Helping hands: The Women’s Institute in Kawartha Lakes

Just in Time local history series

A group of elegantly attired women assemble in a large meeting hall and begin to set up chairs for the evening’s proceedings. The well-trod floorboards re-echo with the din of footsteps as more women enter the hall and take their places. They vary in age, in denomination, and in political persuasion – but each of them is committed to the cause of making their community, their province, and their country a better place. Conversation abounds about the issues of pressing public interest: suffrage, economic relief, the war. Recipes for cookies, cakes and canned pickles are exchanged. Minutes are read from an imposing-looking ledger book that has been trotted out for longer than anyone can recall. The evening wraps up with the singing of God Save The King.

Scenes of this kind played out across the many Women’s Institute (W.I.) halls that once dotted our municipality. Founded in 1897 by Adelaide Hoodless, a social and educational reformer from the Brantford area, the W.I. was and remains an important organization in not only Ontario but also New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere in the Commonwealth.

Given the W.I.’s prominence in the life and culture of towns and villages across Ontario, it would surely take a book to do justice to its history and impact here in Kawartha Lakes. Be that as it may, primary source material abounds and offers us a glimpse into what various branches of the WI were up to in this area 70 to 100 years ago. Their meetings were documented in meticulous detail, and where they didn’t make the front-page news they nevertheless took up a great deal of column space.

Turning back the clock to March 1955, we would find some 225 members of the Cambray W.I. assembling in the basement of St. Paul’s United Church to mark their 50th anniversary. “The tea table was laid with white linen tablecloth with the three-tier birthday cake in the centre, cut glass candelabras with yellow candles, two beautiful arrangements of daffodils, hyacinth and huckleberry, (and) two silver tea services,” reported the group’s correspondent in the local paper.

There was indeed much to celebrate. In 1911, the group had spearheaded efforts to clean up and beautify the nearby Eden Church burying grounds. A few years later, the Cambray W.I. was kept busy in supporting the Red Cross and its wartime work overseas. And Cambray’s library and community hall, respectively, had benefited over the ensuing decades from the financial assistance provided by the W.I. “Help has always been given to anyone in need in our community, always remembering the sick and shut-ins,” said Mrs. A.E. Tamblyn, one of the branch’s past presidents. “Our Institute has always adapted itself to changing needs of changing times,” Tamblyn continued.

Two decades before, the Sunderland W.I. was hosting a dance in support of its efforts to make southwestern Victoria County a happier place – and happiness was certainly something in short supply during those dark days of economic depression. Feb. 27, 1935, saw throngs of eager residents flood the Sunderland Township Hall for an evening of euchre followed by dancing to the strains of music provided by Wilson’s Merrymakers, an Oshawa-based orchestra. In addition to providing sumptuous refreshments for attendees that evening, the Sunderland W.I. also raffled off a quilt, bringing in $24.70 in ticket sales (almost $540 in 2025 dollars) for its work in the community.

Ten years prior to that, the Lindsay W.I. was keeping busy with several civic projects. Meeting in the Kiwanis Hall during the spring of 1925 under the leadership of its president, Mrs. Brass, the Lindsay branch decided to commit itself to a tag sale on April 25 that year in support of the isolation hospital (a facility opened in 1918 to treat victims of the influenza epidemic, funded in a large part by the W.I.). Thanks to the cooperation of Mayor Graham and the local council, the Lindsay W.I. tag day raised $282, which went towards equipping the facility – still in use even after the worst of the epidemic had come to pass.

Almost 130 years on from their inception, Women’s Institutes continue to play an important role in the life of the province, not least here in Kawartha Lakes.

Sandra Thurston has been a member of the North Emily W.I. since 1974, some 16 years after it was formed and began meeting in a hall once occupied by the Loyal Orange Lodge. “North Emily W.I. is one of two branches in Victoria West District,” Thurston points out, with Lorneville-Argyle being the other branch. “As a District we combine our forces and annually donate to the Ross Memorial Hospital Foundation, the Kawartha Lakes Food Source, and the three local high schools.”

Although Thurston acknowledges that changing times have taken a toll on the membership of the W.I., she remains optimistic about what the future holds for this storied institution. “Recently I had inquiries from three young women in their twenties,” says Thurston. “They moved into our community last summer and expressed an interest in joining W.I. so they could meet their neighbours! Isn’t that food for thought!”

For more information about the North Emily W.I., please contact Valerie Knights, its vice-president and secretary at .">.