C.W.I. fiftieth anniversary

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32663, 20 July 1971, Page 7

C.W.I. fiftieth anniversary

Celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the New Zealand Country Women’s Institutes will culminate at the annual meet ing in Hastings later this month.

Delegates will make a "pilgrimage” to Rissington, Hawke’s Bay, where the first institute was formed by Miss Jerome Spencer, assisted by Mrs Frank Hutchinson. The homestead, "Omatua,” was built in 1860. In 1960, it was given to the Girl Guide Association, and is now the camping and training centre for the East Coast province. The meeting will be officially opened on July 21 by the Minister of Lands (Mr Maclntyre). Mrs I. K. Wood, of Thames, the Dominion president, will preside. Subjects to be discussed include conservation of marine life, doctor shortages,

penalties for drug peddling, widows and pensions, pensioners’ telephones, and Waitangi. Day. Gold honours badges, the highest award in the association, will be awarded by Mrs Wood to five members. This year, a scholarship will be awarded for the study of “trace elements in the soil as they affect human nutrition.”

A social evening organised by the Northern Hawke’s Bay federation will be held on July 20, and a reception the next day. Entries for the handicraft competitions will be on display. An ecumenical church service will formally close the jubilee year.