1939 - Convention Report

              T W E N T Y - F I R S T PROVINCIAL CONVENTION 43
During the visit of their Majesties, the King and Queen, very many of
the girls were able to be at places that they visited, and they noticed their
kindliness, their graciousness. We presented Her Majesty the Queen with a
copy of the magazine, our Year Book, and a message of loyalty, to which
Her Majesty responded most graciously in the following note: " The Lady- in-
Waiting is commanded by the Queen to write and ask Mrs. Bell to convey
Her Majesty's very grateful thanks to the five hundred young' women members
of the Women's Institute Girls' Clubs of Alberta, for their charming thought
in sending Her Majesty an expression of their loyalty on the occasion of
the visit of the King and Queen to Alberta." His Majesty left a message
for the young people of our land, a part seemed specially suited for our
girls' work: " Remember, too, that the key to all progress lies in faith, hope
and love. May God give you their support, and may God help them to
prevail.
" To life's high purpose consecrate,
For this alone makes people great;
Our heritage nor blot nor mar,
But keep it shining like a star."
You know the W. I. G. C's celebrated their twenty- first anniversary this
year, and as it coincided with the visit of their Majesties, we had the program
printed in a frame of red on white, with a blue flag; we used a tiny flag instead
of ribbon, for the delegates' badges. We tried to profit by their example of
graciousness, and we had a very grand gathering tog- ether. The business
part was handled very efficiently by Mrs. J im Blaik, acting President and
by Jane Popham, Secretary- Treasurer, assisted by the Directors, Julia Sawka,
Mildred Rosgen ( unfortunately for us, the third Director, Mrs. Muriel Jensen,
was prevented from coming because of the illness of her small son) and by all
who could be pressed into service. Two ex- directors conducted demonstrations,
and did very well with them— I mean Kay Fulcher and Irene Street. I am
sure that the most exacting could have found no fault with the way in which
the business and the sessions were conducted, and this meant quite a little
to the Vice- President, for she did not have much warning, as we received the
disappointing news that our beloved President, Betty Thompson, could not
attend the Convention, only a few weeks before we were to gather for
Convention. We had one very grand surprise, Mrs. Pugh, first Vice- President
of the A. W. I. G. C's motored down from Jasper to attend, and gave us a very
interesting talk at the banquet or birthday party. I wish to impress upon you,
my hearers, that this annual Convention, is the culmination towards which
this year's work progresses. The sports and public speaking contests are held
here, and the winners have their names engraved upon the cups; the winner
of the short story and secretaries' contests are announced, the handicraft is
exhibited and judged, and this year, we had a song writing contest that was
well entered, and well performed, and won sincere praise from the judges.
May I say once again, that I believe that the A. W. I. G. C's are a very
important organization, worthy of all help which the W. I. can give them. I
have found several old Club members who are now Supervisors— I know they
agree with me. I want to thank those who gave me my chance to serve the
Girls' Clubs these past four years with most sincere thanks. I hesitated to
accept, for I did not know of the joyful time I was to have, and the fine
friendships I was to form with the girls, as they gave me their wonderful
co- operation and good will. They will do the same for my successor, I know.
I congratulate her upon the joy that may be hers. It is with sadness, though,
that I close the last page of this chapter in my life. It has been a good
chapter, and I hate to see it end. But four years have passed and my time is
up, and it is a wise law on the part of our organization that one's term
expires at the close of four years. It is for the best good of the Clubs that
another, with new ideas and fine enthusiasm, shall carry on from here. But
from the bottom of my heart I thank you for giving me this large family of
girls to work for and with just at the time when my own family were leaving