THE very first meeting of the Bude WI was held on November 9, 1911, in a room in Queen Street under the leadership of Mrs Carver.

Mrs Carver went on to be president for eight years until 1930.

To celebrate the 95th anniversary of their inception, 94 members and seven guests gathered at the Falcon Hotel in Bude to enjoy a delicious dinner and the best of company.

After a brief welcome by the Bude president, Cynthia May, the assembly rose to sing a rousing rendition of Jerusalem, which was followed by the WI Grace.

After dessert, Cynthia invited guest and CFWI chair, Margaret Johnson, to accompany her in cutting the celebration cake. Cynthia then gave a short speech detailing the start of the WI and how things were at that time, 1922.

To accentuate this Cynthia donned a 1922 style hat and explained how then sea bathing, or ‘total water immersion’ as it was known, was only available to women at Maer Beach (now Crooklets). There was no sea pool and Tommy’s Pit was restricted to men only. ‘Thank goodness times have changed and perhaps the NFWI has had a little to do with that!’ she said.

Margaret Johnson responded and gave a toast to Bude. Ruth Pearce drew the raffle, which raised £178 for the Cornwall Air Ambulance.

The entertainment for the evening, ‘Friggin Riggin’, then started their light hearted singing with which everyone joined in — the finale being a standing chorus of Trelawny.