Our History

Ravensthorpe WI was founded on the 3rd April 1919.

The first full meeting of the new committee and the members was held a month later on the 7th May 1919

Over the next almost 100 years the women of Ravensthorpe have met in the village hall to socialise and have fun and share their knowledge.

To give you a brief history of the activities of the group during those 100 years I have included some old programmes and extracts of the minutes.

The 1920's

Our WI members were a lot more adventurous when you consider how much more difficult it was to travel in the 1920’s compared to today

In August 1923 they took a trip to Skegness where some members saw the sea for the first time. The trip entailed leaving Ravensthorpe at 5.30 am and finally arrived back home at 11.20pm

On another occasion in the 1920’s the members went to a WI exhibition that was being held at Wembley. The trip must have been long remembered by the menfolk of Ravensthorpe, due to the fact that charabanc broke down on the way home. They finally got home at 4am

The 1930's

1932 Programme

1935 Programme

1939 Programme

Ravensthope WIs had been going stong for 20 years in 1939

The 1940's

Extract from minutes taken at the height of the World War 2

The 1950's

1951 Programme

1953 Programme

1956 Programme

It's good to see that in the 1956 programme the important WI skill of Fruit Preservation was still be taught by the appropriately named Mrs Jelley

The 1960's

1960 Programme

1964 Programme

The 1980's

These minutes from 1982 are a good example of the activities carried out by our members in the 1980's

The 1990's

April 1999 Ravensthorpe WI celebrates its 80th Birthday

2000 -  Ravensthorpe WI today

2002 - The Village show returns

The Village show is now held every other year and includes a WI award for the most points scored by a WI member

2009 and our 90th Birthday

The members took a vintage bus to Teeton hall for afternoon tea. A similar event had taken place 90 years earlier

2019 100 Years Celebration

In May 2019 Ravensthorpe WI was 100 Year old and to celebrate we had a village show in which we revealed a wall hanging showing 100 year of village life in Ravensthorpe. The wall hanging was made by both WI members and  members of the village.

The final stages of making the wall hanging

The picture below shows some of the WI members sitting in front of the wall hanging

100 Cakes for party