1939 - Convention Report

              T W E N T Y - F I R S T PROVINCIAL CONVENTION 39
REPORT OF THE ALBERTA WOMEN'S INSTITUTES' GIRLS' CLUBS
Mrs. E. J . Bel!, Hussar, Supervisor
Madam President, Members of the W. I., and Friends:
I bring you greetings from our Girls' Clubs. We may have been in the
habit of looking upon them as our young offspring; but they have celebrated
their twenty- first birthday, and have become a great organization.
Jane Popham, our Secretary, gave me the following facts from her books:
In 1935- 36 there were 26 paid- up Clubs— 347 members; 10 Clubs paid the
Scholarship.
In 1936- 37 there were 24 paid- up Clubs— 316 members; 19 Clubs paid the
Scholarship.
In 1937- 38 there were 34 paid- up Clubs— 427 members; 19 Clubs paid the
Scholarship.
In 1938- 39 there were 29 paid- up Clubs— 363 members; 14 Clubs paid the
Scholarship.
These are the paid- up members and the list differs from mine, as in 1937-
38 there were 55 Clubs on my list reporting fairly regularly, and receiving the
benefits of the correspondence; I sent out letters to them, to the Officers and
to as many of the Supervisors as I knew the names and addresses of, four
times a year, with infomation, suggestions, addresses, and a message from
their President; never less than 75 letters each time; letters of information
with application blanks, copies of the Constitution, etc., were sent out by re­turn
mail, whenever requested. Report forms were sent out upon request,
though I formed the habit of giving the year's supply to the Secretaries in
attendance at the Convention at Olds. Code cards were sent out when re­quested.
I tried to answer all letters promptly and to the best of my ability.
I collected or wrote the material for the Magazine, with the help of Jane
Popham, the associate editor, with very few exceptions as to the articles sub­mitted.
Mrs. F . G. Grevett very kindly assisted in editing same, and in col­lecting
the advertisements, putting the Magazine on a paying basis; in fact,
she presented the Club with a cheque for $ 80.00 at the Convention at Edmonton,
this being' the surplus over the expenses for the Magazine during* the last two
yeai's; the girls were delighted with the gift, and wished sincere thanks to
be extended to Mrs. Grevett for her faithful work in gathering the advertise­ments
and editing the Magazine. The Magazine is a very important means
of keeping record of the work done by the Clubs during each year, and of pass­ing
on suggestions for Club activities, as well as a money^ making scheme for
the A. W. I. G. C.' s
Two years ago, I attended the W. I. G. C.' s Conference in Edmonton, con­ducted
by Miss Kay Fuleher, the Director of Districts Nos. 1 and 2, and was
greatly impressed by both the efficiency of the girls and the co- operation of
their W. I. Director, Mrs. Morton, who had arranged a visit to the cooking
school, where, by the way, the girls were presented with two beautiful bou­quets
of flowers; and a swim at the " Y . " Kay and I gave them a demonstration
in making fibre flowers.
I attended two Conferences in Lethbridge, for District No. 4; the first
presided over by the Director, Miss Muriel Lee, and held in conjunction with the
W. I. District Conference; it was well attended, and very beneficial; the next
year, Miss Betty Thompson, the President, presided in place of the Director,
as she had been married in the meantime. Both were well attended, and meant
a lot to the girls, i f the manner in which each Club did its part is any indi­cation.