JAM and Jerusalem are generally the first words conjured by most people at any mention of the Women’s Institute.

But it seems this image of preserves and reserve is far from deterring a whole new generation from signing up to their local branches.

And some have even gone so far as to form their own WI group where one isn’t locally available.

In its 96th year, the WI is as popular as ever.

In the past 12 months, the Worcestershire Federation of the WI has welcomed 400 new members and eight new branches.

Among them was a group established in the village of West Malvern, whose founder and president is Vicki Walker.

The 37-year-old started the branch in January and already has a membership of more than 50 women, who range in age from their 20s to their 60s.

“I think it’s quite big as WIs go,”

she said. “I didn’t really want to go and join an existing WI.

“We had about 60 people come to the first meeting. The village response has been really good. I thought it might just be mums from school and people I know but it’s brought the whole village together.”

Mrs Walker, who owns a knitting shop in Malvern, said more and more people seemed to be turning to the WI to learn traditional crafts such as jam-making.

“People are trying to save money,” she said.

“The economic climate has brought people back to basics.

People my age didn’t grow up doing things such as jam making with their mums.

“It’s that feeling of being more self-sufficient if we want to be.”

The WI was founded when the era of make do and mend was in its heyday.

It formed in 1915 with two clear aims – to revitalise rural communities and to encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War.

Times have changed since then and today it plays a unique role in providing women with educational opportunities and the chance to build new skills, to take part in a wide variety of activities and to campaign on issues that matter to them and their communities.

There are 207,000 members across England in 7,000 WIs. The Worcestershire federation was founded in 1918 and was one of the first six federations to be formed.

There are about 137 WIs across the county, with about 4,000 members.

Christine Hickman-Smith, chairman of the Worcestershire federation, said the WI was still very much relevant to today’s modern woman.

“There was a period of time when schools taught particular skills such as sewing, needlework and cooking preserves,” she said.

“The majority of young women who come to WIs do want to learn these skills, as well as take part in the campaigning side of the WI, which is very important.

“The future of the WI is extremely positive. We’ve been around for 96 years now and the principles we started with then, we still have now.

“Those principles, although we get our leg pulled about them, aren’t bad at all.”