HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1999-11-10, Page 20PAGE 20. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1999.
B elgraveTtie news from
[Compiled by Linda Campbell Phone 357-2188 |
Community Club plans
to see festival of lights
The regular monthly meeting of
the Belgrave Community Club was
held Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m.
The group has arranged a bus trip
for Nov. 23 to view the Festival of
Northern Lights and the show
Tribute to Don Messer.
The club will have their
Christmas dinner Dec. 3 at 12:15
p.m.
Women share Majestic memories
Shared memories
As Majestic WI prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary
some longtime members gathered with one of the youngest
to share memories and discuss the importance of the organ
ization in their lives. Clockwise from bottom left are Peggy
Cudmore, Peggy Keffer, Eleanor Hemingway and Ida
Evans.
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen staff
Sixty years of service to the com
munity and home is being celebrated
this Wednesday as Brussels Majestic
Women's Institute marks its anniver
sary.
It was Mrs. Harold Spiers, who
recognized that the women of her
school section in Grey Tpw. had no
common meeting place where they
could assemble for education and
entertainment. On Nov. 16, 1939,
she invited 34 would-be members to
her home and a branch was bom.
The name Majestic was chosen to
commemorate the visit of King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth that
year.
Remembering those early times,
life members Eleanor Hemingway,
The Belgrave Guiding Units will
hold a tree lighting service in the
Heritage Park Dec. 2 at 7 p.m.
Remembrance Day Services will
be held Nov. II at 11 a.m. at the
park.
Kay and John Roberts told about
growing up in Wales during the
war.
There will be a dessert shoot on
Nov. 12 at l p.m.
Peggy Cudmore and Ida Evans
recall it as not just an opportunity to
be out among their peers, but as a
learning experience. “It felt great to
me to be meeting all these women,”
said Hemingway, who joined in
1940. “In those days we learned a lot
about being a better homemaker.”
Cudmore, a member since 1944,
said she came out to a meeting
because she had just moved to the
area and a friend told her to come
out. “When I came up here I had
never been in anything. She said,
they teach you a lot and I thought I’d
better go. The first thing I learned
was that I didn’t know what 1 was
talking about,” she jokes.
Eventually, Cudmore was confi
dent enough to do a baking with
yeast demonstration, something her
husband Earl was quick to cash in
L. Bosman hosts Evening Unit
The November meeting of the
Evening Unit to Knox United
Church was held Tuesday, Nov. 2
at the home of Louise Bosman.
Fourteen answered the roll call by
telling what they were doing during
the war years.
Barbara Anderson welcomed
everyone and thanked Mrs.
Bosman for offering her home. She
opened the meeting by reading a
Remembrance Day poem.
Laura Johnston and Freda
Johnston conducted the worship
service. Laura read Psalm 85: 1-13
and Isaiah 5: 2-4. The meditation
drew attention to the fact people
cannot alter the thoughts and habits
of anyone other than themselves.
It was agreed to cater to Sara
Anderson's Christmas dinner
Sunday, Nov. 28.
The Christmas Bureau is being
hosted by the Wingham Pentecostal
on. “He'd say that I better bake a
batch of bread before I went so he
could try and see if it was okay.”
All the women agreed that the
organization teaches much more
than homemaking, however.
Hemingway noted that it teaches
leadership skills. “We have to do
public speaking and ’•chair meet
ings.”
Evans, who has been a member of
and on since the early 1940s said she
always admired a former member
who believed in doing things by the
book. “When you speak you stand
properly. I don't agree with these
people who sit when they are up
talking.”
What the organization has offered
is an experience Peggy Keffer
wouldn't give up. The young moth
er, who was a former 4-H member
said becoming a WI member was a
natural progression for her. “I enjoy
quilting and things like that. But I
have also learned many skills I
wouldn’t have other-wise. It goes
back to 4-H and its motto, ‘learn to
do by doing’.”
Children have always been wel
come at WI meetings too.
Hemingway’s daughter Ruth
Axtmann recalls how, as a child in
the country, her visit to a WI meet
ing was the first time she realized
there were other children besides her
siblings.
Keffer said, “I’ve changed diapers
at WI meetings.”
And while all of what made
Majestic special to these women
remains to a degree today, there is,
Keffer believes, a stronger shift to
community than home. “The latest
project is to adopt a portion of high
way.”
Another modem venture is its web
page. Majestic, according to Keffer,
was the first branch in Ontario to go
on the internet.
Other projects of the WI in its 60-
year history include the compilation
of the Tweedsmuir books, donations
to The Ark, Legion, Huronlea,
Community Centre and Brussels
Agricultural Society to name just a
few. For the centennial year they
designed and quilted a quilt with
1,000 Brussels names on it.
Along with other WI branches
they lobbied for wrappng on bread,
labels on clothing, milk pasteuriza
tion, lights on schools buses.
With many other organizations
forming and women now working
outside the home, the biggest chal
lenge facing Majestic as well as
other WIs is enticing new members.
“Membership drives are on-going.
For women it always has
been and will be an excellent sup
port group."
Church. December roll call will be
a donation to the bureau.
White Gift is Dec. 12 with lunch
after the church service. Lunch will
also follow service Nov. 21 when
the junior choir will sing.
The December meeting is to be
held at Muriel Coultes’ home.
The election of officers was held
with the results being: leader,
Lorna Cook; assistant leader,
Barbara Anderson; secretary,
Louise Bosman; treasurer,'Muriel
Coultes; social. Laura Johnston,
Area women attend
85th WI conference
The London Area Women’s
Institute 85th Convention was held
at the Caradoc Community Centre
in Mount Brydges on Oct. 28 with
the theme being “Going Forward
Together”.
Those attending from the
Belgrave WI were Wilma Higgins,
Audrey Fenton, Isabel Campbell,
Jean Nethery, Nancy Jardin and
Gladys Van Camp.
A Remembrance Day Service
will be held at the Belgrave
Jane Grasby^ Lillian Campbell;
community friendship, Irene
Lamont; group leaders, Mabel
Wheeler, Thelma Pletch, Donna
Shaw and Muriel Coultes, Ruth %
Johnston and Barbara Anderson;
pianist, Freda Johnston.
Barbara Anderson read Points to
Ponder a reading contributed by
Myrtle Pengelly.
Mabel Wheeler presented the
program Bad Girls of the Bible.
Donna Shaw and Lillian
Campbell served lunch.
Heritage Park or the arena in the
event of rain on Thursday, Nov. 11
at 11 a.m. East Wawanosh Public
School Grade 6 students will attend
and wreaths will be laid.
Mabel’s Moms met at their
regular time on a stormy
Wednesday, Nov. 3. Those who
attended were: Tracey Brohn and
Liam; Donna Raynard, Curtis and
Craig; Karen Rundle, Holly and
Emily.
Their topic was Educational
Toys.