WILTSHIRE Women’s Institutes are determined to celebrate their centenary year right up until the end of 2019.

The latest event was a tree planting in Devizes organised by the Devizes Morning WI and Devizes Evening WI who chose to put a memorial maple on the Green.

Morning WI president Joyce Little and evening president Rosemary Keen joined other member and representatives of Devizes Town Council for the planting on November 20.

Mrs Little said: “We would like to thank all of our members for their support, which has enabled us to purchase this tree.

“Fundraising is always a challenge for small groups like us and everyone has really got behind us.”

Lesley Holdway, the chairman of the Wiltshire Federation said: “We are all very excited to leave a lasting memorial such as this.

“We would also like to thank Devizes Town Council for their support.

“Wiltshire’s Women’s Institutes were established in 1919 and the Wiltshire Federation has been celebrating its centenary throughout this year.”

Other events have included branches creating banners and an exhibition of the work of the organisation at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. It showed how the WI had gone from jam and Jerusalem to education and campaigning.

.In April 1916 the first WI in Wiltshire was opened at Downton and later in that year Redlynch was formed. Based on unbroken membership of the federation, Redlynch takes top spot for being the oldest WI in Wiltshire and possesses a fascinating archive of written and photographic material from the early years up to the present day.

Wiltshire WIs have around 4,000 members.