Category Archives: family life

family life

April 2024 The Byron Wave


CWA Brunswick Heads Branch by Beverly Masters

Pictured: Quilts made by Brunswick Heads CWA.

During World War I, the Country Women’s Association (CWA) extended assistance to soldiers and their families by supplying clothing, care packages, and raising funds for medical provisions. Additionally, they advocated for food preservation and cultivation to alleviate shortages, coordinating communal kitchens and promoting homegrown crops.

These initiatives underscored the CWA’s dedication to community welfare and its capacity to mobilise women in times of adversity, cementing its role as a crucial support system in Australia. Annually, we pay our respects on ANZAC Day and lay a wreath at the Brunswick Heads Memorial Park on 25 April.

CWA Brunswick Heads Crafty Women meet each Friday between 10am
– 2pm, corner of Park and Booyun Street, Brunswick Heads. Join us for a chat, a cuppa and bring along your craft projects including sewing, knitting, crocheting, memory books or quilting. Women are always welcome, please bring a gold coin donation.

If you would like to be a member please email: brunscwa@gmail.com For more information visit: facebook. com/CWAofBrunswickHeads

Presidents Poem

by Beverly Masters

In the heart of a thriving community’s glow, Lies a

tapestry of stories that ebb and flow

In shared laughter and moment of tears


a bond forms stronger throughout the years

A web of support, a safety net found

In our CWA community we are uniquely bound

From diverse backgrounds, culture, and creed

In unity, may we find what we need

A mosaic of lives, each unique and bright

Listening to each other and not always having to be right

On the corner of Park and Booyun streets


Is where our CWA members and friends meet.

byronwave | April 2024

17

family life

March 2024 The Byron Wave


CWA Brunswick Heads Branch by Beverly Masters

Pictured: Patch work quilt, by Bev Carbines.

The Country Women’s Association (CWA) of Brunswick Heads is hosting its highly anticipated first market of 2024 on Saturday, 23 March from 8am–1pm.

This beloved event showcases our handmade crafts, delectable jams, savoury pickles, mouth-watering cakes, and other homemade goods. Proceeds from the market will be donated to support the local community.

Visitors can expect a wide array of unique items, from handmade quilts to children’s clothing, as well as freshly baked treats. Beyond shopping, the market provides an opportunity for the community to come together in support of a worthy cause.

Our market days happen quarterly in March, June, September and December and have been a cherished tradition that our locals love and are a testament to the dedication of our CWA members who tirelessly organise them.

We also wish to recognise International Women’s Day on 8 March and express gratitude to those have paved the way for us, making our journey a bit easier.

Interested in joining the CWA in 2024? Our gatherings provide a warm and welcoming space for women of all ages to come together, learn, and celebrate their artistic endeavours. Our Friday gatherings are from 10am – 2pm (excluding public holidays). All women are welcome. Please bring a gold coin donation.

Hall hire is also available. For more information email: brunscwa@gmail.com

byronwave | March 2024

15

family life

October The Byron Wave


by Beverly Masters, CWA Brunswick Heads

We are lucky to live in such a beautiful place, although many of us may never be classified locals by the locals you can still join the CWA, meet new people, pick up a new hobby,
or as one of our members has done, finish crocheting a baby’s dress, started in the 1990s, with expert help from our members who have been crocheting for years.

There is currently a great opportunity to shadow our Secretary, Mary, over the next year to learn the ropes. Mary has been our Secretary for three years and is a great asset to the Club. This would be a good opportunity for anyone interested in becoming Secretary and being more involved in the community through CWA. Forms for nominations need to be submitted as soon as possible for our Friday 6 October Election day. Please email: brunscwa@gmail.com for more information.

Our next Market day is on Saturday 7 October. We raise much needed funds for community members so please come to see our craft work, cakes, jams pickles and plants. The Market runs between 8am–1pm at the corner of Park and Booyun Streets, Brunswick Heads. Cash only.

The past few months we have welcomed new members, who are enjoying our Friday Crafty Women sessions. We are a friendly and diverse group of women who live locally in the Byron/Tweed area.

byronwave | October 2023

family life

September The Byron Wave


Community in brief

CWA Brunswick branch, by Beverly Masters

Pictured: Pat Davis and her mum, Marie James, at CWA 75th Anniversary Celebration with their memories displayed behind them.

