Waipa¯ King Country 75th celebrated

First rural women meeting was held back in August 1946

Waipa¯ King Country Rural Women NZ held their 75th-anniversary celebration at Rosenvale on Saturday, August 27. When Covid lockdowns scuttle your plans to celebrate important milestones, you just rearrange those plans to accommodate and it was a wonderful celebration of 75 years of service to our rural communities, previously scheduled for last year, that finally took place this year.

In August 1946, the first meeting of Waipa¯ Provincial Women’s Division Federated Farmers (WDFF) was held to “further the work of the organisation”. With 19 branches it was one of the largest in the country.

Waipa¯ was the first provincial to employ a paid co-ordinator for the Homecare Scheme — a valuable service that assisted rural women who needed help in their homes after serious illness, the birth of children, especially mums who had multiple births and large families to cope with, and mums who had to go out on the farm when their husbands had farm accidents.

Even today there are women around who still talk about the

Photos / Supplied Past president Justine Baxter (left) and current president Sue Hall cut the cake at the 75th celebration.

Donna Higham conducts the Woolshed Warblers at the 75th celebration of Waipa King Country Rural Women NZ.