1928 - Annual Convention

              4^ A L B E R T A W O M E N ' S I N S T I T U T ES
ALBERTA WOMEN'S INSTITUTE GIRLS' CLUBS
( Mrs. J. Macgregor Smith, Edmonton, Supervisor)
My - first year as Supervisor of the Women's Institute Girls' Clubs began
after the convention at Banff in July. I attended the convention as a guest,
to get acquainted with the girls. I found eighty of the finest girls it has
ever been my privilege to meet. Girls sincere and earnest i n their endeavor
to make their clubs the best girls' clubs i n Canada— girls continually asking
what can we do to make our clubs more interesting. With this thought in
mind I outlined a contest to " s e l l " A l b e r t a f r om an agricultural standpoint.
The main idea of the contest was given i n a circular letter sent to the secre­taries
of the Women's Institute Girls' Clubs October 21st. The paragraph
which I quote sums up briefly the plan:
" L e t us have a team of three girls from each Women's Institute Girls'
Club in A l b e r t a to take part in the competition. The demonstration should
be one half- hour in length, to be judged not only by the results on the
audience, but whether or not the team sells the idea of ' A g r i c u l t u r e in
A l b e r t a . ' This is the fundamental idea of the whole competition, and is
most important."
To the team coming f i r s t the prize was a t r i p for the three girls and their
supervisor to Toronto to be the Alberta Women's Institute representatives
to the Canadian National Exhibition, transportation being given by the
Canadian Pacific Railway, and a grant from the Department of A g r i c u l t u r e,
which will help with the l i v i n g expenses. To the team coming second the
Hon. Geo. Hoadley, Minister of Agriculture, w i l l give one week at a school
of agriculture, when the winners of the school fairs attend to compete. The
winner of this team w i l l receive a free scholarship to their nearest school
of agriculture.
This competition was far better than I had hoped it could be. The
contests were held in Lethbridge, Calgary and Edmonton during the Easter
holidays. The winning team was from Wetaskiwin, Mrs. J. A. Rodell,
Supervisor; the team coming second was f r om Warner, Mrs. W. W. Rogers,
Supervisor. Two teams deserving honorable mention were the teams from
Delia, Mrs. Geo. M a r t i n , Supervisor, and from Daysland, Miss Isabel Noble,
Supervisor.
Every team did well. The one criticism that I shall make is— many of
the teams attempted too much; they did not confine themselves to agriculture,
but gave the natural resources of the province as well. I must speak of the
co- operation we received in this undertaking. At Lethbridge we were enter­tained
by the Women's Institute and Board of Trade. In Calgary Mrs.
Grevette, the president of the Women's Institute, and Mrs. J . F . Price were
responsible for the good time there. In Edmonton the manufacturers
donated most generously toward the entertaining of the girls, and this was
no small item, as there were f i f t y girls to board and room.
The Wetaskiwin girls gave a remarkable demonstration on dairying.
Their material was good, accurate and complete. The team work was the
best in the province. Appearance and conduct was excellent. They were
business- like, happy, courteous, inspiring confidence in the information they
were giving. I want to assure you the Women's Institute and the Women's
Institute Girls' Clubs have a team, the members of which are Doris Hanna,
Lauretta Vickers and Norma Nelson, of whom we and the province of
A l b e r t a may be very proud.
The Warner girls gave a splendid demonstration on wool, showing all
the steps from the wool on the sheep's back until it was ready to weave.
We began the year with $ 7.06 i n the treasury. As our secretary lives in
Grande Prairie, which is a very expensive trip into Edmonton, it has been
impossible for us to have an executive meeting, all our work being done
by correspondence. I have written 965 letters this year. I have a file in
which every letter is kept. A card catalogue of the reports of all the
G i r l s ' Clubs assists me in knowing which club is working. It seemed to take
the secretaries of the clubs a long time before they began sending me their
reports. I am now receiving reports regularly from seventy clubs. There
are a number of clubs that I hear about that are not reporting. These clubs
do not receive the material sent to the other clubs. We revised the constitu-