Home & Country Newsletters (Stoney Creek, ON), Spring 1982, page 13

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provided the combination in personality needed to work with Mrs. Watt. and those responsible for forming an Interna» tional Organization. The road was not always smooth. the discussion in many instances heated. the clashes of per- sonalities strong. However the promotion ofthe formation of an international rural organization remained of uppermost Importance. Miss Elsie Zimmern, a friend of Lady Tweedsmuir. who had a miraculous ability to advise people helping them to know their own minds. provided strong leadership at a crucial time, One ofthe few things she had in common with Mrs. Watt (with whom she was to come to know well and work closely with). was the capacity for hard work. Even in this. the two ladies differed. Miss Zimmcrn. was willing to do any kind ofwork. from office details to typist. while Mrs. Watt. hated routine and any work related to drudgery. In I927. the International Council ofWomcn's Executives passed a resolution “that a temporary Committee be formed. to consider the conditions under which women's rural organizations work." The original Committee was. Lady Aberdeen and Mrs. Watt. both of England; Margarete Keyserlingk. Germany; Fru Falsen Gjerdrum. Norway. and Miss Zimmern. England. The group spent a year researching the possibility with the same problems plaguing them as we experience in our own organization to-day. lack of money for travel and arranging dates for getting together for meetings. By |929. as a result of long hours of work. the International Council of Women issued an invttation to all rural women to send delegates to a Conference in London. to be held simultaneously with a meeting of the Executive and Standing Committees of the international Council of Women. Ofthe 23 rural groups invited. 2i sent delegates and the other two sent observers. The two objectives at this Conference t l l to make Country Women aware that other women in other countries were Mrs. Godfrey Drage striving for the same ends. (I) to find a means of furthering communication and coâ€"operation. The question now arOse. should the ICW have a rural wing within the organization? Was there need for a separate rural organization? Through the brilliant leadership of Lady Aberdeen. Chairman. and Mrs. Watt. Vice-Chairman. the conference "feeling" was to carry on some way. some how. The appointment of a Liaison Committee with Mrs, Watt Chairman. and strong personalities rcprcscnting many Countries in the world surrounding. her. helped all to tackle the impossible tasks and iron out insurmountable problems. Much had happened since the meeting in Vienna. when Lady Abcrdccn moved the adoption of the annual report in I932 when she said. "the International Country Women‘s movement “as full of life and delight and ;t joy to e\cr_\one connected with it What a power lies in thc hands ofcnunlr} women!" By the time thc Stockholm Cont'crcncc was hcld in 1033. u stmplc and worthwhile Constitution was :ICEUPIL‘LJ A name was found after much thought and discussion. The idea ufan association without federation was prcciscly what Mrs. Watt most dcsircd. and ll was adopted by the Conference. The moment of truth 7 Mrs Walt wrutc on the blackboard _ ASSOCIATED COUNTRY WOMEN (it THE WORLD Mrs. Alfred Watt

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