International Day for rural women

The photo shows place-getters Rosemary and Mary from Toko Branch (3rd), Midhirst Branch members Margaret, Viv and Lorna (2nd) and Joan Nolly (1st) standing behind the Midhirst Branch winning entry in the court section.

The Taranaki Area of Rural Women New Zealand (RWNZ) held their International Day last month.

The country for study was Modern England (Post World War II).

Sixty members attended the day and heard RWNZ New Zealand's national international officer Marie Appleton from Auckland present her report on the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) triennial world conference held at Warwick University in England. Seventy four countries belong to ACWW. World president Ruth Shanks from Australia addressed the conference and her quote was "just do the best you can, no-one can do more than that," says Marie.

One of the resolutions endorsed at the conference was for members to urge their governments to take action to stop the increasing worldwide sexual abuse of women and children in refugee camps and shelters.

The international day had a range of competitions and a parade. The parade was well supported and the Dress for a Garden Party title was taken out by Joan Nolly of the Skinner Rd branch.

The court titled High Tea for Two was won by the Midhirst Branch who also again won the Emily Cook trophy for the most points in the competitions. Other competitions were for knitting, making the English flag, creating a red English rose and baking a sponge. Pennies for friendship were collected with the proceeds going to help women in third world countries with setting up of safe drinking water systems, developing a business, creating a garden and learning hand crafts.