Salem and District W. I. to give it its full title, was founded in October 1966. It was started by Mrs Mary Jenkins, the wife of George Jenkins, the then headmaster of Salem School. She had been to a WI meeting at Manordeilo, where the headmaster’s wife was a friend of hers and also a WI member. Mary enjoyed her visit so much that she thought Salem deserved the same kind of fun. Each year during the Christmas holidays the WI held a party in the school for the Salem children and also members’ children and grandchildren from other schools.

Some of the founder members will be known to many of you. Kathleen Jones (Eryl’s mother), Ruby Plant and Mary Dwerryhouse to name three.. The mothers of all the children in the school were encouraged to join so we all knew each other very well and became good friends. The meetings were held in the school until it closed down, then we moved into the very cold old hall which was hardly used except by the WI with the occasional fund raising whist drive organized by the Hall Committee.

Over the years many members have come and gone, but we have always tried to be active and taken part in County events and competitions. Over the years a number of our members have served on county committees. We had two darts teams at one time and recently we have done well in the table tennis. We have taken part in two walks round the county in celebration of milestones in WI history. The first time we pushed Doris in her wheel chair from Pen-y-banc to Talley. The second time Llandeilo WI delivered a scroll to us and we walked with it to Court Henry.

As the years go by, so the emphasis of the movement changes. Meetings now are much more likely to be about healthy eating, personal fitness, global injustices or environmental issues. Less about cooking, handicrafts, hair care, make up and local village affairs but these do still play their part. Each WI makes up its own programme to suit its members tastes and wishes.  The WI movement has always been non party political and non sectarian so anyone can join.