Canowindra CWA take a snapshot of history

In a two year labour of love by Jenny Middleton and the Canowindra Branch of the Country Women's Association (CWA), branch presidents have been recognised in a photo wall. Member, Jenny Middleton collected, printed, framed and placed onto the wall of the CWA hall in Canowindra, photos of all the Presidents of the Canowindra CWA since 1923. Ms Middleton said a reason why she undertook this project was due to these presidents have done a great job in country Australia and many country towns seem to survive on CWA. With photos of past presidents from the early stages of the Canowindra Branch Ms Middleton decided to track down photos of the presidents through family and friends to collect the photos. CWA Canowindra branch Secretary Bev Taylor said several of the photos were sourced through the help of the historical society, and even one photo sent through from family members in the UK, though the the process was predominantly a locally sourced project. Ms Middleton said it wasn't an easy job as many photos weren't taken in the early years, and many photos had been destroyed over the intervening years. They have found and framed photographs of all of the presidents of the CWA branch bar one, which Mrs Middleton said they are working with the family to find a photo which was stored. Ms Taylor said it was nice to think they have that history in its entirety, and are able to display it. Ms Middleton said they would like to thank Sharna from Sugarloaf Studio for helping to print and frame the photos, as well as helping to extract people's faces from group photos. Ms Taylor said Jenny has done a mammoth job, particularly in tracking down family history to find previous branch presidents and their photos.