The Bulkley Tweedsmuir District Women’s Institute held its 67th Annual Conference April 21, South Hazelton Women’s Institute, hosting branch.
The District takes in four branches: Southside Women’s Institute, Quick Women’s Institute, Glenwood Women’s Institute and South Hazelton Women’s Institute.
This year’s theme was “Moving Forward in the Women’s Institute”
A survey on where we are headed was discussed, a workshop on scrap quilting created a lot of interest. Lunch was brought in, enjoyed by all.
This is a great group of women, a great organization to be a part of.
I’ve learned short cuts to gardening, canning tips, been challenged with crafts I have never done before.
For more information try: British Columbia Women’s Institute on the internet or contact me 250-847-4797.
The Women’s Institute began in the 1890’s, focusing on rural women and their responsibilities.
We have much to share.
One of the items we made this year is a bib apron.
I remember making a white bib apron in Home Ec, 1956.
My aunt picked peas from the garden, using her apron to hold them, taking them up to the porch for shelling.
I had a Sunday best apron.
A short story on aprons sent to me by Fay Van Horn, president of the Glenwood Women’s Institute: The History of ‘APRONS’.
I don’t think our kids know what an apron is.
The principal use of grandma’s apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few.
It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material.
But along with that, it served as a pot holder for removing hot pans from the oven.
It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.
When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.
And when the weather was cold Grandma wrapped it around her arms.
Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.
Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.
From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables.
After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.
In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.
When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.
When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folk knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.
It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that ‘old-time apron’ that served so many purposes.