Our 75th year celebration was a great success and we displayed our crafty work and memories from the past.
The free sausage sizzle was popular, and it was wonderful to see so many CWA members from surrounding clubs congratulating us. We are currently working on our 75th year Anniversary Cookbook, with inexpensive and tasty recipes, and we are planning to have it ready for our December Market Day. A part of the celebrations included creating a time capsule, which will be buried with various memories of the CWA and unearthed in 25 years at the 100th year celebration.

We also featured a special family on our 75th anniversary. The James family has been using the CWA rooms each Boxing Day for the past 28 years. The tradition began in 1994 when mother and grandmother Marie James became unwell. The family decided to hire the CWA rooms on Boxing Day so the extended family could gather for what could have been her last Christmas. Family came from Warwick, Toowoomba, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Lismore and all around. Marie passed away the next year, but the James family have continued their Boxing Day pilgrimage every year.

‘The CWA rooms have been a wonderful venue for our gatherings and the CWA ladies have been very good to
us,’ said Marie. ‘We wish to thank them very much for their kindness and we will continue gathering at Brunswick Heads for many years, perhaps generations, to come.’

CWA of Brunswick Heads, family life

July 2023 The Byron Wave


Community
Community
Celebrating 75 years of community and advocacy
by Beverly Master, CWA Brunswick Heads
Pictured: Brunswick Heads Public School receiving CWA check. Source: Mark Seiffert.

On 8 July the CWA of Brunswick Heads will be commemorating a significant milestone as it celebrates its 75th anniversary. In honor of this remarkable milestone, a grand celebration will take place on 22 July from 10am–2pm, with a mouth-watering sausage sizzle available from 11am– 1pm. The community is warmly invited to join the festivities and witness the remarkable craftwork and captivating photos from the CWA’s vibrant past.
The branch was officially formed at a public meeting held at the Brunswick Hall in 1948. With an initial membership of 24 devoted women, the branch held its early gatherings at Treetops and the local RSL. Over the years, the CWA branch in Brunswick Heads has tirelessly fundraised in various creative ways. Their efforts bore fruit on 22 October 1960,
when the CWA building on Park Street was inaugurated. The overarching objective of the CWA remains the same today: to bring the community together and amplify the voices of women in NSW. Our unwavering goal has always been to improve the conditions and welfare of women and families.
The CWA of NSW annually raises approximately $1 million dollars to support vital causes. Alongside their philanthropic endeavors, the CWA has a long-standing tradition of advocacy at various government levels. Presently, their advocacy focuses on including the appointment of qualified counsellors and psychologists in all government schools, as well as the urgent need for increased social and affordable housing for older women across metropolitan, regional, and rural areas of NSW.
During a recent gathering, Mrs Jodi Ridgway, Principal of Brunswick Heads Public School, gratefully accepted a generous $2,000 cheque from the CWA. The funds will sponsor four students, enabling them to learn a musical instrument under the guidance of staff from the esteemed Conservatorium of Music. The occasion was documented by Mark Seiffert, known for his captivating photography on the Humans of Bruns Facebook page.
The celebration on 22 July promises to be a memorable occasion for all and we hope to see you there. For more information visit Facebook: CWAofBrunswickHeads
family life, life's tips

Byronshire


I live in a very beautiful part of the world, in between the Australian Rain Forrest and the most Easterly Point of Australia.  The birds in this area are amazing to watch, so clever how they work together to gather food, you see them in our back yard calling each other when they find a good feed. I love waking up… or trying to wake up before the laughing kookaburra begins in the morning at about 6am.  It’s truly the quietest time of the day and it somehow gives me pleasure to know that I woke before they woke me.

Birdlife Australia said that their 2015 Australian birds report shows dwindling numbers of some common birds, like the willy wagtail, kookaburra and magpie-lark and this should be a wake-up call.  There are many reasons why our bird number are “dwindling” it’s a jungle out there for them, kind of like our local Byronites that have been trying to survive the Jungle of a popular seaside town must endure.  We have so much talent here and I shalll endeavour to write about some of the most interesting things I love about the Byronshire…birds, dogs, and spiders and snakes included.

 

 

family life

Hello…it’s me


What on earth does one write on ones post pages?   It seems such a difficult task to build a website about yourself…to display who you are or who you want people to think you are.  We live in a funny world…a time where our websites/blogs/facebook page are like our previous school projects…awaiting comments or likes from the teacher and peers.

Thanks for stopping by, here I shall display a little of what I’m up to from time to time throughout my life.

I hope you enjoy my stories about some real life experiences I have had and wanted to share.

Cheers

Beverly