A WOMEN’S group in York has looked back on a “year like no other” - saying 2020 was been a whole new experience for the group’s members.

Copmanthorpe Women’s Institute (WI), founded in 1924, had to make a number of adaptations last year to operate in line with Covid-19 regulations.

Their meetings, usually held on the first Tuesday of every month, had to be cancelled as a number of members were forced to shield.

Meetings were then moved online, using the Zoom and Whatsapp platforms to keep in touch and check up on each other weekly.

Wendy Wallace, a member of the WI group, said: “Although we haven’t been able to actually meet up, that doesn’t mean there has been nothing happening.

“We established our weekly Zoom meetings, with members and ladies from our sessions sitting down with a cuppa to share chat and gossip.”

The group also came up with the ‘Meeting in a bag’ initiative.

The idea involved each member receiving a bag containing things such as quizzes, newsletters, recipes and other items which would usually feature in their meetings.

These were then hand delivered to members, with each bag being topically themed every month.

The group also sent out sunflower seeds to all members to start up a growing competition.

The ‘Life in Lockdown’ initiative was set up, where members would record their experiences during the historic events of 2020 to look back on in the future.

Over the summer months, the team worked hard to make their buildings Covid-secure.

But as the group has not yet been allowed to meet up face-to-face, a Christmas special was set up over Zoom to help members get in the festive spirit together.

Wendy added: “We hope that one of the things remembered by our members last year is the way our WI has stayed connected, and supported each other through this year that has been like no other.

“This year, we’re hoping to expand our online offering with some interesting speakers and quiz nights.”