Welcome to the club: Whanganui Women's Club offers bridge, Bolivia and good company

From left to right: Helen Ammundsen, Di Haynes, Barbara Young, Nancy Bartrum, and Beth Pratt in the Whanganui Women's Club library. Photo / Bevan Conley Photo / Bevan Conley

Whanganui has a huge number of clubs, covering all sorts of interests. Our reporters have been finding out more about some of them for our Welcome to the Club series. Liz Wylie met members of the Wanganui Women's Club to learn about its history and activities.

A beautiful, historic homestead in Ingestre St is home to the Whanganui Women's Club, which celebrated its centennial in 2020.

"We maintain it in its original condition," club president Barbara Young said.

"Club members share responsibility for the upkeep, and some husbands help with maintenance."

The house has all its original features, including wallpaper in the hallway which is possibly William Morris designed.

Beth Pratt is a life member of the club and her sister Helen Ammundsen has also belonged for quite a few years.

"I used to lead the mahjong but not enough members want to play now," Ammundsen said.

"I would be happy to restart it if we get some new members who would like to play."

There are weekly Bolivia and bridge games for members and prospective members are invited to join the Bolivia game on a Wednesday and enjoy afternoon tea for $3.

Club member Nancy Bartrum said Bolivia, a card game for four people playing in partnerships, was a lot of fun and quite easy to learn.

"I only learned in the last year and I love it," she said.

Bartrum is a second-generation Whanganui Women's Club member whose mother still belongs although she no longer attends often.

"If people haven't played before, we can teach them," Pratt said.

"Bolivia is quite easy to learn but bridge takes longer."

Bridge games are held on Thursdays and there are social games on Sundays when things can get quite noisy.

The Whanganui Women's Club maintains its Ingestre St historic homestead in its original glory. Photo / Bevan Conley

There is also a library room in the house where members can relax and read before or after games and a lending service with books supplied by the Davis Library.

The current membership is about 45 but Pratt remembers when the club had about 200 members in the 1970s.

"The numbers began to dwindle as more women were working outside the home," she said.

"Most of the current members are retired and it would be nice to have some new members to reignite us."

Young joined after retiring from long service as Birthright Whanganui manager in 2016 and said the club was a fantastic social network. She recommended it to women who were looking for good company and social support.

"It offers collegiality and support as well as opportunities to enjoy the games.

"Members are here to lend each other a hand when it's needed."

New members are nominated and voted into the club and the Bolivia games, as well as other open gatherings, are good opportunities to assess compatibility, the women said.

Women's Club treasurer Di Haynes said there was a $60 annual subscription fee and members paid modest table fees for games.

"The back part of the house has been converted into a flat and the rental income helps to keep the costs down for members," she said.

Grants from charitable trusts have funded improvements to the 1914 building, which was recarpeted and refurbished in the 1990s.

The club is now looking to replace the ageing gas heaters in the house and install modern heat pumps.

Until 1938, the Whanganui Women's Club was the Lady Jellicoe Club named after Gwendoline Jellicoe, wife of the Governor-General of the day who opened the club in the upper rooms of the Hallensteins Building on the corner of Victoria Ave and Ridgway St in 1920.

A photographic portrait of the club's founder, Helen Garden Moore, hangs in the current premises - she started the club for country women who came to town with their farmer husbands who would attend the local men's clubs.

The club first purchased its own premises at 271 Victoria Ave in 1950 and decided to look for new premises in the 1970s when the property was rezoned commercial. In 1976 they purchased the Ingestre St property which had been home to the O'Neill and Trott families.

NZ Opera School founder Donald Trott was a guest speaker at the club's centennial celebrations last year and recalled his teenage years living in the Ingestre St homestead.

Pratt said the Whanganui club was the oldest women's group of its kind in New Zealand and even had an earlier predecessor. The first Whanganui Women's Club was founded in 1898 and according to New Zealand Geographic magazine, it was "the only club of its kind in the colony" at the time.

Women interested in finding out more about the club can contact Barbara Young on 021 717 196 or club secretary Clare Raisin on 027 206 2505.