ONE million pots of jam, 200,000 bunches of flowers and 10,000 bootees sold every year at Britain's WI markets have a new Worcestershire champion.

Pat van Zyl, four times county chairman, has been elected national chairman of WI Country Markets Ltd.

The not-for-profit company, which has an annual turnover of £11m, oversees 500 markets across England and Wales.

Each year, the markets - of which seven are run by Droitwich woman Dianne Deacon - sell their share of thousands of cakes made from a whopping three million tons of flour, fat and sugar, half-a-million cups of tea, a million shrubs, 780,000 fruit and vegetable plants and 500,000kg of fresh produce.

In addition, the markets, launched in Lewes, Sussex, in 1919, send 3,000 food parcels, many to famished students.

All of the food can be frozen, and none of it contains preservatives.

"It's going to be a steep learning curve," said Mrs van Zyl, of Hartlebury, who stepped down as the Worcestershire chairman in March.

"I'm very new on the board anyway, but I'm going to have to get to know all the workings of head office and try and get around the country as much as possible to see as many of the different markets as I can and meet all their personnel."

The WI, which still swears by its motto, "Sell the best - eat the rest," has its own website listing details of markets in Worcester, Droitwich, Mal-vern, Pershore, Tenbury Wells and Evesham.

"For the past 80 years, we've been doing things that farmers markets are doing now, except because they're bigger, they get more publicity," she added.

"So now we're taking stalls at farmers markets, which has proved very successful.

"It's all local food that we sell. The trouble is, we're not getting any younger, and all the young mums and young men are working these days.

"People can't cook, but they still want good, home-made produce, except there's fewer and fewer people to produce it."

She urged bakers, gardeners and craftworkers to get in touch.

"It only costs 5p to join, and you don't have to be either female, or a WI member."

The website can be accessed at www.wimarkets.co.uk.