ONE hundred years of Jam and Jerusalem are being celebrated in Swindon with a rather intriguing challenge that is sure to delight Old Town shoppers.

The Swindon WI has been rather busy and created some celebratory anniversary bunting to mark 100 years of the Women’s Institute. However this bunting is not to be hung around their next cake stall, but rather forms the heart of a fun challenge for eagle-eyed shoppers with taste for a word puzzle.

Members of the Swindon WI have placed ten sections of their hand made bunting in shops and cafés around Old Town. Each section of the bunting is made up of three pennants, with one representing a decade of the WI’s history, another featuring the Swindon WI’s logo and one featuring a letter of the alphabet.

Residents are being urged to keep their eyes open for the ten sections of bunting, and once they have found them all they should put the letters in order of the decades represented on the bunting – from the 1920s right up until the 2010s.

Once people have all of the ten letters they will find that they spell out the name of one of the most famous leaders from the WI’s history.

Those who put in the effort to find the ten sections will be rewarded with the chance of winning a true taste of the WI – with the winning prize being a hamper filled with handmade goodies made by members.

The WI can trace its roots right back to their first meeting in Llanfairpwll on the isle of Anglesey, Wales, on September 16, 1915. The institute was founded to educate rural women, and to encourage them to get involved in growing and preserving food to help the supply of food during the First World War. Today there are more than 212,000 members in 6,600 individual institutions up and down the country.

Members of Swindon’s WI have already held a number of events to mark the centenary of the organisation, with a special barn dance being held in Old Town at the end of last month.

To be in with a chance of winning their homemade hamper of goodies, keep your eyes peeled for the ten sections of bunting and email your answer to swindonwitrail@gmail.com. The ladies are planning to release a number of clues on their social media pages over the coming days to help people get started. The closing date of the competition is November 16.