TWG celebate 80th anniversary

Members of Townswomen's Guilds from Bexhill, Hastings and Eastbourne met at the Manor Barn to mark the organisation's 80th year.

The celebratory coffee morning was attended by their three Town Mayors - Cllr Paul Lendon for Bexhill, Cllr Maureen Charlesworth for Hastings, and Cllr Mary Pooley of Eastbourne.

Also there was Jill Craddock from National Headquarters who gave a talk about Townswomen's Guilds.

Press officer for TWG Federation in East Sussex Patrica Jopson said: "This is about coffee, conversation and getting together.

"We are also hoping to get some new members - I have had some ladies inquiring and so we tell them what we do, and they do seem interested, which is what it is all about."

There are nine TWG's in East Sussex - the three in Bexhill are Cooden Millenium, Bexhill Down, and Little Common morning TWG. There are approximately 500 members at present.

The Manor Barn event on Wednesday was organised by Kath Broomhead, Federation Chairman of East Sussex - she has been a member for 49 years.

She commented: "It is the 80th anniversary of Townswomen, and today is actually the day that women were given the vote - the suffragettes. So all over England, Townwomen are celebrating in some way or another with a coffee morning."

She joined in her mid-30's and now almost 82, she added: "I joined because that's what women used to do - it was their night out once a month, our one free night out."