Ever wondered what happened to the vibrant and dynamic women's group called the Jaycee Women's League started by the wives of the men of the Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1957, but operated as an independent organisation until 1983.
According to the first president, Kitty Inglefield: "we were always being asked to organise this or that for the men, but it was quite by chance that Isa Anderson of Les Amantes, a group which organised a show every Carnival Monday night in front of the Grand Stand, asked myself, my husband Geoff, and Conrad O'Brien then president of the Junior Chamber, two weeks before Carnival to take over that show. We put on a wonderful show the Monday night, in spite of the short notice."
O'Brien had the idea of forming an Association for women, and Kitty thought "let's do it along the lines of the Jaycettes in Miami who were referred to as "watchdogs in high heels."
"We invited people who were interested to come forward and the wonderful part was that people came from across the society, and we became a very close, hardworking, committed Association, at which time our main theme was to try and interest young women to be involved in helping the society. In those days, everybody in the social welfare organisation was past fifty. So we thought let us harness that enthusiasn, energy and new thinking, and it really worked, the first year we did ten projects."
Kitty, who is still helping those in need, decided to start with a bang: "really involving us in something meaningful. People would come and talk to us, tell us their problems at our meetings and give us their views. We were very enthusiastic about it, you had a feeling here was something new, started by young people. How many people have that privilege of being on the bottom rung of the ladder when a nation is being born. I went to meet the head of the Social Welfare and he advised me a lot."
Then a woman Police Inspector spoke to the group about Laventille. She felt there was no hope for anybody living up there, and told at length about conditions up there. Horrified at the Inspector's thoughts, the Jaycee women went to the Social Welfare Officer and asked what can we do. His first piece of advice was "always remember if you are going to help people in these areas you do not give them money just like that, they become suspicious and feel there are strings attached."
The women learned there was a dire need for a school. The government had already given a piece of land up on the hill to build a proper school, so the Jaycee women worked to get money and lumber to start the building, the residents themselves built the first school. "We continued to help up there and for years our women went up to teach them things, the last thing was organising a library" says Kitty. "We were in touch with all organisations, most of them had a Jaycee woman representative on their committee, so we knew exactly what was needed."
On the homefront, the women gave their male counterparts maximum support for their Carnival Queen Shows, finding entrants, dressmakers at good prices, prizes, costuming, ushering, box office: "we helped them with all sort of things, Jean Legge, another past president, and I did all the decorations with a lot of help from members. And they gave us a certain percentage of the money raised from the Show." Besides the fact that the amount of work done by the League over the years was quite gratifying "the league introduced young blood to the whole social welfare scene" says Kitty.
Another past president, Gloria Ward (1963), who now lives in Barbados, remembered "the Concert Season, we used to bring in artists from all over the world. The first show was pianist Winnifred Atwell. The Berlin Chamber Orchestra, Mexican Boys Choir, and many named artists performed at the concerts, which were the biggest of our projects, and raised lots of money for a good many years. We used to sell tickets in blocks to firms for their staff."
The League also adopted a ward at St Ann's Hospital, gave annual Christmas parties at the Princess Elizabeth Home and the Lady Hochoy Home, and distributed hampers of gifts at John John Community Centre, "we even gave a sewing machine and piano" says Ward, "we used to help almost every charitable organisation." For the League's own fundraising, there were bazaars, raffles, bingos, an annual Kiddies Carnival Competition, even a Pink Ball, and they take credit for having run the first ever real Fashion Show at Queen's Hall.
"We ran the secretariat for the J.C. men and entertained foreign wives when they had their conventions" says Ward "and while many people felt that women's clubs have bacchanal, we never had any confusion." A floor member, Monica Johnstone, recalled at one function trying to float "Welcome" in Ixoras in the pool at the Pan American Guest House in styrotex: "we didn't know how to put weight to float it, the Ixoras were floating all over the swimming pool and guests were arriving. Another time we decided to make rum punch in a bathtub at the Puerto Rico convention It was fun and we enjoyed every moment of it."
What happened to the Jaycee Women's League? Inglefield remembers giving a history of the organisation at the 1983 inauguration of its successor, the Port of Spain Women's Jaycees. "The League's end came with the new breed of woman coming in. They were business orientated and wanted to belong to the Junior Chamber of Commerce for business purposes. It was a case of not what I can give, it was what I can get out of it and that thinking is what finally killed us. They were not as committed to society in the social welfare area as the older members, it was just new thinking. They moved away from a body that had a deep social conscience to one that said I want to train myself for business."
The women of the League met people across the social strata, helped to bridge gaps and eliminate what people think is different. "It was a great uplifter because I think it made us all better citizens, it enriched my life tremendously in so many ways. It was a wonderful, wonderful feeling of bonding, being together and regularly contributing something to this wonderful country. It was really, really great" says Inglefield.
What the first president would like is a conscious effort for members of the group to meet formally as past women jaycees. "We are friends, yes, but it would be good if we did keep in touch. When we see each other wherever we happen to be, it is like old times."