The annual meeting of the Wellington North District Women’s Institute was held recently in the Fellowship Hall of the United Church here.
The hall was decorated with the institute colors of royal blue and yellow. White lace over blue cloths covered the tables while vases of yellow tulips, and mini straw hats of stiffened blue netting added accents.
Socializing before the 3pm meeting was enjoyed by members of the different local institutes as well as guests from neighboring districts and head office.
Unfortunately this would prove to be the last meeting of its kind.
District president Margaret Bracken (of the Little Ireland WI) welcomed the 30 in attendance and opened the meeting with the Institute Ode and repeated the Collect.
Anne Reid (Carry-On WI) conducted the In Memoriam where four district members were remembered: Marion Bracken and Eleanor Crispin (Little Ireland), Marjory Faulkner (Beehive) and Marrie Cochrane (the disbanded Greenbush WI). Two special poems were read followed by a minute’s silence.
Little Ireland president Maxine Heise welcomed everyone, and in following the meeting theme Communications over the years, introduced guest Paul Wightman. Paul is a great-grandson of the 1908 Clifford Wightman telecom company.
The telephone is something most of us live with every day, yet it was fun to have Wightman turn back the pages and remind us how it all got started. The communications system is now 103 years old and is the only family owned telephone company remaining in Ontario.
In the early days there were 600 independent companies. Over a century ago Bell put one phone in the post office. A young lad was in charge and he was given 5 cents to take a call and deliver a message.
Bell Telephone would not allow another company use its lines unless it had 200 customers. Little independent exchanges sprung up around many towns and hamlets.
Robert Wightman wanted telephones among his farm neighbours in Howick and started his own company with 60 customers. Eventually Bell wanted away from all those smaller exchanges and sold out. In 1928, Robert’s son Ben bought Ayton, Clifford and Neustadt exchanges and immediately boosted their sales to 400 customers.
The original office was in the Howick farmhouse. During the evening hours when the switchboard operators weren’t on duty Mrs. Wightman opened the lines and played the gramophone till she was summoned (was that not a precursor to the current ritual where music is played while you are on hold?).
Mrs. Wightman was so dedicated she slept in the telephone room so she wouldn’t miss a call. Her baby girl was born on the bed beside the switchboard.
Ben Wightman died suddenly in 1948 but his widow Leila made the decision to carry on the business … and was the only woman in Canada to own a telephone company. She took the business from days of the switchboard to one of the first rotary dial exchanges in Ontario (Neustadt in 1954).
One of the proudest moments in the Wightman career came when Leila was inducted to the Canadian Telecommunications Hall of Fame (one of only two women).
Leila’s son Ray took over and had the same foresight as his mother. He was recognized by the Agricultural Hall of Fame in 2007.
Ray’s sons Blair and Paul joined the company in the l980s and are now fourth generation owners and operators. One of the more recent introductions is fibre optics. The fibre optic is a cable the size of a hair that contains two glass fibres.
If it has to be spliced it must be done with computer and a laser beam to meld it together. Optic is so high tech it is claimed all conversations in the world could be carried on one fibre. As time goes on the fibre optic cable will replace the old copper telephone lines.
Now that digital TV has come into play, the telephone is just a small part of the Wightman Telecommunications world.
Paul Wightman referred to the book that was printed to commemorate the 100 years of history – and he left it with the institutes to be used as a draw prize (won by Dorelene Anderson).
Anne Reid thanked the speaker and presented him with a token of our appreciation.
More business
A review of last year’s District minutes was given by secretary Audrey Connell, and a financial status review by Peggy Roger. Annual reports were given by each of the committee co-ordinators.
Donna Henderson of Gorrie from the Howick WI was commissioned to design and produce a quilt to be used as a raffle ticket fund raiser for the Women’s Institute convention in Sydney, Australia in June. Henderson described her work for the My Canada theme she chose.
She pointed out the various blocks that portray many areas of Canada and described how and why she used each one. It took her three years to design and make the quilt.
During the annual committee reports Lynda Alexander told of the successful rose program that had 25 women knitting fancy frilled scarves. A picture and description is on page 5 of the latest Home and Country magazine.
Anne Reid advised that Jacqueline Shaw was the recipient of the $300 WI scholarship. The Wellington County Historical Society’s annual meeting will be June 4. Highlight of that meeting was the celebration of the 25 years of the Journal.
In giving annual reports from each institute, president Heise informed the group that Little Ireland has made the decision to disband after 85 years. A few members plan to join the Beehive WI.
A proposal was put forth to also disband the Wellington North District as it would now consist of only two institutes. A ballot vote was taken for the dissolution of the current district, and the anticipation of amalgamating with Huron East.
Although it was a completely unanimous vote, it must now go back to the regular membership of the two remaining institutes for individual vote (to include those not in attendance at the annual meeting).
Disbanding is not an automatic action but must follow established protocol and may take months. In the meantime all elected officers will remain in place.
A dinner was served by the church women, followed by group entertainment. Little Ireland and Carry-On WIs presented songs about the history of their institute. Carry-On’s selection will be taken to the competition at the area convention in the fall.
Changes happen and progress takes its toll. Although the Woman’s Institutes have been a vital link in family and community for as much as 115 years, one by one some of the smaller have had to dissolve because of aging and declining membership.
