We thought you might enjoy a presentation made at our 65th Anniversary by long-time member, Carol Kent, highlighting the rich history of CFUW Brantford:
DID YOU KNOW. . . .
- in the club’s first year, 1945-46, there were 51 members
- the monthly meetings were initially held in the homes of the members
- the meetings started at 8:15, then moved to start at 8:30. In fact, within the memory of current members, the clean up after meetings at Glenhyrst in the 70s was often not finished until almost 11 pm
- the annual fees that first year were $2 of which $1.50 went to CFUW
(Today we pay $121 of which $55 goes to National, $6.25 to Ontario Council $21.52 to International causes, with $15 a charitable donation to our Scholarship Fund) - the first scholarship was awarded in 1949 in the amount of $100, a princely sum in those days
- between 1949 and 1995, 11 scholarship winners were daughters of club members
- to indicate how alcohol restrictions have changed, for several years the Sept. Meeting was a wine and cheese affair, but it could not be advertised as such. It was a “grape and cheese”. It was not until 1972 that it could be referred to as a wine and cheese party
- for several years, one meeting a year was devoted to Members’ Night when members, up to 12 one year, spoke briefly about topics important to them, such as living in Japan and publishing a book about it (Florence Bingle), being a motorcycle enthusiast (Carol Kent), or working as a dietician for a Northern Ontario Outpost Hospital (Diane Anderson)
- the first June picnic at Blue Lake was in 1950, a tradition that has continued for over 70 years, thanks to the Clemons family
- at the May banquet in 1956, a chicken dinner cost members $2.50
- until the late 1970s, married women were identified in the meeting minutes solely by their husband’s name, e.g., Brenda Malvern would have been Mrs. D. Malvern, then Mrs. B. Malvern and finally Brenda Malvern
- there was a time when smoking at meetings became an issue and the President had to tactfully address the problem with certain members. (from Nov. ’75 executive meeting minutes – “Mrs. C. Makarchuk was asked to discreetly reprimand recalcitrant smokers.” And from the following general meeting – “In welcoming members, Mrs. Makarchuk, following the direction of the executive, requested that members refrain from smoking during the meeting and that they give full and rapt attention to the speakers.” (sounds as if we were having a wild and rowdy time)
WHILE THERE WAS A LOT OF LAUGHTER AT THE MEETINGS, WE WERE ALSO INVOLVED IN SOME VERY SERIOUS ENDEAVOURS AS WELL…
- in January 1973, club members voted 26-11 in favour of a resolution that the club “support suspension of the death penalty, except for the killing of policemen or prison guards, for a further 5 years”
- in 1982, after watching a film on pornography, called Killing Me Softly, we became very interested in the issue, and the outcome was that we wrote a resolution for the CFUW annual conference in Winnipeg where it was presented by our president Kay Pile, and passed
- we have a history of being very active in the community (in fact, for many years, we had a Civic Action Interest Group)
- We conducted community workshops:
- for working mothers
- on teenage women’s identity crisis (led to Teen Esteem program)
- on child abuse
- Campaign Schools to encourage women to seek political office
- We host All Candidates Meetings during elections
- We instituted a school volunteer program.
- For many years we sponsored a creative writing contest in connection with Canada Week.
- We have had an annual collection of goods and products for Nova Vita.
- We created a mentorship directory for young women in 1989, featuring photos and mini-bios of 100 successful Brantford women from a wide cross-section of non-traditional and traditional careers and professions, including a plumber, athlete, scientist, journalist, professor, pharmacist, physician, lawyer and inventor. Each woman featured in the booklet was available to meet with students interested in pursuing that career. One thousand copies of the Mentorship Directory were produced and distributed free of charge to guidance counselors throughout the Brant County school system. Info and pics here.
- To celebrate the club’s 50th anniversary, we researched, wrote and published a book on the history of women in Brant County, called Significant Lives: Profiles of Brant County Women. (2000 copies sold). The Library and some Executive have copies if you would like to read this lovely book.
Following the publication, some of us lobbied to have the names of these women used as street names in the city. With the help of Councillor Marguerite Ceschi-Smith, we now have almost 20 streets named for the women.
- Our civic action also took the form of prolific letter-writing: In the 70s alone, the following are some of the issues we addressed:
- To City Council and The Expositor concerning getting women appointed to local boards and commissions
- To Ottawa to complain about the way International Women’s Year was being funded
- To Queen’s Park to nominate Anne Hodge for one of the awards of Special Recognition to Outstanding Women, in a project sponsored by the Ontario Government for International Women’s Year
- To the Board Of Education in support of extending advanced art programs in the schools
- To Ottawa, via telegram, in support of repealing the abortion laws
- To the provincial ministers of agriculture & the environment Re: preservation of prime agricultural land
- To City Council stressing the need to purchase the Capitol Theatre
- To Ottawa opposing taxes on food & children’s clothing
