Civil war at the WI
On one side the London elite with an HQ worth millions. On the other, stalwarts like Jill, Hazel and Linda who say the organisation they love is losing its heart
THE Higham Ferrers branch of the Women’s Institute was run on a shoestring. There was a scramble every month to raise £22 to hire a ramshackle hall for its meetings. Its accounts were done by a local ‘old boy’ in return for a bottle of wine. And its treasurer, in desperation, had started charging 50p for a cup of tea and a custard cream.
The battered piano was so hopelessly out of tune that even thumping out Jerusalem, the bracing WI anthem, was a thing of the past.
Not that it matters any more, because the Northamptonshire branch has been forced to close. Now, there is a distinct whiff of rebellion among its 36 previous members.
‘There were a lot of grumblings we weren’t getting value for money,’ says former president Jill Waller, 81. ‘There’s too much interference from the top.’
It’s perhaps inevitable that the National Federation (NFWI) — the ruling body of the WI whose elegant HQ in Fulham, West London, is worth several million pounds — is a source of resentment to grassroots members struggling to save their branches.
Many are incandescent that annual subscription fees have increased by 13 per cent in the past three years to £41. Local branches keep only £20 of this, with the rest split between the regional federations and the NFWI.
Some believe their money is being wasted on running an exorbitant office and Denman College, the WI’s Grade II-listed stately home in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, that operates as a residential college.
Since the Daily Mail revealed the growing chasm between members and head office last month, we have been inundated with letters on the subject. Some wrote in fierce support of the subscription policy, but the majority felt the structure of the NFWI was failing members.
‘It has lost sight of what the WI was intended for,’ says Jill. ‘Older people need the companionship.’
YET the NFWI remains defiant. It insists its offices are ‘compact’, the subscription ‘excellent value’ and that the WI is ‘flourishing’, and says that for some years, the largest proportion of any fee increase has gone to individual branches.
Certainly, the NFWI appears in robust financial health. Income was £7.2 million in 2016, including £4.8 million from subscriptions and courses at Denman College.
It now boasts 220,000 members, with 30,000 joining in the past year, but there are 600 fewer branches since 2010, and while some in London have waiting lists, rural groups are withering.
Former NFWI chair Janice Langley has declared herself thrilled that ‘perceptions are definitely changing’. Jill Waller’s appreciation is more muted.
‘The new institutes forming are mainly for working-age women meeting in wine bars,’ she says. ‘They’re not at all relevant to older members in villages.’
Jill, a mother of four with 13 grandchildren and 17 greatgrandchildren, joined the WI in the Sixties as a young mum.
She became president of the Higham Ferrers branch four years ago, but soon felt daunted by the bureaucracy.
What money she was allowed to keep from subscription fees still had strings attached: ‘We would have liked to take our members to the seaside, but were told we couldn’t because it wasn’t “educational”.’ The NFWI claims membership offers ‘the chance to try exciting and unusual activities’, but its events often cost extra.
Monthly meetings are a further challenge — tradition dictates there must be a speaker to educate members. ‘A decent speaker costs £70,’ says Jill. Tellingly, one who agreed to talk for free ‘was so boring I could see people nodding off’.
Raffles and coffee mornings failed to make up the budget deficit and Jill’s branch fell apart even before an email from head office announced subscription fees were being raised.
She can’t help but compare their fortunes with the grandiose bigger picture. ‘I know the WI has to have a head office, but why in such an expensive part of London? And yes, it would be a shame to sell Denman, but if you can’t afford something that’s what you have to do, isn’t it?’
Upon closing, branches are required to hand back any money along with their memorabilia. Jill is expecting a delegate from the Northamptonshire office any day to seize, among other items, the branch’s WI tablecloth and cherished cross-stitch banner.
Retired receptionist Patricia Schofield also relished the camaraderie of her King’s Lynn WI. There were jewellery competitions, craft mornings and fetes.
‘My Victoria sponges contain duck eggs, which makes them rise nicely,’ says Patricia, 80.
A mother of three who lives alone, she left her WI in 2013.
‘It sounds unkind, but I’m on a state pension and begrudge the people at the top,’ she says. ‘They must be earning good money.’
The NFWI’s accounts show the combined salaries of its four most senior staff totalled £233,662 in 2016. This is by no means extravagant for the charity sector, but for women scrimping by on a £500-a-month state pension, such figures might rankle.
Patricia’s biggest bone of contention, however, was the WI magazine, which was rebranded in 2006 and, instead of being available to buy, was foisted on members as part of their fee. In 2016, the glossy magazine cost the WI £1.3 million.
‘There is a lot about holidays I can’t afford and nothing that inspires me,’ says Patricia. ‘It contains so many advertising leaflets that once I weighed them and discovered they weighed more than the magazine itself.’
ALTHOUGH the NFWI declined to allow its staff or trustees to be interviewed by the Mail, it insists it is happy to answer queries from members.
Hazel Turner, a retired PR officer whose branch in Stoke Hammond, Buckinghamshire, closed last December, says she did receive a response when she wrote in to say she was ‘sick of paying out all this money’ to fund the HQ and that it should relocate. ‘It said it wasn’t feasible. But it is. It could work from cabins in the 17-acre grounds of Denman. But it doesn’t want to do that,’ says Hazel, 68.
‘The rest of us are devastated. A lot of elderly members are very lonely. Few can afford to go to Denman College’s expensive residential courses [yoga costs £300, home bread making £370].’
Linda Cunningham, 62, a retired magistrate and president of her Merthyr Tydfil WI, agrees and, like other members, believes there is an obvious solution: ‘The HQ would sell for millions.’
Although her WI usually has 33 members, there were only 15 at this month’s meeting. ‘I’ve got a feeling people couldn’t afford to shell out £41 after Christmas.’
There is an alternative, however, for women willing to shrug off the WI brand. ‘We’ve set up a new group [Higham Ladies’ Group] with the same format,’ confides Jill Waller. ‘We charge £25 a year and still have speakers, demonstrations and a nice cup of tea.’
And, without a stately home and large London office to fund, there is a budget for the odd custard cream, too.
AdditionAl reporting: ClAudiA Joseph.