CWA News - April 18, 2023

By Hilda Newstead

Prior to the Gilgandra CWA night meeting held in March, we had a fascinating handicraft lesson held by our CWA member, Brenda Yager, at which we learnt what a Cricut cutting machine can do!

This included, how to turn a picture into the individual colour sections, that will later form a sticker or iron-on.

Next, the design is loaded into the Cricut design space computer program and sent to the Cricut vinyl cutter where — once the various parts are cut-out and placed together to form a sticker — it is time to attach the sticker to another item. The sticker is then removed from the backing paper onto the transfer tape. Pictured, is one of the stickers attached to a note book — a great invention!

All reports at the meeting, were also well-received...

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LAND COOKERY REPORT

Our cake season is upon us again for 2023, and our cookery officer, would like the members to bring a ‘ginger fluff sponge’ to the April meeting. Our branch also participated in the Macquarie Group Land Cookery Day.

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AG AND ENVIRONMENT REPORT

This was on the thorny issue of the Hunter Pear; an invasive cactus species of Mexican origin that has naturalised in a variety of habitats in northern NSW, which seriously degrades invaded land and ecosystems and is continuing to spread.

This damaging plant pest, has there- fore become a real concern for landhold- ers.

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CULTURAL REPORT

The CWA Tea Rooms held at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, were again a great success after the call went-out for home-made jams and pickles.

A total of 54 jars of assorted pre- serves, sent to the CWA Tea Rooms where they have been sold during the show; which was a great effort from members.

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PUBLICITY REPORT

The Macquarie Group council meet- ing recently featured in The Gilgandra Weekly and was accompanied with pho- tos from the meeting.

The Gilgandra CWA Market that was held in Miller Street, was a great day and a very successful event. Held on Easter Saturday at the Coo-ee Memorial Park, it featured many stall-holders who all

enjoyed an outstanding day with many visitors also visiting town for the tractor pull event. In other news, the online pub- licity workshop will be held next month after the formation of a public support forum was approved last November. This will entail publicity officers and other interested members from across the state, invited to take part.

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INTERNATIONAL REPORT

The CWA’s NSW Conference will be held next month in Bathurst, beginning with a church service on the Sunday.

The ACWW world conference in Malaysia is also approaching rapidly, with a number of Macquarie Group ladies to attend.

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GENERAL BUSINESS

The CWA’s Agricultural and Environmental Committee has intro- duced the concept of a ‘Foe’, to bring awareness of the weeds and pests having a negative impact on our land and/or waterways, with a different species cho- sen each year. The Foe for 2023, is the feral cat.

Feral cats threaten the survival of more than 100 native animal species in Australia. They have already caused the extinction of some ground-dwelling birds and small-to-medium-sized mam- mals, and are responsible for killing a staggering thousands of native animals each year.

What is Country Care Link, is another topic discussed at the meeting. This organisation, is operated by Open Support and offers, free-of-charge, a transport service to those living in regional and rural NSW, travelling to Sydney for specialist medical care.

Transport is provided by either a vol- unteer driver or 13 Cabs for clients arriv- ing or departing Sydney via the domestic airport terminal, central train station, or a bus depot. Check the website for more details.

Preparations are also well underway for the Gilgandra Film Festival, with ANZAC Day the following week, fol- lowed by preparations for the Gilgandra Show kiosk. All members will be partic- ipating in these upcoming events.

In late February, the ARTC Inland Rail received approval from the NSW minister for planning, to progress the Narromine-to-Narrabri project, subject to conditions and the Australian govern- ment approval.

“We are continuing to keep commu- nities informed about detailed design development and how we are mitigating potential impact by using the community feedback,” the ARTC said.