BUSY hands have been stitching an array of beautiful banners to celebrate 100 years of the Women’s Institute next month.

In April a festival of cream teas, vintage bus rides, theatre and castle picnics hailed the arrival of the WI centenary baton, which passed through the hands of the county’s WIs on its journey around the UK.

Now that the dust has settled, the ladies of Oxfordshire are preparing for one last celebration of their own at Christ Church Cathedral next month.

All 140 Oxfordshire WI groups have been invited to send four members with their banners to display them on Christ Church Meadow.

Lyn Coleman, president of Walton Manor WI in Oxford, said: “We will process up St Aldate’s to the cathedral, the entry music will be Chariots of Fire.

“It will be a pretty rousing moment.

“Of course, we will sing Jerusalem. It’s not a hymn to us, but more of an anthem. It’s very stirring when you hear it sung.”

Traditionally most WIs have a personalised, handmade banner of their own, expressing some of the characteristics of their area.

But Walton Manor, which has about 40 members, was only established 10 years ago and has raced to produce a new one, featuring the Oxford skyline, for the parade.

Mrs Coleman added: “We have two very capable people doing the sewing and they have worked very hard. We have done it to quite a tight timescale.

“We put our heads together and thought we’d do quite a modern one. Because we are in the middle of Oxford, what could represent us better than the skyline with some colleges?”

After the parade, all the WIs will gather in the cathedral, where there will be talks from Ann Jones, who chairs the WI’s Federation of Wales Committee, and Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire Hugo Brunner, whose mother Elizabeth was the third chairwoman of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes.

Although the official birthday of the Women’s Institute is September 16, September 15 has been chosen for the celebration to allow members to mark the day of the anniversary in their own way.

The Oxfordshire Federation itself will turn 100 next year. Chairwoman Pauline Goddard, who joined Wendlebury WI in 1989, said: “It will be exciting and moving to see all the banners.

“They are totally individual. The design might be a pretty church, or a river, or a 200-year-old tree in your village.

“We are very much looking forward to this event. We did our 90th at Christ Church and there will be an awful amount of pride.”

The WI celebration is on Saturday, September 15, starting at 1.30pm.