THE genteel world of bulb catalogues and crochet demonstrations have dominated the meetings of a North Yorkshire Women’s Institute group.

But when Elaine Fay decided to liven up her local WI’s programme, members were unprepared for the array of items their next guest speaker would bring - with guns, tasers, battering rams, CS canisters, stingers and stun grenades among the weaponry on show.

Sinderby WI usually sticks to the script for its fortnightly meetings in the village hall near Thirsk.

But after three years of trying, programme secretary Mrs Fay managed to get North Yorkshire Police’s armed response unit to agree to do a WI demonstration at their January meeting.

Mrs Fay booked the team with the instructions: “Come suited and booted. We want to see something. Don’t just stand and talk.”