Young Hospital Auxiliary Coffee Morning

Young Hospital Auxiliary will host its first coffee morning with a guest speaker on Thursday, June 22 at the Young Services Club Auditorium, Cloete Street.

Auxiliary president, Janice Ward has invited the community to go along from 10:30 am and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee from the urn. There is a donation basket to cover costs.

Ms Ward asks that everyone be seated by 11 am to hear Boorowa author, Karen Smith deliver a presentation about her book, Great Battle In A Snowstorm: Boorowa and District’s Spanish Flu Victims.

Ms Smith said the motivation for her book came during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, when she wondered how Boorowa and District had fared during the first great pandemic, the Spanish Flu crisis back in 1919.

Through her research using death certificates, TROVE, and Ancestry.com.au, she discovered that 21 people from Boorowa and surrounds lost their lives to the Spanish Flu. The youngest person was just 9 months old and the oldest was 81 years old.

The average age of death was 42.6 years of age and 71 per cent were male.

Ms Smith will introduce the audience to several of the cases, including a forensic scientist from Boorowa, a popular Binalong publican, a mother of nine children from Tangmangaroo and three members of the same family from Galong.

She will also talk about how the medical team valiantly battled against the virus. There will be a lucky door prize of an autographed copy of the book.

This event was planned as an opportunity to get to meet the friendly members of the Hospital Auxiliary whose dedicated work buys much-needed equipment for our Hospital, rather than raising funds.

People can purchase Ms Smith’s book at the event for $20, with all proceeds going to the Boorowa Branch of the Country Women’s Association.

• Topics:

• Young Hospital Auxiliary
• Community Groups
• Health & Wellness