The Yamba Catholic Ladies Group was formed 40 years ago to help and support St James Catholic church and church hall in Yamba. Prior to this the church was an old weatherboard structure and bursting at the seams as the town started to grow. The church as it stands today was constructed in 1975, followed by the building of our church hall which was made possible by generous bequests of two of our parishioners. The parish priest asked some of our Catholic ladies if they would like to take control of the new hall, and our well loved and respected deceased member Vonnie Tonkin was more or less put in charge, followed by a band of very capable and willing ladies. Yamba Catholic Ladies Group was officially formed in 1976 and last Saturday week we celebrated our 4oth anniversary. Our main function is to assist with the smaller needs of the church and the church hall. Our fund raising to be able to give this financial support is mainly from the hiring of the hall, small funeral wakes of deceased members and a monster spring garage sale held every year in September. Our moral support is always on hand and time and energy is given very generously by our willing group of ladies. Although only a reasonably small group of 22, we are a very strong group working well together and we are capable of achieving many things performed by much larger groups. Thank you one and all past and present for this wonderful achievement and we look forward to the next 40 years. Congratulations on a job very well done. Genie Drummond