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The Institute BY KATE BARLOW Sautham newspapers STONEY CREEK â€" Ethel McIntosh doesn‘t rely on written histories about the early days of the Women‘s Insti- tute. All she has to do is cast her mind â€" still crystal clear at 93 â€" back to her teenage years in Saltfleet and recollec- tions of Erland and Janet Lee. The Lees, along with Hamiltonian Adelaide Hoodless, founded the world's largest rural women’s move- ment. This year, the Women‘s Institute. fondly known as the Institute or the WI, celebrates its 100th anniversary with six million members in more than 80 countries. McIntosh can recall tobogganing with the Lees‘ children. As a teenager, she was accompanied home after dark from the radial rail- way stop by Erland Lee who lived at the crest of the escarpment in what is now the Erland Lee (Museum) Home. "He was a great man," she says. Her grandmother was a charter member of the institute and quite like- ly at the first meeting in Squires Hall on King Street East on that cold Februâ€" ary night in 1897. To ensure a good turnout, the Lees drove their horse-drawn cutter up and down muddy Saltfleet roads, persuad- ing women to come and hear Hoodless speak on the need for domestic science education for rural women. Her impassioned speech was born of tragedy. Eight years earlier. her 14â€"month-old son had died from drinking impure milk. The grief-stricken young mother was convinced that “women's work, homecraft and mothercraft, is much more important than men's since it deals with the home and the care of the loved ones who dwell therein.“ Exactly 101 women, plus Erland Lee, attended that first meeting. Six days later, on Feb. 25, his wife wrote by hand the constitution and bylaws of the Women’s Institute of Saltfleet while seated at the walnut dining table in her Ridge Road home. McIntosh can't remember when she followed her mother and grandmoth- er‘s example and joined the first Women's Institute, now known as the Stoney Creek Charter Women's Insti- tute. “It's still important," she says. The average age of current institute members in Canada is 72, but that doesn’t mean there 'sn't still a strong _. m ,rtn. The home of Women's Institute founders Erland and Janet Lee is non. a museum. commitment to families' well being says a member who bucks the age trend. Wendy MacDougal is 39 and a meme ber of the Carluke branch. Like McIntosh, her grandmother and mother were members, but MacDougal became involved while pursuing her master‘s degree in education at Broek University. She decided to study the impact of friendship on women’s health and the institute seemed a perfect model. “They re a pretty incredible bunch of ladies. They've accomplished so much and continue to concern themselves with issues,“ she says. She found that members from the early rears beliete they pose“ [he in [811181 resources to learn anything the) need "That they can go out. Fig and come back and shun: it i; . other." says MacDougttl “'l his concept oi sharing, this ton- cept of communii}r is what 1 thlnk makes the impact on their health," For some years, women's institute branches throughout the province funded pre-natal care. “And they raised that money through quilting hcc. knitting hoes." she said. "They're always been a group that's very practical." That still holds [me today, says Miro Dougal. Although members Lend to he IIUl Eith f/iiw its-“J 7 5- 2' we ” /777 ’/ i/‘Ui . d the world '{l'lf1rl'r,lh“19l null a metre ' " three-db hours in Donal or ‘r nband V‘. at It“; especiall' . trumpet. Pa . cake msnmte and and tuning ' Tu Ulric next millennium lLIZHL 10 help crest ‘ The Women s ln<r1tt: Lit in “ere instrumental L“ - l"ustettrizauv,-n o! te l - Bread wrapped - White zines ' Stop Signs tit railu a} C.“ mi ' Legal marriage raise ' Mandator} tr 2C halts “er. school buses are «tipped for motonss I Sex education in schools (SUITE I31; pl'UVIDthll ll rears mrl’i parent \ consent ' Breathali‘ser and blood ze>t= I Potson toniginers cw marked. ' Banning the sale of mli'lt‘ljlr based detergent». I