Women’s Institute high tea event in Gisborne proves big success

Visitors from Wairoa enjoy the treats at the Women's Institute high tea at Holy Trinity Hall in Derby St, Gisborne. They are (from left) Val Grooby, Joy McLaughlin, Colleen Scott, Pauline Lane, Patsy Hine and Brenda Allen.

Staff at Mātai Medical Research Institute had the raw material for their own high tea dropped off to them on Monday morning.

Six dishes of lamingtons and scones with jam and cream – the leftover treats from the Women’s Institute high tea at the Holy Trinity Hall on Saturday – were delivered to the Mātai institute base in Childers Rd.

Mātai received a Women’s Institute medical research grant of $15,000 last year for their research into concussion.

Alison Crawford, president of the Poverty Bay-Wairoa Federation of Women’s Institutes, said the high tea drew a full house. Among the guests was Helen Gallop, who had come from Perth for the high tea and a catch-up with her friend Jean Mills, who celebrates her birthday this week.

A table made ready for the Women's Institute high tea at Holy Trinity Hall in Gisborne last Saturday.

Gallop – a member of the Midlands Country Women’s Association in Western Australia as well as Gisborne’s Puha Women’s Institute – had plenty to celebrate herself at the weekend. She won the raffle organised for the high tea.

Savvy, an a capella choir led by Toni Griffin, performed free of charge...each member received a bag of home-made fudge, Crawford said.

“Toni’s mother, Gill Clout, was a Women’s Institute member,” she said.

“Everyone enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and many met up with people they hadn’t seen in a long time. We’ll do it again.”

Funds raised are going to the national body, the New Zealand Federation of Women’s Institutes, which supports the activities of the nationwide network of Women’s Institutes – active in New Zealand since 1921.

The Women’s Institutes welcome visitors and inquiries about what they do. Anyone interested can email Alison Crawford at alisoncrawfordis@outlook.com or call her on 027 209 2025.