – Salop County Council on housing development; the work of the parish council; a talk on the Katherine Elliot School for handicapped children and a talk about Guide Dogs by Mr Wilkins, accompanied by his dog Sprite. On other occasions a wine firm rep gave a talk and members tasted samples; there was a talk on Telford’s work in Shropshire illustrated with slides; and a talk by Boots Beauty on beauty techniques. There were talks on miming, antiques, the history of wool, insurance and hire purchase.
Bicton WI heard some interesting talks about travel – a talk with colour photographs of life in New Zealand; ‘Lady Wheeler kept everyone spellbound with her vivid description of her visit to the Walls of Jericho’; Mr Climax gave a talk on his experiences as Chief Engineer on board the liner Queen Elizabeth; a talk with slides on a visit to Persia and a film ‘Princess Alexandra’s Far Eastern tour’.
In 1969 there was a talk on the forthcoming Decimal Currency.
There were frequent demonstrations at meetings, for example on keep fit; the uses of Formica; care of the hair; lampshades; canvas embroidery; Venetian blinds; rush-work and cane seating; sea-grass stools; colour photography; Italian quilting and soft toys.
Cookery demonstrations were favourites – the Potato Marketing Board on ‘ways of using potatoes’ with a competition for potato dishes and a potato quiz; a demonstration of Cake Brand; strudel pastry; different ways of cooking chicken and a demonstration on homemade wines.
Bicton WI continued to use the MEB and Gas Board. In 1966 there was a demonstration of a twin tub washing machine and in 1967 an evening on ‘the electrical handy-woman’. A monthly meeting in 1962 was held at the Gas Board’s demonstration room, Castle Foregate, with sweet and savoury dishes.
In 1963 there was a demonstration of savoury dishes by the MEB. Members competed for the dishes the demonstrator cooked, proceeds going to the ‘Freedom from Hunger Campaign’. At the following meeting the county organiser spoke about the Campaign. (See at the end for more information)
Social half hour and ‘extras’
There were always interesting extra parts to the meetings – the social half hour. A spelling bee; bingo; beetle drive; roll calls ‘things I have enjoyed the most and things I have enjoyed the least in the WI’ and ‘why I chose my husband’. A roll call involved a ball being passed round, and whoever held the ball when a bell rang, had to talk on the subject.
The newly formed handbell ringing team performed carols and songs on one occasion, and members showed their work from the curtain and pelmet school and soft toys made at Denman college. In 1966 a Voluntary County Organiser attended and told of ‘the value the Institutes had been to the nation in instigating the compulsion of motor cyclists to wear crash helmets, improved visits to hospital and abolishing turnstiles in ladies’ toilets’ (which inhibited pregnant and larger ladies).
The competitions were varied – best dressed wooden spoon; a knitted square for a WVS shawl; flower arrangement in a wine glass; homemade Christmas present; marmalade; a savoury dish not to cost more than 2/-; a herb garden on a plate and a competition on the theme ‘man appeal’.
In the early 1960s Bicton WI started to hold an Annual Show at the August meeting. In 1961 there were over 100 entries and classes included cookery and preserves, handicrafts, flowers and garden produce. The following year it was reported that ‘The quality of the exhibits was surprisingly good’.
For the 1965 Show there was a wide choice of classes: In the cookery & preserves section members had the choice of entering blackcurrant jam, marmalade, lemon curd, fruit jelly, bottled fruit, pickles, chutney, sultana scones, Madeira cake, assorted cakes and a bottle of wine. The flowers and garden produce class included an arrangement of 5 flowers, a container of mixed flowers and foliage, arrangement of flowers in a kitchen utensil, a specimen rose, pot plant and lettuce. For handicrafts they had the choice of a hand knitted article, a pair of gent’s hand knitted socks, a machine-made garment, a piece of crochet and an embroidered article. There was also a class for ‘something new out of something old’.
They held similar shows throughout the 1960s, usually inviting residents of Yew Tree Villa, a local care home, as special guests.
In 1963 several members attended an eight-week millinery course. Mrs Fowles made two velvet and a blue and white chiffon hat, while Mrs Ratcliffe (front centre) made a blue velvet toque and a shiny navy straw boater. Others made a flame-coloured chiffon toque, a gold, red and blue velvet hat, a red satin toque and a blue straw toque trimmed with chiffon and decorated with a single rose. What a shame we don’t have a colour photo!
