Manx Valkyries Virtual WI member Pam Beedan has been elected vice-chair of the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI).

Pam is only the organisation’s second national trustee from the Isle of Man in 75 years.

Pam joined the WI at 26 and has held many positions over the years, including chair of the Manx federation.

Following this she stood for election as a trustee of NFWI in 2021 and has been re-elected again for the term 2025-2027.

Pam has also held the role of chair of education and the Denman Trust board within the organisation before her recent elevation.

On island, together with Jill Poole and Angela Souter (trustees of IoMFWI), Pam has driven the launch of a Virtual WI (Manx Valkyries).

Explaining this, Pam said: ‘It is a wonderful alternative to traditional face-to-face WIs.

‘It is aimed at women who prefer not to go to face-to-face meetings for whatever reason, or in addition to a face-to-face WI.

‘Perhaps they are carers, or have mobility issues and are able to join online zoom meetings and chat with people from far and wide, not only from our island.’

The Valkyries have also launched online book club ‘Manx Cyber Bookworms’. They recently held their first ‘Cooish and Coffee’, a lively chat about anything and everything, and are shortly to have a craft group.

Being virtual it opens up a whole new range of speakers so they are delighted to showcase our island with talks by Howard Parkin, Charles Guard and Yvonne Cresswell. Next month it is Janey Ramsey who worked for Sotheby's talking about the lifestyle and possessions of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

In addition to the Manx Valkyries Virtual WI, Pam is also a member of Laxey Miner Birds, Marown and Port St Mary WIs and she attends as many meetings as she can.