We held our first meeting for the year at the Commercial Club in Albury and we were thrilled with the large roll-up of members and visitors. We have three CWA members transferring from other Branches to ours as well as some new members, so very exciting times for us.

We were thrilled to win the CWA exhibit of handicrafts etc at the Henty Show recently. There was a good selection of articles and the CWA Exhibition overall was well worth looking at.

Our Branch CWA Calendars for the year have been handed out or emailed to members. We have a Group Council Meeting at Uranquinty this month and several members hope to attend.

Kay Dean is our new Land Cookery Officer, taking over from Margaret who is unwell. Lyn mentioned that Group would appreciate members cooking some slices to sell at State Conference in May as Riverina Group are catering at the Multi-Purpose Centre for all the various Committees that will have their displays there.

We have the Group Handicraft and Land Cookery Day at Collingullie on Saturday, 15th March and we spent time organising our Handicraft entries. Anyone who won first or second place with their cooking during the year in our Branch competition, including the Pleasant Hills School children, is eligible to cook for the Group Land Cookery Competition which is also taking place on 15th March at Collingullie. There is a Group Competition for the Branch with the most prize points, which we have won previously, so we are trying hard again this year!

International and State Support

At State Executive last week, it was decided to send $100,000 from CWA of NSW to the Queensland Public Rural Crisis Fund to assist those affected by the severe flooding.

As part of our International work, $5,000 is being sent to a Health Facility in New Guinea to upgrade the existing building, repair guttering, provide toilet facilities and water tanks in partnership with Rotary International. A further $20,000 was approved to go to Medecins Sans Frontieres for their ongoing work in the Palestine/Israel conflict.

There are two Pancreatic Research Centres in NSW and we will be raising funds for Pankind this year.

Our next meeting will be held in Henty at the back of Dales Electrical Shop at 10.30am on 12th March. This will enable some members living in Henty but at the moment unable to travel to Albury a chance to attend our meeting. Looking forward to seeing a good roll-up on the day.

Lyn Jacobsen, CWA