ITS members are well-known for their cake-making skills – so it was fitting that a special cake was baked to mark the latest milestone for one of the oldest Women’s Institute (WI) branches in the country.

The Cliddesden WI branch was first set up in 1922 and members met in a Nissen hut that was originally used during the First World War in Bramley.

Today, the 36 members of the branch meet at the Cliddesden Millennium Village Hall, in Church Lane, after moving into the hall in 2000.

Last Thursday night, Sarah Broad-hurst and Debbie Walsh, of Basingstoke School of Sugarcraft, held a demonstration on how to decorate a cake before presenting a birthday cake that had been made for the special event to mark the branch’s 92nd birthday.

Following the demonstration, members of the branch celebrated the milestone event with a party of food and drink.

President of the branch Pat Rampton, who has been a member for over 25 years, told The Gazette: “It is amazing to be 92. We have a broad range of ages with people in their 40s up to people in their 90s and it is nice for people to share their different experiences.

“It is nice to get together. We have got people from the village, and from Dummer, Kempshott and the centre of Basingstoke. We are a happy group and we get on well together.”

The oldest member of the branch was among the 60 people who turned out to celebrate the big birthday.

Nita Abbott, who is 95 and still lives in the village, has been a member of the branch for around 24 years. She said: “It has changed because it was down in a little hut put up in the village which was used during WW1. It was really more of a village thing but now we have got people from Dummer and Kempshott.

“I first came to do a flower arrangement demonstration and then from that I decided to teach, and I decided that I enjoyed it. I don’t know what the village would be like without it.

“I am proud to be in one of the oldest branches in the country. Now we have this nice hall, it makes it so much nicer. It has certainly made my life more exciting and I have had the pleasure of meeting the women of the village.”