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ORGANISATION AND MEMBERSHIP Individual Women's Institutes are self-governing and serve particular Town s or Districts . They are grouped into 70 County and Island Federation s. Both the individual WIs and the regional federations are members of the ''National Federation of Women's Institutes''. In 2003 approximately 220,000 women were members of member Women's Institutes. ACTIVITIES WI members take part in local programs that may include Sport , Drama , Education , Cooking and community projects, in addition to campaigning on matters of local, national and international importance including Domestic Violence , Oil Pollution , and AIDS . HISTORY The first WI was founded in Wales in 1915, due to World War I inspired by the Federated Women's Institutes Of Canada , and especially by the Canadian Margaret Rose Watt, generally known as Mrs Alfred Watt, an activist for the interests of rural women who in 1930 went on to found the Association of Country Women of the World (ACWW). In the circumstances of the First World War the Government Of The United Kingdom's Board Of Agriculture , with the belief that the WI could play an important role in the countryside, particularly in Domestic Science and the production and preserving of Food . The first meeting of a British WI took place in Llanfairpwll (aka ''Llanfair PG''), Anglesey , Wales , on Wednesday June 16, 1915 . After the First World War, the Board of Trade withdrew its sponsorship, and by 1923 the Women's Institutes had become fully independent. The National Federation was headed for many years by the formidable Gertrude Denman , who in 1930 went on to found the Contry Women of the World ], and the Institutes rapidly became an essential part of rural life. One of their features was an independence from politicla parties or intitutions, or church or chapel which encouraged activism by non-establishment women, particularly Quakers, which helps to explain why the Institutes has been extremely reluctant to support anything that can be construed as war work, despite their wartime formation, and in World War II they limited their contribution to such activities as jam-making, contributing to their misleading stereotype. "JERUSALEM" During the 1920s, many WIs started closing meetings by singing Hubert Parry 's setting of William Blake 's words And Did Those Feet In Ancient Time , known as "Jerusalem", and this caught on nationally. Although it has never actually been adopted as the WI's official anthem, in practice it holds that position . EXTERNAL LINKS SEE ALSO
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