The new face of the WI does not come younger, or hipper, than Jazz Mellor. The daughter of the late Joe Strummer is the president and founder of Shoreditch Sisters, a fully accredited branch of the WI that straddles the divide between cosy domesticity and modern urban feminism (with a dash of politics thrown in for good measure).

The group sprang out of meetings that she held with friends in East London to discuss issues of the day, from icons to conspiracy theories. “I thought it would fit in really well with the WI,” said Ms Mellor, 24. “Some of my friends thought it was great – others thought it was weird.

“We have been doing lots of craft-based activities – knitting, sewing, things like that. I taught everyone to knit at the last one. It’s part of the subversive domesticity thing that’s going on. It is surprising how many girls in their twenties dress like women from the 1940s and are interested in traditional female pastimes.

“Because I had such a rock’n’roll childhood the only way for me to rebel was to go the other way. As a child I was always fascinated by knitting. I had to go to my great-grandmother to learn how to knit [because] my grandmother was a hippy and my mum was a punk.

“We also have great speakers. There was one woman who worked at Topshop who worked in the ethical fashion division, where they use Fairtrade products and fabrics. Then we had a clothes-swap evening and collected old clothes to give to a charity in Nepal for underprivileged teenage girls. We try to get involved.”

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