There was sadness last week when Errol Women’s Institute disbanded after 102 years.
After over a century of playing a major role in the village, the group failed to find a new committee after meeting for the first time since COVID-19 restrictions were imposed.
Less than two years ago, the WI had celebrated its centenary with a dinner at Perth ’s Royal George Hotel.
There was a mixture of sadness and nostalgia this week for secretary Freda Scott, who has been a member since the 1970s.
She told the Perthshire Advertiser that although the group still had 19 members, it had become increasingly difficult to keep it going.
“Membership has dwindled and we had not met since before COVID,” she said.
“We finally got back into the village hall but no one would go on the committee so it was decided to put it to a vote, and the majority said to close it down.
“Nineteen is actually quite a reasonable number, other groups don’t have as many, but the majority are in their 80s and some are nearer to 90.
“It is sad. A lot of the older members, this was their one outing each month. Some of them don’t even want to go out at night, it’s just life.”
Errol WI was created in late 1919 and was part of the Perth and Kinross Federation.
At the start it had around 50 members, with Freda estimating it kept a membership of around 40 until the last few years.
But failure to add younger members has made things difficult.
“It’s been coming. People have an image of old women doing nothing but baking and knitting,” she said.
“But there was more to it than that. We would support the village hall with fundraising, we would have stalls at gala days and raised money for charities like Rachel House and one in Africa to supply clean water. Errol did a lot of children’s parties as well. We were not old fuddy-duddies.
“There are a lot of new houses in Errol and it is all young families but they work and have children so don’t have the time.”
Despite the disappointment, Freda leaves with many fond memories.
And asked for a highlight, she says: “It would be the 100th birthday. We had our national president as our guest of honour.
“It was such a proud moment.”
