Women's Institute at war
It used to be a byword for sedate domesticity. Now the Women's Institute is fighting an unseemly civil war.
At issue is not the recipe for jam sponge but a £4 rise in annual subscriptions to pay for a new WI magazine.
A branch in Cliburn, Cumbria, objected so strongly that it quit the federation.
Dissent spread to Norfolk, Shropshire, Suffolk, Somerset, Devon and the Forest of Dean and the revolt was threatening to split the 90-year-old organisation.
But last night WI leaders claimed the row had been 'well and truly squashed' and told dissenters to 'get real'.
A gathering of 140 country chairmen and treasurers voted unanimously to approve the rise.
The increase to £26 a year is to fund the launch of the magazine WI Life, which will be distributed to all subscribers.
The current magazine, WI Home and Country, is suffering from falling circulation and diminished profits. WI Life, however, will be delivered to 215,000 homes and could attract £500,000 of advertising revenue in its first year.
Even so, more than 1,500 letters of complaint have been written. Campaigners described the move to introduce the £4 increase as tantamount to 'bullying'.
Sally Roberts, treasurer of the London-based National Federation of Women's Institutes, said: 'The members causing the trouble are the ones who do not get involved in the federation.
'They don't understand what it is like to run an organisation financially.
'The unanimous show of hands well and truly squashed any hopes that county chairmen might have been against our decision.
'I had better not use the word small-minded, but we are talking about £26 a year. It is time to get real.'
However, Gill Stevens, a member of a Shropshire branch, said: 'This is such a shock after all we have done and said about the issue.
'The way they have gone about this is unethical. There are a tremendous number of WIs distressed by this.'
Despite its cosy reputation, the WI is no stranger to controversy. Members of Rylstone and District WI stripped off to make a nude calendar for charity in 1999. The story was turned into a film, Calendar Girls, starring Helen Mirren.
Tony Blair has also felt the steely resolve of the WI after he was reduced to silence when his conference speech was slow-hand-clapped in 2000.
