Enough jam, now Women's Institute has a go at DIY

By FAY SCHLESINGER
Updated:


It could be the end of jam-making and Jerusalem.

Some 95 years after the Women's Institute was launched to help the war effort by making preserves, it is moving into the 21st century by taking on the masculine world of do-it-yourself.

The WI has invited hardware store B&Q to teach its members the basics of home improvement, from fixing leaks to attaching coat hooks.

Women's Institute

Jam and Jerusalem: The WI, seen here selling jam to the Queen at the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1965, was launched to help the war effort by making preserves

It is a far cry from the traditional WI activities of baking and flower-arranging.

Next week, 75 members will don gloves and brandish power drills to take part in the first DIY master class at Denman College, the Georgian WI centre in Abingdon, Oxford.

Apprentices will teach the ladies to mend a leaking tap, tile a bathroom splash-back, apply wallpaper and use power tools to put up shelves and curtain rails.

The classes will then be rolled out across the country - always with the opportunity for a civilised lunch afterwards.

Anne Harrison, the chairman of Denman College, said: 'Women are pretty independent these days but a lot of us still can't do little jobs like fixing a leaky tap.

'It will be wonderful to know you don't have to wait for a man.

'You can also save money by being able to do simple five-minute jobs around the house rather than paying someone to come in.

'It is a full class which just goes to show how the ladies want to have a go rather than just sit and listen.'

Jacqueline Caston, from B&Q, said: 'DIY isn't just a man's job and the class should let participants show their husbands a thing or two.'


 

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