Seven intrepid WI members from Wiltshire braved the high seas in stormy weather as they sailed to Cherbourg aboard the three-masted schooner Sir Winston Churchill.

They were part of a 39-strong crew of Women's Institute members from all over the country who left Portsmouth on November 5 for the five-day trip across the Channel.

The Wiltshire women taking part were Pat Rodger, Sue Hillier and Maggie Roberts from Boxlea WI; Sheila Brown from Sarum WI; Caroline Gunning and Gillian Perrot, from Wroughton WI and Wendy Wallington, from Minety WI.

Weather forecasts grew worse in the days leading up to their departure and Pat Rodger, of Pickwick Road, Corsham, said November 5 was not the best day to go.

She said: "In fact it was a very damp squib of a day with driving rain miles before reaching port.

"After checking with dock security, we were welcomed aboard and taken below to the half deck, the combined sleeping and dining quarters for the five-day trip.

"Everyone was soon kitted out in waterproofs and safety harnesses to go aloft to start the basic skills needed to operate the complicated array of sails and rigging.

"In a four-hour duty the crew was expected to set sails, hand sails, steer the ship, clean, join in the galley work and be on lookout, that is if sea sickness was not a problem."

The Sail Training Association, which organised the trip, sets groups like the WI these kind of challenges to promote team participation in difficult conditions and give them all a sense of achievement.

All this combined to create an adventure of a lifetime for the 39 WI members who had very little previous sailing experience.

Mrs Rodger said: "Fun and friendship there was a-plenty as we pulled into Cherbourg for a few hours before enduring a very 'swell' journey back to Southampton.

"Memories of clambering into bunks and fighting for space in the 'heads' will linger forever... and possibly longer."

Sea sickness posed something of a problem for the less experienced sailors on board.

Mrs Rodger said: "We had to go up on deck if we were feeling ill and fastened ourselves to the rail so we didn't get washed overboard.

"We must have looked like a row of crows sitting on a telephone wire green crows."

Last year the Wiltshire Federation of Women's Institutes hit the national headlines with its campaign for better and more spacious public toilets.

And they were horrified to see the very small toilets aboard the Winston Churchill.

"I don't think we'll ever complain about public loos again," said Mrs Rodger.

Being on lookout was a particularly responsible but stressful duty to carry out, she said. The climb to the crow's nest in pitching seas was especially terrifying and when up there the difficulties really began.

Mrs Rodger said: "It is the busiest shipping channel in the world. You saw lights and had to decide which way they were heading. It got quite hairy at times."

But she said inter-watch activities, like quizzes, were highly competitive and great fun.