DREARY early June weather did little to dampen the moods of Wiltshire’s WI members in Chippenham as they set off for Buckingham Palace this morning.

The Duchess of Cornwall and Countess of Wessex were in attendance as the Palace welcomed around 8,000 woman from WI branches across the country, to a special Royal Garden Party in London to celebrate the organisation's centenary.

Of that number, approximately 200 went from Wiltshire with coaches setting off from Chippenham, Wroughton, Devizes and Warminster around 10.30am.

Isobel Acott, chairman of the Wiltshire Federation of WIs, said: “I hope it will love long in the memory. It’s a really big day; we have four coaches going from Wiltshire. We will get there and go into the gardens and we will be there all afternoon until around 5 o’clock.”

The lucky few with invites to the Palace were chosen in special ballots, with each WI branch being given just a single representative.

Teresa Wilson, 69, from the Derry Hill and District WI, has lived in Derry Hill for five years said she was extremely lucky to be representing her village.

She said: “I have never been to Buckingham Palace before; I received an invite once but didn’t get to go.

“I’m just hoping the weather is going to improve I will be very interested to see the variety of people who turn up as they’re going to be from all of the country, around 600 branches of WI.”

Federation secretary Stephanie Pawling, 62, from Calne, added: “I thought I would wear an outfit from a wedding but my husband insisted on paying for a new outfit.

“I think the whole thing about going to Buckingham Palace is a once of a lifetime opportunity. I would not get invited any other way if it was not for this opportunity we would not get to go and look around the gardens.”