NATIONALLY the WIs have lost more than 58,000 members in 10 years.
But with a total of 220,000 including 4,300 in Wiltshire they are still Britain's largest and most vocal women's organisation.
Government departments have been known to quiver when the WI ladies complain on such sensitive subjects as public transport, libraries, schools, public services, litter, graffiti . . .
Trish Cole of Highworth WI, the county federation's vice-chairman, said: "We used to be looked on as a middle class middle-aged organisation. But I joined at 27 and some WIs are almost exclusively made up of younger women."
The old jam and Jerusalem image, she added, is long dead. The WIs now offer everything from crafts to debating, from art to astronomy.
And anyone who thinks they are a bunch of straitlaced tabbies should think of the Calendar Girls.
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