The National Federation of Women’s Institutes (WI) has launched a competition in celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee which honours Her Majesty’s fondness for corgis.
The Queen marked 70 years on the throne last month, becoming the first monarch in British history to reach the milestone.
She is due to commemorate the occasion with a long weekend of festivities in June, including a Platinum Jubilee Pageant through central London, a party at Buckingham Palace and her annual birthday parade, Trooping the Colour.
Ahead of the celebrations, the WI is asking its members to knit a corgi named WInnie and hide her in their local communities as a fun surprise for others to find and keep or donate.
Each corgi will be hidden with a special tag which will allow members of the public to map where it was found on WI’s website.
The pattern to knit WInnie the corgi was designed by Woolwich and Plumstead Roses WI member Hannah Joyce, who is a knitting teacher.
Joyce said she had created WInnie with sustainability in mind and is encouraging those taking part to use up left over yarn or fabrics.
“I want to encourage people to reuse and recycle: knit pink corgis, or red, white and blue corgis, and use up whatever yarn you have left over.”
The competition, named Where’s WInnie?, is also open to those who have never knitted before.
“Knitters of all skill levels are encouraged to join in, with the pattern designed for those at a relative beginner level,” Ann Jones, chair of WI said.
“We hope that WInnie the corgi will brighten the day for anyone who finds her.”
The WI has also made and hidden one special corgi, with will entitle its finder and their plus one guest tickets to a special Big Jubilee Lunch being held in London on Sunday 5 June.
The competition honours the Queen’s longstanding relationship with the WI, of which she has been a member for nearly 80 years after having joined in 1943 when she was still a princess.
The monarch’s love of corgis has been well-documented over the years.
She was given a corgi named Susan on her 18th birthday in 1944. All subsequent corgis bred by the Queen have descended from Susan.
Aside from corgis, she has also bred “dorgis”, a cross between the daschund and corgi.
She was previously photographed with her dorgis and corgis by Annie Leibowitz as part of her 90th birthday celebrations in 2016.
