Taupo's mayor, David Trewavas and Colleen Yeoman, Taupo Women's Institute secretary, were among the attendees at the 90th anniversary celebrations.
Taupo's mayor, David Trewavas and Colleen Yeoman, Taupo Women's Institute secretary, were among the attendees at the 90th anniversary celebrations.
Taupō's Women’s Institute held a celebration recently for its milestone 90th anniversary, with a trip down memory lane an important part of the proceedings.
The organisation was founded in the town in 1933, in a Taupō that would be unrecognisable to most today.
With no paved streets, locals made their way to the AC Baths to keep clean - there was no electricity or running water in homes.
The one school in the town was Taupō Primary School, which boasted two teachers and 56 students.
The school came to be the centre of the WI’s foundation after the principal, Miss Grace O’Brien, felt the town needed a place for rural women to connect and socialise.
At that time, it was unusual for women to hold jobs outside the home, let alone bank accounts or their own means of transport.
This left many in such a small town isolated, so a club like the Women’s Insitute, then the Country Women’s Institute, was a lifeline to the outside world.
Unfortunately, this was not taken very seriously by the men of the town, said Taupō WI’s Shirley Gowdy.
“When the local men heard about the formation of a women’s group, they laughed and called it the ‘Gabble, gibble, gobble group’ and said it would last six months. Look at us now, 90 years later!”
Taupo Women's Institute took a look back at its history as part of its 90th anniversary.
Gowdy said although the Institute started nationally in 1921, there were only a small number of clubs initially.
“We’re one of the oldest, and we’re also one of the oldest still functioning.”
This long history and the close link with Taupō Primary have proven beneficial all round.
In the difficult Great Depression environment of the inter-war years, members regularly cooked for the students and made them clothes, as families often lacked the resources to do so.
Recently, when Taupō Primary published a book marking its 100th year, the WI became aware that the school’s records between 1930 and 1936 were missing.
Gowdy was able to come to the rescue thanks to the Institute’s records.
“There I was with the history of our institute, which began in 1933, with the name of the then-principal of the school, and copies of photographs of pupils from 1931 to 1935.”
It was only fitting that the school’s modern-day principal, Zac Taylor, was extended an invitation to the recent celebration, although he needed some reassurance that members knew he was a man.
Other noted representatives at the anniversary party included Mayor David Trewavas and his wife Anna, as well as several senior members of the national Women’s Institute organisation.
