From the moment that the new branch of the Women’s Institute opened in the Hampshire village of Bramley, it was clear that its members’ interests encompassed more than jam and Jerusalem.

Their first outing was to the live show Puppetry of the Penis. Since then they have organised life classes – with a male nude model, naturally – burlesque dance lessons and a forthcoming session with a sex therapist.

So far, so racy. However, their exploration of the more audacious reaches of acceptable WI behaviour might have gone unremarked had it not been for the existence of a long-established branch of the WI in Bramley, whose members prefer a wine-and-cheese evening or, if they are feeling particularly adventurous, a bring-and-buy sale entitled Down Mexico Way. And they are not happy.

Some stalwarts of the old branch, set up in 1919, felt so aggrieved that they contacted the National Federation of Women’s Institutes to query the existence of their brash rival.

Times Archive, 1941: The Jam Scheme

All the jam made by the Women's Institute is to go into the national jam pool

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The new group, called Bramley WI Lite (motto: “We’re jammin’, hope you like jammin’ too . . .”), was set up by Emma Cunningham, 35, a mother of two who originally considered joining the old branch with a friend until they decided that it was too old-fashioned. “We would have trampled on everyone’s toes,” she said.

So she set up her own branch with the help of Hampshire WI, attracted 60 members from their twenties to their fifties and made a bold declaration of intent by organising an inaugural outing to Puppetry of the Penis, in which two nude Australian performers contort their genitals into a variety of comic shapes from the atomic mushroom to the Loch Ness Monster.

“It was a bit sensational – it set us apart straight away,” said Miss Cunningham (that’s right: she and her partner are not married; she doesn’t know how to make jam, either). “We were saying, ‘This is what we are going to be like. If you want to get on board, come and join us. If it’s not your cup of tea, fair enough’.”

The Puppetry trip, she added, was a great success “although by the end of it I thought I did not want to see another penis ever again”.

Emboldened, Miss Cunningham organised a nude art class and lessons in burlesque dancing. “It’s stripping for the middle classes,” she said, “although we did not actually take our clothes off. All over Bramley the next day people were walking with a foxy little trot in their step.Traditionally the WI is seen as the last bastion of the home front, baking cakes, creating needlework, arming women with jam jars and humming Jerusalem.

“It’s no secret the WI has an ageing population, and while Bramley WI Lite respects all that has gone before it, we recognise change must come. Our reason for being is to have fun, try new stuff, make friends and live life. However, there is always a sense of learning and education about it as well. For instance I discovered I have a real knack for drawing men’s buttocks.

“We are certainly not all about ogling men, but the male form is to be enjoyed and we shouldn’t be ashamed of that. We have a night with a sex therapist coming up. I think it will be genuinely fascinating. Not everything we do is racy or saucy – we also do things you might expect from the WI like hanging baskets and baking.”

After setting up her group Miss Cunningham ran into opposition from the old branch. “They were really upset when we set up and wrote letters objecting, but there’s no limit on the number [of WI groups] you can have in an area. At one point I went to their summer meeting to explain why I was setting up another WI. The hostility was terrifying. I was almost at the point of tears with the barrage of questions they threw at me.”

Pat Jones, 70, the president of Bramley WI, said: “We were a bit shocked when this younger group started and we queried it with the National Federation of Women’s Institutes.

“I was disappointed when they said they could start up. It was also a pity these women didn’t want to join us but we are probably too stick-in-the-mud for them. They do younger people’s things and it seems that involves male nudity – that’s not something we are interested in.”

A spokeswoman for the National Federation said: “Bramley WI Lite are the only group in the country who have called themselves Lite – that’s because they don’t do the traditional things. The WI is always evolving. It needs to move with the times, otherwise the organisation would die.”

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