Dannevirke: Happy 90th, Woodville WI

Exotic Anoushka of Hipnotize Bellydance gave a spectacular performance at the Woodville Women's Institute's 90th birthday. Photo / Supplied

You're never too old for something exotic and different, reckon the guests at the Woodville Women's Institute 90th birthday celebrations.

"We've been taken out of our comfort zone today and it's been great," said oldest member Bethel Martin as belly dancer Anoushka shook her hips in the Woodville Old Folks Hall on Tuesday.

For Bethel, who has been a member for 52 years, life at the Women's Institute began when she was just a child.

Entertainer Joan Shaw with Evan Nattrass and Betty McKenzie at the Woodville Women's Institute 90th birthday celebrations on Tuesday.

"My mother, grandmother and auntie were all members and I came along to institute as a little girl when I was off school sick," she said. "Being an institute member is about the friendships you make and there are plenty of things to do. When I first joined there wasn't anything else to do, so it was our social life."

The celebration, organised by president Bettina McCullough, had a 1920s theme, with guests dressed in their best flapper costumes.

"It's really, really good when Bettina organises something - she really organises," a fellow member said.

Bettina McCullough, left, with Elaine Dougherty, Bethel Martin and Joy Cumming.

Bettina said she had to give a lot of credit to the institute's secretary Judy Parker. "She's my rock. And my husband [Evan Nattrass] has helped out too."

The Woodville Institute was one of the first four established in New Zealand and Robyn Bradley is a devoted member. Although she has moved to Palmerston North she still returns for the monthly meetings and the birthday cake, iced by Margaret Cooper, was her creation.

Mrs Bradley was a young bride of 20 when she joined her first institute, the Kumeroa WI, in 1962.

"I later joined the Woodville Institute because I was alarmed by the dwindling number of members and I didn't want to see this institute fold," she said. "We have a lot of laughs and being an institute member is wonderful."

Currently the Woodville Institute has 14 members; Bettina's the youngest at 52.

"I was invited along as a guest speaker one day and then encouraged to join," she said. "I loved the idea of doing things for charity, but a lot of the procedures and things were over my head. I was told they were desperate for officials, so I said I'd try and do the secretary's job."

But the institute was even more in need of a president and now three years on, Bettina is still president.