As a preschooler, Helen Clark used to tag along to monthly meetings of the Country Women's Institute with her mother.
Last night, Margaret Clark listened from the Wellington Town Hall floor as her daughter gave a prime ministerial address to the CWI Federation conference, capping a family connection stretching back four generations.
"My great-grandmother used to walk around three miles to the institute meetings, so much did the movement mean to her," Helen Clark said.
"My grandmother was also a foundation member of her local branch in Te Pahu, in the Waikato. She used to go to the meetings on horseback with her youngest child."
Margaret Clark, who attended the conference as a member of the Waihi Beach CWI, said she had been a member of the institute for half a century.
It was a proud moment to hear her daughter speak as the Prime Minister.
Helen Clark said that while she was not a member of the CWI, it had been a part of her life. "I slept right through many an institute meeting as a young child myself."
PM's rural link: from pram to podium
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