The Club, set up initially by Lady Harlech, opened to women and girls whose loved ones were in the Army or Navy. The club opened daily 2-4pm to help women with writing letters, filling in forms and as support for each other. Literacy during the First World War was believed to be about 80% in the UK. Family and loved ones were encouraged to write to serving soldiers as many authorities believed it was a great moral booster. In 1917 the Home Post Depot, which dealt solely with mail for the troops, stated that ‘No fewer than 12 million letters a week and not short of a million parcels were sent to this office from all over the country’.
Picture postcards proved very popular and a ‘Secret Language of Stamps’, originally thought to have begun in the 1860’s, was embraced. It was a secret means of conveying a message to the recipient of a letter or postcard by the sender placing a postage stamp in a particular position. The girls who attended the club were taught knitting, sewing and cooking by volunteers so that they could knit and sew comforts to be sent to the soldiers and sailors. By 1915, 75 girls had joined the club. In April 1915 Miss Darlington from Black Park, Oswestry the President of the Oswestry Choral Society, organised a ‘Grand Patriotic Concert’ in aid of the Women’s Club.
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