One could be forgiven if a meeting of approximately 50 women on a Tuesday night in Stratford went mostly unnoticed by a large part of the local citizenry.
But there are two things that should be mentioned about the September 24 meeting of the city’s Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) chapter that met: they were celebrating the start of their 70th year, and a rough calculation of the experience and wisdom in the room resulted in a stunning tally of nearly 1,500 years.
You read that right. A century and a half of collected education, intelligence and shared life experiences that mixed with laughter, sharing and a perpetual desire to make a difference. For Cambria Ravenhill, the chapter president, the vibrance of this group is only outshone by it’s enthusiasm with which they approach challenges and friendship.
“We have a great group and we’ve got people that have been members of this club for 30 years – actually I think one of them has been here for 42 years,” she said. “The members here are just really engaged, and the difference between this club and some others is that this club is very focused on advocacy, on scholarship, and on a program that’s kind of stimulating.”
Sure, they have their bridge groups (a few, in fact) and book clubs (plenty of them, too), but there are the other things CFUW Stratford does. Ravenhill said that since this chapter began in 1954, the strength of it has been in its work with scholarships.
“The club was founded in 1954, then started a bursary in 1955 and then awarded the first scholarship in 1956, so right off the bat it was there to provide money for girls graduating from high school to go on to university specifically at that point,” she said. “It’s just continued from there, and the advocacy work has just been stellar.”
Ravenhill said that of the 94 clubs across Canada, Stratford has fostered a reputation for ‘punching above their weight’ when compared to some other clubs in Toronto or Vancouver or even Kitchener-Waterloo. She pointed out their ‘policy book’ where they create internal policies which are then promoted to other clubs in the province. From there, it goes across the country and even internationally. An example? Single-use plastics.
“That got taken up by our club and was kicked up to our national level as a policy that we then heckled the government about,” she said. “We’re part of something called GWI (Graduate Women International), which is an international non-governmental organization in Switzerland, and that’s one example of where one of our policies went. And one of our members, Sheila Clarke, has appeared before the senate on two different occasions in the last 30 years – so when I say we punch above our weight, that’s what I mean.”
It’s the varied nature of their work that keeps bringing the women back year after year. Ravenhill said there are a lot of retired teachers in the group, so the desire to keep helping students reach for their educational goals is always present. People like Clarke sink their teeth into causes that have a wide-ranging scope, and their involvement feeds their desire to help but also exposes the community at large to that pool of knowledge and wisdom mentioned before.
“I think there’s something about being engaged and mentally stimulated and wanting to continue to be part of the community,” Ravenhill said. “A lot of our members come from outside of Stratford; they either moved here or retired here because there is so much to do. You want to be in an environment that has stimulation, so I think that’s a clue to the type of people we have here.”
The club meets monthly from September through May at Stratford District Secondary School, and those interested in exploring the Stratford CFUW chapter more can visit the national website at www.cfuw.org and then find more information on the local club.
