The well-travelled WI Centenary Baton arrived in Helston last week and was greeted by members of local WI groups and the town’s mayor, Mike Thomas.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Women’s Institute and to mark the milestone the Centenary Baton is being taken to numerous groups across England and Wales before finishing its journey at the annual meeting at the Royal Albert Hall in July.

Last Thursday the baton, which contains information about the WI from all over the country, arrived in Helston from Mousehole with the formal hand-over taking place outside the Guild Hall.

Inside the hall there was a coffee morning where local WI groups |displayed their banners and had tables showing their interests and memorabilia. Each WI branch in the Helston area |had a display of their activities and memorabilia.

Among them was St Keverne WI, which is 68-years-old, and included in its display was a table cloth signed by stitched signatures of members throughout the years and a sample of its WI china which is still used at it monthly meetings.

There was also a scrapbook and many photos of the group’s activities over the years which included knitting for the |neo-natal unit, milk bottle tops collected and sent away for recycling and the pompoms and sashes worn for the group’s winning entry as cheerleaders in the St Keverne Carnival.

After the coffee morning Mr Thomas and his wife, Briege, handed the baton over to Susan and Barry Roberts and Sue and Mike Rayment, who were dressed in Flora Day costume, who then had the honour of taking the baton to Stithians, travelling in a vintage car.

The celebration continued in the evening at an event hosted by Camborne WI where 17 WI groups were represented and the St Keverne banner was once again proudly displayed.

Jon Cleave, of the Fishermen’s Friends took over as speaker for the evening, singing songs and telling all about his book Nasty Pasty. The evening ended with a pasty and a piece of the award winning cake made especially for the celebration.

Falmouth Packet:

Falmouth Packet:

Falmouth Packet: