A parade of historical underwear from the library collection was charmingly modelled by Alissa and Bec. Library manager Jenny Hansen told how several metres of cloth her teacher said was needed to make up a pair of school bloomers.

Her mother, lifetime volunteer Bev Jones, revealed some family secrets and daughter Erin, a special education teacher, told of the hassles – a generation later – of making school uniforms look fashionable.

The United Nations presence in Australia was covered by Celia Ravesi, who discussed highlights of work with the UN in Sydney as a young woman.

Daughter, Antonia, spoke of the challenges and rewards of supporting families with children affected by addiction and mental disorders, and of parenthood. She gave us her daughter Talia’s account of how she chose to become a vet nurse.

Oberon Writers kicked off the scanties and stilettos theme: a fascinating and frank show and tell by our guests.

We shared Auntie Minnie’s dilemma – the thrill of buying from mail-order catalogues while living in the outback and putting on a nun’s habit for the first time, and many more. Councillor Handelsmann concluded with a brain teaser – predicting the future role of women.

Thanks, ladies, for entertaining us with all those stories.

International Women’s Day celebrations are sponsored worldwide by the UN Development Fund for Women.

The $370, raised from purple ribbon donations and the raffle, will be forwarded to UNIFEM, an organisation working to end women's poverty: a focus this year is Haitian women. Oberon’s celebrations were courtesy of a grant obtained through Oberon Council from the NSW Government Office for Women, which included the CTC morning tea. Congratulations to Kathy Sajowitz and Friends of the Library who brought the event together, and to Oberon women for their good humour and good will on the day.