Old Basing Women's Institute

History of our Institute 1919  -  2009

2009 was the 90th Anniversary Year of the WI in Old Basing.  So a special cake was duly made to celebrate the 90 Years.

And these are our longest serving members, Joy and Iris, with our President Jan.

Old Basing W.I. Was formed on 10th March 1919. The first meeting was held on Tuesday 1st April 1919 at ‘Springfield’ The Street Old Basing at 7pm. The first committee was President, Mrs Rachel Maddocks, Vice-President, Mrs Constance Hoare, Secretary Mrs E D Ford and treasurer, Mrs Kate Barton. 68 members were enrolled at this first meeting. Annual subscriptions were 2 shillings and visitors were charged 3 pence. Subsequent meeting were held at the old village hall, the School, Huish, Old Basing House, and Daneshill.

In 1928 one of the committee members was a Mrs Goodall, interestingly she was our current member, Nora Goodall’s, late husband’s grandmother. Also Mrs Inkpen, mother of Mrs Betty Holmes MBE, was a founder member. On Tuesday 6th April 1920 Betty’s father, Sergeant Major Inkpen was the speaker—his subject was ‘Bee Keeping’. Out records show that both ladies were active committee members up to 1945.

We celebrated our Golden Jubilee on 10th March 1969 and our 75th Anniversary in March 1994 when we raised money and presented a wooden seat for use in the Conservation Area at St Mary’s Church. We are actually only one year younger than the formation of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and are extremely proud of our longevity.

From February 1971 until December 2002 there was a very active and enthusiastic Basing Afternoon W.I. There were many times over the 31 years of its existence that we joined each other on special festive occasions and events. However, attracting older members of the community the numbers slowly diminished, plus reluctance to serve on committee led to its very sad closure. However, several ladies joined our institute and are still members today.

Taking the average membership over the last 33 years it works out at 47 ladies each year. It is staggering to learn that Joy Sanders has been a member for a massive 47 years having joined aged 31 when she moved into this area. She said that at the time there was a shortage of Committee members and so she was ’tipped in at the deep end’ within a year of joining. Joy is still a very active attendee at our meetings.

We meet the 1st Tuesday of each month at 7.30pm in St Mary’s Parish Room. Members greatly enjoy the variety of monthly speakers and the regular bonanza raffles. Twice yearly theatre outings to the Haymarket Theatre and the Anvil are also very popular.

As usual, click on a picture for a larger view.