Women's Institute members from across Bucks gather for day of investigation and discovery

Members of the Bucks Federation of Women's Institutes at the organisation's annual investigation and discovery day at the Gateway, Aylesbury

Kim Edwards, spokesperson for Bucks Federation of WIs said: “Seven years ago we had to entice our members into a science event and only had around 60 in the audience, but during the past few years the day has been massively oversubscribed.”

The speakers at the event were welcomed by Hilary Haworth, chair of the science and social sub committee who spoke about all manner of scientific developments.

Rachael Waterson, professor of cutaneous science at the University of Manchester was the first speaker with a talk entitled 'Keep young and beautiful: How the sun causes us to age.'

She spoke about the importance of protecting ourselves from the sun and demonstrated some of the potentially devastating effects of too much sun exposure.

It was an informative and impactful speech with Mary Peacock from Cheddington WI saying: “It was amazing to see the slides showing the difference between young skin and that of older people and having an explanation of what has happened due to time and sunlight.”

Dr Anna Ploszajski's demonstrated 4D printing, which is the process of giving 3D structures the ability to change shape and form over time.

Her illuminating talk was made all the more exciting when she started wielding a blow torch - the purpose of this was to demonstrate how heat causes a spring to recoil.

She said the printing process has many applications such as making casts for broken bones that can change shape over time making them more comfortable for the wearer.

Dr Ploszajski was thrilled to be involved saying: “I just wanted to say thank you again for my invitation to speak yesterday.

"I was totally blown away by the brilliant atmosphere.”

Other speakers included Phil Pearson, group development director for APS and Peter Ayton from City University, London.

Pat Poole, the Bucks Federation of WI's chairman said that she hopes the event will continue to grow and that next year they want to have a larger venue with seating for more than 300 members.