Page 12 - Town & Around - August 2023

12 Town & Around August 2023 Tel: 01485 540620 email: editor@townandaround.net
Snettisham WI reveal their 100 year history

n the March issue of Town and Around
(page 33) we reported on the 100th
Ibirthday party of the Snettisham WI that
was formed on 15th February 1923. Some
readers may remember the striking 1920s
outfits that members donned for the
occasion.
On Saturday 24th June it was the public’s
turn to look into the WI records at a very
well attended open day held in the British
Legion Hall. They had some very interesting
stories to tell and Secretary Janet Lane said
“In the exhibition we wanted to include as
much as possible from the last hundred years
including the photos and records on display
and the amazing history of the village – and
most of this is in our Village Book.”

President Lesley Marriage with the Village Book

Pages 1-112 are about Snettisham and
127-141 are about Ingoldisthorpe.
Ingoldisthorpe gained its own group
in the early 1970s

Founded by Lady Strickland in 1923, it
was actually Mr Sydney Cozens-Hardy, the
Sherriff of Norwich who, on April 24th 1936
at the Annual Meeting of the Norfolk
Federation of Women’s Institutes, asked
every WI in Norfolk to write a history of Secretary Janet Lane
their village and the instruction was clear. He
said he “would like every Women’s Institute
to have a book in which it would put down
village events mentioning when roads were
altered or houses built; they should record
anything historically interesting.” Mr
Cozens-Hardy was connected with the
Norfolk Record Society and (he) could
promise on behalf of that Society a prize for
the best book started.
The village records were therefore started
in 1937 by a committee led by Mrs Waters -
Leavins (at that time Secretary of the WI)
with Miss Lancaster, Miss Woodham and
Mrs Heugh who acted as scribe. Although
the prize was not won by the Snettisham and
Ingoldisthorpe WI, it makes fascinating
reading.
The current President of the Snettisham
WI and custodian of the book is Lesley
Marriage. She said: “This book is precious
beyond words and it has so much Some of the Snettisham WI members