JOHN BISSET/Stuff
Margaret Younger with some of many letters written to her and family by her father during the war.
The many letters soldier Bob Riddell wrote home from places like Egypt and Italy during World War II reveal a man pining to be with his family at home. With Anzac Day approaching, Margaret Younger brings out all the letters Bob had written home to her mother Marjorie, brother Les and her. They sprawl all over a kitchen tabletop, letters written on paper given to the soldiers by the YMCA and National Patriotic Fund. Many of them have yellowed with age and the fountain pen ink has faded, but the feelings they convey remain strong.
“For me, our organisation has always been there to help and support people and communities in need.” “The bonds in the organisation go very deep, I could not see some members across the country for years, but as soon we do, we immediately click and laugh and enjoy each other’s company.” The Women s Institute was first established in Canada in 1886, and imported to Britain in 1915. The movement arrived in New Zealand in 1921. The South Canterbury region s federated group was formed on June 13, 1930, when representatives from the Gapes Valley, Arundel, Orari, and Woodbury divisions gathered at the Parish Hall in Geraldine to discuss merging into a big organisation.
Calendar Girls plot to raise money for the Cancer Society. “When the need is there, so are we.” The region s federated group was formed on June 13, 1930, when representatives from the Gapes Valley, Arundel, Orari, and Woodbury divisions gathered at the Parish Hall in Geraldine to discuss merging into a big organisation. At the time, women’s institutes had spread to 40 countries with more than 100 in New Zealand. Younger, who joined the Claremont chapter in 1973, said the group remained as “friendly and supportive” as when she first got on board. “It was a way of meeting the women of the district,” she said.