Last Wednesday, Grafton CWA Branch members took part in the North Coast Group Cookery and Handicraft Day at Sawtell. We were relieved to get there after atrocious driving conditions on the way down, with torrential rain and poor visibility at times and strong winds. However, once we got there it proved to be an interesting and successful day, with Grafton getting 3rd place overall in both the Cookery and Handicraft. Annette’s crochet rug was awarded 1st place, Carmon’s awards included 1st place for her light fruit cake and Narelle won 1st place for her Remembrance Biscuits. Congratulations to Carmon who won the Laura Bruce Memorial Trophy for Excellent Fruit Cake North Coast CWA. Congratulations to the winners of each section who now go on to compete at State level at the State Conference to be held at Wagga in May. Congratulations to all other place getters and winners, including Mark Williamson who was awarded four 1st places and Cathryn Williamson for one 1st place. During the day we listened to 2 interesting guest speakers. Lisa from Nesting Needles at Coramba talked about patchwork and quilting and showed a beautiful selection of quilts and bags. Gloria Hyatt spoke about entering cookery competitions and gave us all some very useful hints and tips for making prize winning cakes and jams. Some very helpful and simple tips from an expert, that we’ll all be using in our baking in future. The drive back to Grafton was much better than the journey to Coffs, the rain had eased and there was very little traffic heading north. It was interesting to see the large electronic signage warning of cyclonic conditions expected north of Grafton and we were all glad to see the sign showing that we were back in Grafton! We are having a stall at the “On Record: Celebrating Our Seniors” event on Wednesday March 12 at Grafton Library, 10am. There will be lots of information about CWA available and also some of our famous scones! We hope lots of people will stop at our stall and have a look at the display showing what CWA is all about and information about what Grafton Branch has been doing. Meetings of Grafton CWA are held on the 2nd Friday of each month at GDSC. We start with morning tea at 9.30am and the meeting at 10am. New members are always welcome; our next meeting is on Friday March 14. Craft mornings are held at the Salvation Army Hall, Oliver St, on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month, starting at 9.30am.