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By HENRY HEAL!) Ottawa Correspondent Next year inure than 54.000 women in Canada will celebrate the 80th anniversary or an organization that has done more than any other group to improve rural life. That is now the scope of the Women's Institute. founded in 1897 by Adelaide Hunter Hoodless and Erland Lee. And it is still growing. Next year. also. some at those 54,000 women will travel to Nairobi. Kenya, tor the 15th triennial meet- ing of the Associated Countrywo- man of the World. In 1897 not many tarm wives in Canada were thinking about travel- ling to Africa [or an International conference. The weekly shopping trip to town was about as far as many of them could expect to travel in their lives. Mrs. Headless lost a son and felt that he might have lived had she known more about nutrition and child care. She turned to Erland Lee. then head of the United Farm- ers of Ontario. for help and together they started the Women‘s Institute. The idea caught on and now there are some 2,680 branches in all prov- inces and territories. It has spread from the farms into the towns and cities. but the goal is still the some â€" to teach women to be better homemakers to build a better country. At the recent Eastern Ontario area convention ofthe wt in Ottawa. the 350 delegates trom 141 branches watched a play. The Witch of Plain Hollow. written by Mrs. Dorothy Morgan a! Osnabruek Centre. It writing plays seems a bit di- vorced from better nutrition and Eweedsmuir i r - » . itndowdtes rm :3 LONDON [GP] â€" Lady, flweadamuir. widow of iLord Tweedsmuir. late Canadian governor-ganâ€" erol. has died at her Dxfordahire home at the age of 94. it was reported Wédnesdaval/i's’Kâ€"P’t '33 Lord Tweadsmuir, who Wrote thrillers as Iohn , uchan. was govarnor- genorol in Ottawa from 1935 until his death in 1940. Although overshadowed by her husband as a Ylimiter. Lady Tweedsmuir Twas a prolific: author. M.-..L:-:c9v'-..1. . ;;. n... u_.â€".m.â€"Wym r. 4, dressmaking. ii is an indication of - the advance in living standards and educational levels or rural women. The importance of home crafts has not been ignored. But while sewing. cooking and handicrafts are still a big part of the WI program, there is an increased emphasis on leadership training. Branch meetings are themselves leadership training courses for the members. Seminars are conducted on a district. provincial and national level. The WI provides scholarships for students showing leadership pn- tentiai. In Eastern Ontario the scholarship goes to the young per- son who has received the highest marks in the six 4-H courses or proj- ects. ‘ The play writing contest was more than a demonstration of liter- ary skill. The theme of the play had to be from Canadian folklore. That is indicative of the role of the WI in preserving local history. an idea promoted by Lady Tweedsmuir dur- ing her husband‘s term as Governor General. Each branch undertakes to record local events and delve into the area‘s past to collect artifacts and interesting hits of information. Last year the North Lonark Wi put on a Tweedsmulr Night in the Carleton Place High School which proved so successful it may become an annual event. The ladies demonstrated spin- ning. butter making. quilting and other pioneer activities: put on a fashion show with costumes ofyears gone by; held an old fashioned spcll- ing bee and spiced it all up with lots of old time country music. On the national level. the homes of has come a IOng'way Adelaide Headless in St. George.. Onl.. and Erland Lee in Stoney Creek have been made historic sites. The Federated Women‘s insti- tutes ot‘ Ontario have purchased the 1820 Sheridan Methodist Church and will move it to the site of the Ontario Agricultural Museum at Milton. The 156 year old building. one of the earliest rural churches in On- tario. will ensure the Women‘s Insti- tutes a suitable place in the muse- Inn. The Ontario government soon saw the Women‘s Institutes as the ideal vehicle for extension work through the farm homes and has, provided financial assistance to the organize. tion. The provincial home eeanm mists find the WI one of the best ways to teach nutrition and good homemaklng in rural areas. Helen McKercheh recently re- tired as director of the Home Eco- nomics Branch of the Ontario Min- istry of Agriculture and Food, is Honorary President of the Women‘s Institutes in Ontario. And the min- istry publishes Home and Country. the FWIO quarterly magazine. Eastern Ontario has three members on the Provincial board of directors: Mrs. John Schultz oi Ing- Ieside. Mrs. D. H. Davidson of Man- otick and Mrs. Peggy Hampel of Cobden. Mrs. Wallace Krause. who farms with her husband near Pembroke. was elected president of the Eastern Ontario Area at the recent Ottawa convention. Mrs. Krause said she welcomed the expansion of the institute from the farm into the urban communi- ties. She said the training in leader- . L». w . .mr»,u_.___ on .m- 4 i E i .v.-_’7â€"â€".LL_;- W.â€"