YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22204, 6 March 1934, Page 6

YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION

RECORD OF ACTIVITIES The distinction of being the first Y.W.CAI in the southern hemisphere belongs to the Dunedin association. There is a record of an inaugural tea meeting on July 24, 1878, followed later by the setting up of the Board of Management under the presidency of the late Mrs Bathgate. All the Protestant churches were represented on that first board, while a Board of Referees consisting of two men evidently took the place of the present Advisory Board. The coffee room with a daily attendance of from 18 to 26 girls, a flower mission to the hospital, visits to the emigration barracks, Bible classes, the mission Sunday school, and mothers’ meetings are among the earliest mentioned activities. The present annual birthday party is a direct descendant of the anniversary soirees. In 1888, at the invitation of the Y.M.C.A., the association exemplified its faith, hope and charity by relieving the Y r .M.C.A. of its building and a debt of £6OO and promptly set out to put the place in a state of thorough repair. Thirteen years later, that building was sold for £IOOO, and when a generous friend cleared up the small debt of £47, the association was able to leave the building it had taken over with a debt of £OOO, with a good round sum of £IOOO in hand.

Later activities came under the supervision of a Biblewoman, while mention is also made of the time and talents branch, *a faneywork class, and health lectures. In 1917, with the appointment of Miss Marjorie Black, well-known in Dunedin now as the principal of Areherlield College, work with girls under 20 developed rapidly. During the years of the war, members of the Association were to the fore with patriotic efforts. An outstanding piece of extension work resulted in the establishment of the Tc Taumata Club in South Dunedin.

In 1928 jubilee celebrations took place with a pageant of youth as the outstanding function. It is interesting to note that at that time the board of directors had hoped to be able to celebrate the occasion by raising a fund large enough to permit of the building of new and up-to-date premises, but judged that the times were not opportune for such a venture, a decision which has been fully justified in the last five years.