Blue Rinse and Scones

I’m a member of my local CWA. For those who don’t know what the CWA is, the acronym stands for Country Women’s Association. It was founded as a social outlet donkey’s years ago for housewives in rural areas. Over the years the CWA progressed from being an opportunity to catch up with friends to being the back bone of rural Australia. Come drought, come flood, come fire, the ladies of the CWA were there providing support to their local communities. They’ve quite often been the main support network of many rural towns. They’ve knitted beanies and booties for premi babies and provided lunches for fire fighters on the front line. There’s nothing charitable that these women haven’t done.

These days though, the demographic of CWA members has changed dramatically. Unfortunately, there are still some people out there that have a stereotypical image of what a CWA member looks like. Picture an old lady, bitching and whinging with a blue rinse through her hair, nibbling on scones and drinking over brewed tea.

So for those that are aware of what the CWA is when I tell them I am a member I get the “So whatya’s do? Sit around drinking tea and eating scones? Isn’t the CWA for old ladies?”
Ummm, how’s about a big, fat NO! Which is where I begin in putting them and their cliché image in their place…

In the CWA branch of Katherine we’re generally aged between our mid-twenties to late forties and you’re more likely to find us looking for ways in which we can help charities and local organisations. For example, we helped contribute to the Kintore Street School getting their new bus, we’ve made donations to the families of sick or injured kids who need ongoing treatment, every year we do a fund raiser for ovarian cancer and we’ve made donations to other charities that benefit women and children.

Our events are a combination of masterclasses and fundraisers and we try to hold at least one event a month as well as our meetings. Masterclasses have included crochet, bread making, jewellery making amongst other things. Our last fundraiser was a wine and cheese night. There goes that tea idea!

Despite all these great things that we have done and are planning to do we’re falling short in only one department… Members! We have plenty of financial members but only a select few that are committed to attending every meeting and helping organise events. Our office holders (president, vice presidents, secretary, treasurer and international officer) have quite often been the same people year in, year out and the poor, worn out souls need a break.

But if you think you’ve got what it takes to make a difference in the Katherine community, even if you are only interested in being an active member and not so much an office holder then come along to our AGM on the 19^th of April, 10am at the Finch Café.*

*To be eligible to vote or run for office you’ll need to be a financial member by the 18^th of March. Contact the CWA Katherine Facebook page for a membership form.