[Photo credit Shrewsbury Chronicle ]
The trading stall was an important part of each meeting and they also had various activities to raise funds.
There were whist drives to provide funds for crockery and for WI funds and in 1969 a sewing class took place to make articles for the Christmas fayre. Here they are with soft toys.
The Committee and Formalities
There were several votes on whether to have all meetings in the evening throughout the year – defeated each time. There were also proposals that tea and biscuits be served informally at meetings instead of sandwiches and cakes owing to difficulties in arranging tea hostesses.
In 1967 the annual subscription was 5/-, increased from 3/6d in 1952. However, by 1969 subs had increased to 10/-.
There were no meetings from November 1967 until February 1968 due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak – it had fortunately missed Bicton’s farming community.
In 1968 it was agreed that members pay 6d for their programmes due to increased printing costs.
Annual outings
Bicton WI travelled well for their summer outings. In 1966 they went to Malvern for lunch, on to Symonds Yat then to Hereford for tea. Other years they went to Oxford, Llandudno, Forest of Dean, Bristol & the Severn Bridge. However, in 1967, the planned outing to Bodnant Gardens was cancelled due to lack of support.
Christmas party
There was usually a Christmas party in January. Sometimes these were in the Village Hall, such as here in 1964 when around 70 members and friends attended, with games and competitions. On other occasions there were dinners in January at The Grapes and The Oak Hotel. However, in 1967 members spent a day in Birmingham instead of a Christmas party.
[Photo credit Shrewsbury Chronicle ]
People
There were four Presidents over the 1960s. Mrs Kathleen Ratcliffe continued as President until 1964 when Mrs May Galliers was elected. In 1967 Mrs Jenny Kelly became President for one year and Mrs Mary Fowles took office the following year. Mrs Phyllis Lewis (Jessica Pannett’s mother) was Secretary for some of the 1960s.
When secretary Mrs Wright moved away, she was presented with a needlework table and when Mrs Edwards retired as treasurer after 21 years she was presented with a cut glass bowl.
In 1965, new member Mrs Fone (wife of the head of Bicton School) was welcomed onto the committee. Brenda Fone joined us again in 2013 and continued as a member until her death in 2018.
Mention is made of Miss Jessica Lewis and then in 1969 ‘ Mrs Pannett thanked members for the gift given on the occasion of her marriage’. The year before an illustrated talk by Mr Pannett had been received with interest.
In April 1969 Mrs Ann Malpass was welcomed as a new member – Ann continues to be a very active member.
Shrewsbury West Group, SFWI and NFWI
In 1965, Bicton WI won first prize in the group meeting, winning a silver cup. In 1968, Bicton was responsible for the draw – first prize was a chicken dinner with all the trimmings. A member donated the chicken.
We entered exhibits at the West Mid Show – on one occasion we were ‘disappointed on the marking but felt our entry of a very high standard’. Members also entered classes at Shrewsbury Flower Show – in 1960 members entered the honey cake and honey biscuits class.
Bicton was also involved in SFWI events. In 1961 SFWI held a Festival of Arts folk dancing competition and Bicton came second. Here they are in their costumes! [Photo credit to Shrewsbury Chronicle]
In 1962 the Country Feasts & Festivals Regional Show was hosted by SFWI in the Music Hall. Bicton WI exhibited ‘Harvest Supper’ and were thrilled to come third.
At the 1961 SFWI Council meeting there was a real sense of the time. Miss Gwynedd Lloyd, SFWI President, referred to two events for which this was the anniversary – the inauguration of public television in this country 25 years ago, and the dropping of the first atom bomb on Hiroshima 16 years ago. She talked about young people growing up without much future – ‘only last week the Russians had exploded a 50-plus megaton bomb. The older generation had lived through two world wars, and the younger generation is growing up in difficult days’.
There were interesting resolutions discussed at SFWI which still resonate today. In 1961, SFWI passed a resolution that drivers be disqualified for 6 months for a first dangerous driving conviction, and another expressing concern about the effect of hormones and antibiotics fed to animals on humans eating the meat. Two resolutions were passed at the 1961 meeting – firstly urging a scheme to compensate the victims of crime and secondly concerning the Weights and Measures Bill. There was a warning from Shrewsbury’s Weights and Measures inspector that ‘housewives are being ‘twisted, diddled and swindled every day because there are no weight markings on the packets of many things they buy. Some manufacturers cried ‘no increase in price’ but what they did not say was that while prices remained static, the weight was reduced’.
