Townswomen’s Guild

Rushden Echo, 27th February 1948, transcribed by Kay Collins

New Guild has Great Send-off

Rushden has a Townswomen’s Guild. The ladies did not hesitate a moment at Tuesday’s inaugural meeting: 75 put their names down as founder members of the branch; 60 paid their subscriptions on the dot.

Practically all the women’s organisations were represented and it was claimed as the most successful meeting of its kind held for many years.

The only male participant was Coun. A. H. Bailey (chairman of Rushden Urban District Council), who presided. “I feel we ought to give him a medal for being a very brave man”, said Coun. Mrs. O. A. H. Muxlow. “I feel sorry that I can’t join your Guild”, he relied.

In his opening remarks, Coun. Bailey said: “This is the first time I have addressed a meeting composed entirely of women. I am completely at your mercy, but I am not nervous when I think of all that the women have been doing for our homes and families and are still doing. I can say how greatly we men appreciate what you are doing for us”.

Comradeship

Objects and organisations of the Guild were explained by Mrs. M. U. Underhill, of Birmingham, who affirmed that it was non-sectarian and non-political. “We do stress that” she said, “or we want to establish a common meeting ground where women can get together in fellowship and comradeship as they did in the war”. The Townswomen’s Guild, she said, was similar to the Women’s Institute, but where the latter catered for the countrywomen, the Guild catered for places with a population of over 4,000. It was recognised by the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Education from whom grants were received and who permitted the use of school halls for meetings.

Meetings were held once a month and there was a speaker, demonstrator or lecturer. These had always been chosen by the members themselves. After that there was always a social half hours. Some Guilds had drama and civic sections and arrangements could be made for glove and handbag making, cooking and millinery sessions if the members wanted them.

“Housewives do not realise how much a local council dominates the home”, she added. “But every word that the councillors say at a meeting does dominate the home in one way or another”.

By civic session they could learn about local affairs from all sides until they were able to discriminate. Then they would be able to elect the perfect council.

The Guild wanted to get members to discuss things together and to hear about things from experts. If they did that they would really know what they were talking about. If they knew that they had got the truth, they could talk about a thing with confidence.

The Townswomen’s Guild was an organisation to which townspeople could go when they wanted help in an emergency. They wanted to be useful to the town and the townspeople wanted to be able to go to the Guild if they wanted help in any way. In the event of another war they could form the nucleus for organisations such as the W.V.S. and the Red Cross.

The proposition to form a branch was made by Mrs. H. W. Ellis and was seconded by Mrs. M. Merriman.