The Women’s Institure

The Women's Institute (WI), which was formed in 1915 and is now the largest voluntary women's organisation in the UK, plays a unique role in providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, to take part in a wide variety of activities and to campaign on issues that matter to them and their communities.

Here we take a look at what's been going on at local WI's and see that they are “not just jam and Jerusalem”.

Is your WI group in the Newcastle and surrounding area? Would you like your group to be featured in our WI pages? Email Belinda at life@timesandecho.co.uk.

speakers, such as The History of Folk Music and also Christmases past.

But our WI is much more than 11 meetings a year. We also have a monthly lunch-club, theatre visits, day-trips, book-swaps and craft activities.

During the recent pandemic, we kept in touch with members through phone calls and newsletters. As restrictions eased, we arranged a park walk and then a park meeting.

But what the pandemic has taught us is the strong desire from members to meet in person. Consequently, we are now meeting face-to-face again, delighted by the response from members.

We normally meet every third Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm in Harpfield Primary Academy School, Palmers Green, Hartshill Road.

Our email address is hartshillwi@yahoo.co.uk and we on Facebook we are Hartshill Women's Institute.

Hartshill WI

“The response from our members was fantastic, reflecting everyone’s generosity and eagerness to help others.”

In existence for 40 years, Hartshill WI is a group for local women, but attached to a national network of WIs. We hold our monthly meetings at the heart of the community in Harpfield Primary Academy school.

Friendly and welcoming, we love meeting new people and making a difference. We also provide a safe space to talk about contemporary issues often linked to national campaigns.

Although very proud of our longstanding heritage of Jam and Jerusalem, we are not defined by it. For example, supporting a national initiative of ‘No More Violence Against Women’ we recently invited a speaker from Staffordshire Women’s Aid and then donated essential items.

The response from our members was fantastic, reflecting everyone’s generosity and eagerness to help others.

Then responding to a request from a local hospital for knitted teddies for children on admission, our members willingly got out their knitting needles.

We have a varied programme of interesting