Chittering-Bindoon CWA
Pat Parkinson was a founding member of the Chittering- Bindoon Branch of the Country Women’s Association of WA — that’s over 70 years!
Pat was Miss Patricia Edmonds when she became a member of the branch after she returned to Bindoon from Northam, where she was going to high school for a few years. Her mother, Mrs Eva Edmonds (nee Hart) and her sister Cybil were also members of the Chittering Bindoon Branch of CWA.
The Chittering Bindoon CWA was formed on 31 May 1945 and met alternately at the Lake Chittering School on Chittering Road and the Bindoon Hall. Pat was in primary school when she attended CWA meetings with her mother at the Lake Chittering School. She revealed that she sat quietly next to her mother and never said a word.
Affectionately known as Pat Parki, Pat was Branch Treasurer in 1952, as recorded on the Branch Honour Board.
In reflecting on her CWA memories, Pat recalled CWA fundraisers and concerts in the Bindoon Hall. At one concert Pat and her sister Cybil dressed up in ballet costumes and danced on the stage. She helped organise Fun Days for the branch members which involved games of all kinds.
After Pat married Ernie and had children, she would take her daughters Jan (deceased) and Maree to the CWA branch meetings, as all members did. While the meeting was being held, the ladies took turns looking after all the children either outside or in the kitchen area.
Pat demonstrated her dedication to CWA and the community of Bindoon in many ways. With her husband Ernie, she weeded and tended the rose gardens in Bindoon. She was also a steward at the Bindoon Show for many years.
As a CWA member, Pat was always willing to make delicious fruit cakes for our branch raffles and jams and lemon cheese for our cake stalls. Pat helped the branch make breakfast for the firefighters at the Bindoon fires in November 2015. In January 2016 Pat helped with our community project, making up toiletry bags.
At CWA meetings Pat always helped, putting out the cups for morning tea and washing up afterwards. After events, Pat was seen with a dustpan and brush sweeping up and then she would take the tea towels home to wash so they were clean for next time.
Pat liked to do her bit for the CWA by quietly working in the background, but the care she gave and the support she provided to all the members were always evident.
Pat and Ernie were married for 72 years. With the exception of a few years away at school in Northam and the final years of her life lived near her daughter Maree, Pat was a life-long resident of Bindoon. Pat’s parents, Harold Edmonds and his wife Eva and Pat and Ernie’s daughter Jan have plaques under the entry trees at the Holy Trinity Church Chittering.
Pat passed away peacefully on Friday 16 February in the care of the Kondinin Hospital, aged 93 years. Pat will always be remembered and very much appreciated.
