Everything stops for tea.
Or at least it does in Farnley Tyas this week.
For the ladies of the village’s Women’s Institute are marking the centenary of the movement by offering a friendly cuppa to anyone passing the village bus shelter.
It’s a fitting location, as the shelter was built decades ago thanks to the sterling efforts of earlier members of the WI.
The shelter has been decked out with a coffee table, chairs, bunting and, appropriately enough for the WI, a hat-stand.
Children from Farnley Tyas C of E First School have also entered i to the spirit of the occasion by designing peg dollies to help decorate the shelter.
It will resort to being a run of the mill bus stop after Friday.
But in the meantime, WI members in the village delighted with the success of the project, which is bringing a smile to villagers’ faces.
WI member Gillian Swift said: “We wanted to do something to mark the centenary and thought of tea and hats.
“We have about 30 members in our branch but we are fairly new, setting up about six years ago.
“There was an earlier branch of the WI in the village which ran for many years and it was the members of that branch who fought to get a proper bus shelter in the centre of the village.
“People are delighted to stop and have a look and we have leaflets there explaining about the WI”.
The branch will also mark the centenary itself tomorrow with a special evening at St Lucius Church.
It will be packed to see a performance by Huddersfield-based Mikron Theatre of the WI comedy “Raising Agents”, written by Maeve Larkinm about the activities of the Bunnington WI, who are re-branded as The Bunnington Bunnies!
Meanwhile, Holmfirth WI marked the centenary with an archetypal tea party.
The Mad Hatters tea party was held in the Methodist Church and was attended by dozens of people, tucking into mountains of tea and cakes.
History of the WI
1915: The first WI in Britain is formed to encourage country women to grow and preserve food during the First World War.
1920: The AGM passed a resolution urging the Government to pass a Bill to improve the rights of illegitimate children and their parents
1924: Jerusalem is first sung at the annual general meeting, marking the NFWI's links with the wider women's movement.
1940: During the Second World War, the ministry of food allocated sugar to WI preservation centres in order to jam and can food which would otherwise go to waste.
1943: Almost 30 years before the law changed, a resolution from Bures WI in West Suffolk demanding equal pay for equal work was passed at the AGM
1950: A resolution passed at the AGM urging that hospitals allow parents to visit children
1954: The Keep Britain Tidy group is formed following the NFWI's call for a national anti-litter campaign.
1972: NFWI members pass a resolution urging the Government to make it mandatory for all local authorities to provide a full and free family-planning service.
1979: Members at the AGM vote to support doorstep milk deliveries.
1986: This year's AGM sees members vote for more public information to be made available about HIV and Aids.
1993: The NFWI becomes a founding member of the Fair Trade Foundation.
2000: The Calendar Girls launch their now famous nude calendar in aid of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, shaking up the public perception of the WI.
2001: The volunteer hours survey of 1,000 WIs reveals that members devote 3,477,312 hours to voluntary work every year.
2012: The NFWI launched a campaign for More Midwives
2015: The Queen spoke at the WI's Annual Meeting at the Royal Albert Hall to mark the Centenary
