AROUND 300 ladies headed to the Regent Centre to watch a live broadcast of the WI centenary celebrations attended by The Queen.

People travelled from across Dorset and Hampshire to see members of the Royal Family, which also included HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, and HRH Sophie, Countess of Wessex, who were at the event in London which was streamed into the Christchurch venue.

The National Federation of Women's Institutes held their annual general meeting on Thursday, June 4, in the Royal Albert Hall in London to mark 100 years of the groups.

Margaret Lamont, who is secretary of the Highcliffe, Christchurch and Southbourne branches of the group, said: "Not everyone could go to London, so they relaid it to venues around the country and asked people to organise events to screen it.

"People came from as far as Ringwood, West Parley, Hordle and New Milton to the Regent Centre to watch it on the big screen and there was around 300 people in total.

"It was lovely and really well organised by the staff at the Regent Centre. We all enjoyed it."

At the Royal Albert Hall, a centenary fruit cake had been baked following a recipe competition and was presented for cutting by The Queen, who is president of Sandringham WI

A line-up of inspirational speakers had been arranged for the special event included English historian, curator and TV presenter, Lucy Worsley, CEO of Newton Investment Management, Helena Morrissey, and former British wheelchair racer, parliamentarian and TV presenter, Tanni Grey-Thompson.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London also attended the event to welcome guests as they arrived and the winners of the centenary choir competition performed for the audience.

The Women's Institutes (WI) was formed in 1915 to revitalise rural communities and encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Over the past 100 years, the WI has expanded to become the UK's largest voluntary women's organisations with over 212,000 members in around 6,600 WI groups.