Other guests included the Member for Northern Tablelands and Minister for Agriculture, Adam Marshall and Mayor of Tenterfield Peter Petty and his wife Kate.

The keynote speaker for the meeting was Felicity Cossins who spoke of her early life in Kenya then coming to Tenterfield in the 1980s with her family to live. Felicity with her husband Noel later returned to Africa and then Pakistan where they worked with the local peoples helping them build better lives.

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The meeting is an annual event for the group of CWA branches and held in Tenterfield every third year, hosted by the local branch.

Members heard a variety of reports, all with a familiar theme: the unrelenting drought and the effects on rural areas. The CWA of NSW members have worked tirelessly for well over 12 months to help those in need.

The CEO of CWA Danica Leys this week said in the Countrywomen Journal that $13.5 million had been distributed from a grant scheme. Around 8000 recipients have received the grants of $3000 to help with a variety of farm-related expenses.

As long as the scheme has the funding the work will work will continue. The latest donor was again Coles who gave a further one million dollars following similar bigger contributions last year.

More funding for the scheme has come from CWA members and branches, Dick Smith Foundation, the Federal Government and many more sources.