In 1964, SFWI passed a resolution ‘to urge that investigation be made into the question of people having to wait for an operation under the NHS’. The Chronicle reported points in the discussion – ‘Surgeons, doctors and nurses are coping in hospitals designed by Victorians for the needs of a century ago. Spacious well-designed hospitals would decrease the present hazard of cross-infection. Some wards are so close to nursery and labour wards that sleep was more a dream than a reality. Instances of the chronic sick being nursed alongside the senile, and the young being placed on adult wards. The maternity service was deplorable, and there was laughter when the delegate told of one hospital where beds had to be booked ten months before a confinement was due to take place’.
In 1965, an SFWI resolution criticised the lack of overall planning in Shrewsbury, calling for an assurance that the town’s traditional character would be preserved. In 1966 they discussed the increase in sexual offences against young girls in the county and in 1967 they hit out at the lack of choice of stylish clothes for the ‘fuller figure’.
Involvement in local & national affairs
All through the 1960s and beyond, Bicton WI was involved with local and national good causes.
For many years members provided a summer outing with lunch and a party for the senior citizens of the parish. The 1966 Old People’s Outing was to Evesham, with a ham & tongue tea. Other outings for pensioners were to Aberystwyth, Llandudno, Stratford-on-Avon and Chester.
Also through the 1960s, Bicton WI entertained patients from Shelton Hospital regularly each year. They were invited for the evening with members providing refreshments, prizes and entertainment.
A long tradition of sending wrapped gifts to Dolywern Cheshire Home near Chirk began in December 1966. Also that year, a crèche was organised so young mums could do their Christmas shopping.
Again, all through the 1960s a Christmas parcel was sent to a refugee family in Germany and letters were read from the family, thanking for the parcel.
Looking further afield in 1960 members were asked to help provide layettes for babies in the Far East. In 1966 they collected old nylons in aid of a Leper Colony and in 1969 a parcel was sent for the Clothing Scheme for the Windward Islands.
The wider WI
The main National WI event was the Golden Jubilee in 1965 – a great celebration of 50 years of the WI in Britain. Bicton WI sent a delegate to the national AGM at the Royal Albert Hall who reported that they were delighted to see the Queen Mother.
As President of a WI herself, Queen Elizabeth II invited her fellow members to a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace. Mrs Mary Fowles attended as one of nearly 9,000 WI members and here she is looking splendid, with the receipt for her new outfit!
The Shrewsbury Chronicle had a very good spread on the Jubilee including this reminder of life 50 years previously – ‘1915 was the year of Gallipoli and the second battle of Ypres, of the first air raid on London and the first German gas attack. Shropshire’s Mary Webb was working on her first book, ‘The Golden Arrow’; TE Lawrence was an unknown staff captain in Egypt; TS Elliott was a bank clerk and Renoir an old man of 74’.
The Chronicle also commented that ‘far too many people choose to believe that the WI is little more than a social organisation which exists to ward off female boredom...In fact there can be little doubt that the WIs have done more tangible good for Salop since the first branch was formed in Edgmond 48 years ago than quite a few of the county’s representatives in the House of Commons over the years’.
In 1964, just ten years after researchers in the UK had established a link between smoking and lung cancer, the WI passed a resolution calling for measures to restrict the amount of smoking in public places, including smoking broadcast on television.
In the same year there was a resolution ‘to treat as a matter of urgency the provision of comprehensive facilities for a routine smear test for cervical cancer’. The WI began educating its members about screening facilities and encouraged women to ask for the test which was extremely under-utilised at the time.
As mentioned above, the WI supported the Freedom from Hunger Campaign. The Campaign was started in 1960 by the United Nations to increase public awareness of the problem of world hunger and to co-ordinate action to solve the problem. National Committees were set up, including one in Great Britain chaired by the Duke of Edinburgh. One of the activities of the Freedom from Hunger Campaign was a simultaneous worldwide stamp issue – the stamps would draw attention to the needs of the hungry, as well as raising funds.