From a customs office to a customary meeting place
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1800s – Early 1900
The Women's Institute building was Twillingate's old customs office. Located near St. Peter's Anglican Church, it was constructed as a public building in the late nineteenth century. The ground floor was used as a local post office and was nicknamed the "Tory Post Office," since the Conservative ("Tory") Party was then in office under James Spearman Winter (1845 – 1911). The first Post Master was John White, who served until his death in 1922. Customs services were discontinued amidst 1949 Confederation when all public buildings came under Ottawa's jurisdiction. -
1940s – 1960s
Customs duties were then transferred to Gander, and during the process the deeds to the building were lost. The building has since been without an official owner. About the same time Twillingate's Girl Guides found themselves without a meeting place. Their Commissioner asked permission to use the old customs house, so in 1951 local MHA and Attorney-General Leslie Curtis granted the Guides a ninety-nine year lease on the building. The Girl Guides met regularly at the hall, and the bottom floor was used as a public library. The Guides were joined by the Lion's Club, which renovated the building, five years after the local Lion's chapter was founded in 1953. Around this time, The Jubilee Guilds of Newfoundland were being formally organized from the Service League, an organization founded earlier on for tsunami recovery efforts. The objective of the Jubilee Guilds was to help improve the quality of life in rural areas through education, crafts and service. Jubilee Guilds joined the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) in 1945 and the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada (FWIC) in 1951. In the late 1960s the Women's Institute expanded to New World Island, and for twenty-five years ran a craft shop at Summerford (This building was constructed of round logs and built with free labour). The name changed to Women’s Institutes in 1968 and the emphasis changed to include more educational programs targeting both rural and urban women. -
1970s – 2000s
A prime advocate for integrating the Women’s Institute into the community was Twillingate resident Lorna Stuckless, formerly of Eastport. Stuckless’ role within the Institute encumbered numerous positions of responsibility, including President of the Twillingate branch, District Representative, and Provincial Convenor of the Home Economics Area. At Twillingate, the Institute's logo is a ship's wheel encompassing the words "Newfoundland and Labrador Women's Institute," with Newfoundland's Provincial flower, the pitcher plant, inside. The wheel reflects Twillingate's close association with the sea, especially the fishing industry which the Institute supports. The Twillingate Women's Institute has been involved in many worthy activities over the years, including the promotion of local crafts, pap smear clinics, scholarships, and global awareness programs like UNICEF. They also play a role in the Twillingate/NWI Fish, Fun and Folk Festival, which Mrs. Stuckless helped found in 1981, and the local high school's Safe Grad program. By 1977 the building was showing signs of disrepair. A Winter Works Grant vas received to renovate the building's interior and exterior, while retaining much of its original form. The library had moved to Twillingate's high school building so the Women's Institute moved into the ground floor serving a variety of functions to this day. -
Present Day
The present day Newfoundland and Labrador Women’s Institutes is an informal, educational organization for women to work together to expand their skills, broaden their interests, plan meetings, workshops and conferences, and strengthen the quality of life for themselves, their families and their communities. The NLWI is a non-partisan, non-sectarian, non-racial organization.
The Mortar
In 1921, Twillingate residents commemorated their first war memorial, which was one of the earliest such memorials in the region. On May 24, 1921, despite harsh weather conditions including cold temperatures and snow flurries, a significant number of residents gathered for Empire Day. The day featured a lengthy procession that began with Arm school children and the A.L. Brigade’s band parading over Yates’ Hill. The centerpiece of the procession was a trench mortar, which had been placed on Mr. Ashbourne’s horse lorry at Ashbourne’s premises the previous day. The procession included veterans from the three branches of the service as escorts.
As the procession continued, children from the Salvation Army and North Side, along with Anglican and Methodist children, joined along with members of the general public. The crowd grew as they reached the post office grounds, where the trench mortar was positioned in the yard, and the flag was ceremoniously lowered and raised while the band played the National Anthem.
Magistrate Mifflen addressed the gathering, emphasizing the significance of Empire Day and the principles of freedom, justice, and righteousness upon which the British Empire was built. He particularly spoke to the youth, reminding them of their heritage as part of the vast Empire. He emotionally commemorated the Newfoundlanders who had sacrificed their lives in various theaters of the Great War, emphasizing that they had given up their today for the future.
The National Anthem was sung, and cheers were called for by Constable Tulk for the King, the Army, the Navy, and Newfoundland. Despite the adverse weather, the entire event was deemed a success. However, later that night, an incident occurred when someone detonated a charge of powder in the gun, causing alarm among the neighbours. This incident highlighted the importance of respecting the sacredness of such memorials.
Jubilee Corner
Jubilee Corner in the area near the Women’s Institute that has served as a staging point for royal celebrations at least as early as early as 1935, when it played a role in George V’s silver Jubilee celebrations. It may also have been used as a starting point for Jubilee parades for Queen Victoria’s golden or diamond celebrations (1887 and 1897). In King George V’s case, an arch of boughs was erected in the area, and speeches were made at the Institute’s building(then a customs house), which would not have been present for Victoria’s celebrations.
