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.\ Hillier president Ruth Crawford (l-r) Consecon president Manon Walt, and Wellington president Betty Cronk show the new 100th anniversary issue of the Women's Institute Book at the Hillier meeting last Wednesday. -=- Pat Stapelfeldt photo. Women's Institute Celebrates a century of progress . By Pat Stapelfeldt Ameliasburgh Free Press It's taken exactly 100 years, but there were several groups of women in Prince Edward County who got a whole lot of attention last Wednesday. At the Hillier Town Hall about 60 women from Hillier, Consecon and Wellington got together to Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Women's Institute. The first meeting of the Women's Institute was held in Stoney Creek, Feb. 19, 1897, and over the past 100 years they have instituted such changes as the pasteurization of milk, mandatory stopping for school buses with flashing lights, clear markings on poison bottles, the formation of Brock University and the MacDonald Institute at the University of Guelph. The Women's Institute also offers scholarships and bursaries, and opportunities for Third World citizens to study in Canada. As a member of the Women's Institute you also become a member of the Associated Country Women of the World, which is the largest Women's organization. The Hillier Institute was formed in 1914. Jean Alexander who joined Hiller 50 years ago remembers packing boxes to go overseas, but where her work has bear primarily has been with the 4- H. "Our motto is still 'For home and country,” says . up to that. The Institute has . changed over the years she . admits adding "We have to go with the times." Lily Walt has been a member of Consecon Women's Institute since she retired from teaching, Well, she corrects herself; an active member. She was a member before she retired but she didn't get out as much. She is 90 this year. She remembers the earlier years as not as organized as now, she adds, women are better informed now. In the beginning women in the Institute learned more from each other, or one woman would learn something and pass it on, she says. Ameliasburgh Free Press, February 25, 1997