WHEN Kathleen Simmonds joined the Women’s Institute, the world could only dream of moon landings and Beatlemania.

But now the 87-year-old from Headington is celebrating 50 years with the WI today.

Mrs Simmonds joined the Headington Quarry WI in January 1961, the year John F Kennedy became US president and building began on the Berlin Wall.

Since then, she has been president 11 times and has enjoyed every job from secretary to outings organiser.

The grandmother-of-two said: “I joined up to the WI because I had young children and it was a way to make friends.

“That’s the best part about it all really, the friendship. I’ve got to know everybody and those connections mean a lot.”

But the retired bursar said her life had changed over the 50 years.

She said: “When I joined, my children were young but now I have two grandsons, Nick and Chris, who are 25 and 23.

“And my children Linda and Martin are all grown up.”

Mrs Simmonds’s husband of more than 40 years, Eddie, died 19 years ago.

She said: “The WI was a tremendous help to me when Eddie died, giving me something to do.

“It made me put myself out there and the friendships I’d built up helped me get through it.”

And it wasn’t just her life that has changed since the 1960s.

Mrs Simmonds said: “When I first started, everyone had to call each other ‘Mrs’ or ‘Miss’, you would never have dreamed of calling people by their first names.

“Now it’s much more friendly. We used to just stick to the agenda and then go home, but now we have chats over biscuits and a cup of tea.

“We have just moved with the times really. The speakers talk about much more modern things and we have a lot younger people coming along.

“Oh, and we have moved from a Friday evening to a Wednesday evening too.”

She added: “I have always enjoyed the WI. It’s made my life really. Well, at least half of it.”

Current president Barbara Naylor said: “To me personally, she has been a tremendous influence in my life with the WI, and in her quiet unassuming way, with her wealth of experience, she keeps our rapidly expanding WI on track.”