The Earley Women's Institute (also known as Earley WI) was a community-based organization for women situated in Earley, Berkshire, England. This organisation existed from 1938 to 2004. It sought to help local women develop skills, further their educations, and improve the community. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Earley WI held talks on homemaking and preserving

rationed Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

food. The Earley WI also helped to ensure that evacuees had quality clothing and entertainment. After the Second World War, the Earley WI created activities, judged local competitions, carried out charity work in the local area and gave lessons on first aid. The organisation dissolved in February 2004, because of its poor financial position. Details of the organisation's work are in the Earley WI committee and meeting notes held at the

Berkshire Record Office The Royal Berkshire Archives is the record office for the county of Berkshire in the United Kingdom. It is located in Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written langua ...

, in Reading. A banner created by the Earley WI was awarded First Class at the Berkshire Festival Handicrafts Exhibition in 1951. It was subsequently selected for the National Federation WI Exhibition at the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in March 1952, and is held at the

Reading Museum Reading Museum (run by the Reading Museum Service) is a museum of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. It is accommodated within Reading Town Hall, and contains galleries describing ...

History

1938

The first recorded meeting of the Earley WI was on 30 March 1938 at St Peter's Small Hall in Earley. It was chaired by the Earley WI president, E.L. Rushbrooke, who opened the meeting by thanking Lady Denman for making it possible for the Earley WI to become an organisation. There were 30 attendees at this meeting, but by 15 December 1938, Earley WI was approaching 100 members.

1939–1945

During the

, the Earley WI met regularly under their president, Anne Colebrook. At a meeting on 21 September 1939, three weeks after World War II had been declared, she said that "owing to the international situation, many activities will be canceled or curtailed". The Earley WI worked on activities to benefit the local community, for example making garments for wartime children who had been evacuated or needed new clothing, supporting poor families and mothers by providing clothing and entertainment, and aiding the

National Savings Movement The National Savings Movement was a British mass savings movement that operated between 1916 and 1978 and was used to finance the Government budget deficit, deficit of government spending over tax revenues. The movement was instrumental during ...

. Notes from an Earley WI meeting on 19 September 1940 show that "various members offered to collect clothes for evacuated mothers and children from bombed areas – underwear is especially needed". The organisation held talks on wartime cooking,

canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

classes, and general

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and f ...

, which helped women learn how to preserve and get the most out of

food. W.I.s across the country grew and preserved food.

1945–1950

Following the end of the Second World War, the Earley WI returned to the activities it had started in 1938. The charity work continued, and funds went to help the war recovery effort.

1951

At an Earley WI meeting on 2 April 1951, the Berkshire Festival Handicrafts Exhibition was announced. The exhibition was to be held at

Pythouse Pythouse, sometimes spelled Pyt House and pronounced ''pit-house'', is a English country house, country house in southwest Wiltshire, in the west of England. It is about west of the village of Tisbury, Wiltshire, Tisbury. Described as a "fine ...

, in

Ashampstead Ashampstead is a small village and civil parish in the rural area between Reading, Newbury and Streatley in Berkshire, England. The parish population is about 400, occupying some 150 dwellings. History The village was called ''Esshamstede'' i ...

and would exhibit period furniture and

needlework Needlework refers to decorative sewing and other textile arts, textile handicrafts that involve the use of a Sewing needle, needle. Needlework may also include related textile crafts like crochet (which uses a crochet hook, hook), or tatting, ( ...

. Earley WI was encouraged to create something for the exhibition and began working on a banner representing the organization. Plans for the banner and its design were made, and it was estimated that the cost for wool and linen materials would be about £3.0.4. By 4 June 1951, A.E. Taylor, who was in charge of the Earley WI, asked members to volunteer to help work on the banner. By 3 September 1951, after continued work on the banner, the work was completed, and the pole for the banner had been ordered, and the overall cost of the banner was £10.0.5. On 1 October 1951, A.E. Taylor gave the figures for the annual financial statement which showed to be lower than in previous years; this was believed to be due to the £10 cost of the banner. At this meeting, A.E. Taylor also suggested that the names of the helpers who made the banner should be embroidered on the back of it. The design of the banner represents

Whiteknights Whiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park covers the area of the Lord of the Manor, manor of Earley Whiteknights, also known as Earley St Nicholas and ...

, the country estate that became the University of Reading's new campus in 1947. The banner was awarded First Class at the Berkshire Festival Handicrafts Exhibition in 1951. It was subsequently selected for the National Federation WI Exhibition at the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The banner has the names of the embroiderers embroidered in black on the back of it: N. Blay, M.E. Day, M. Derrick, H. O'Neill, A. Pope, G. Prouten, E. Shave, M.G. Sturges, A.E. Taylor, and A.E. Tilbrook. The banner remained in the possession of the Earley WI until 2004 when the organisation was suspended and the then president of the Earley WI, Freda Drakes, decided to donate the banner to the

1952–1998

Over the next 46 years, the Earley WI continued to work as a charity organisation and encouraged women to develop skills related to their interests.

1998–2002

Between 1998 and 2000, the Earley WI was tasked with creating something for the

millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...

. Meeting notes from 6 September 1999 show that the Earley WI contacted the

Earley Town Council Earley ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Along with the neighbouring town of Woodley, Berkshire, Woodley, the Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area; fo ...

to see if they could contribute to any millennium projects that the council might have been doing. The Earley Town Council originally proposed that the Earley WI could create a collective recipe book and an oral record of the Earley WI. ''The Earley Park Ranger'', Grahame Hawker, was already collating articles about the history of Earley and so the Earley WI decided to do something similar. They decided to collate their memoirs in a book, which was open to anyone wanting to submit a memoir until March 2000.

2002–2004

In 2002, the focus of the Earley WI shifted to the

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...

celebrations for

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. In April 2002, the Earley WI held a minute's silence for the death of the

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also ...

and sent a letter of condolence to

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

. On 19 February 2004, a special meeting was called to address the organisation's financial situation, as financial statements showed limited funds, and it was becoming difficult to continue supporting the Earley WI. Twenty-seven members of the Earley WI attended. Judy Palmer from the Berkshire Federation WI Advisors explained that the Earley WI was suspended because of financial constraints. The Earley WI ceased as an organisation by mid-2004. On 18 March 2004, the disposal of assets was negotiated, and everything belonging to the organisation was packed up. On 15 April 2004, the decision was made to donate the 1951 Earley WI banner to the

. The banner can be seen there today.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Earley Women's Institute 1938 establishments in England Women's rights Reading, Berkshire 2004 disestablishments in England Charities based in Berkshire Community Women's organisations based in England