Making room for women then, and now. Women's Fund High Tea brings women together.

120 years ago, a woman who had signed the suffrage petition unlocked these Tea Rooms, today known as Sopheze on the Bay...on Friday 18 September women filled them again.

We welcomed a wonderful crowd to the Aoraki Foundation Women’s Fund High Tea at Sopheze on the Bay.

There were proper tea cups, tiered stands, beautiful food, raffles, plenty of conversation and a room full of people helping grow a fund that supports women in our region.

We heard from Afsaneh Howey, who shared her story of growing up in Iran and her journey to New Zealand.

Then Fiona Pierce and Robyn Valentine from Art in Motion told us how South Canterbury’s wearable arts event came to life. Seeing some of those incredible outfits being modelled and displayed was a real highlight. We suspect a few more of us will be lining up for the 2027 event!

But there was another story that was there around us... while setting up that morning, one of the cupboards was opened and inside we spotted part of the original weatherboard exterior of the Caroline Bay Tea Rooms. The outside of the old building is now inside! It was pretty amazing to think about everything those walls have seen.

The Caroline Bay Tea Rooms opened in 1905 and were believed at the time to be New Zealand’s first municipal tea rooms.

The woman given the honour of opening them was Kate Craigie, Timaru’s mayoress. She was presented with a gold key set with diamonds, unlocked the doors and hosted the first tea party.

And Kate had already played her own small part in New Zealand women’s history as she had signed the 1893 women’s suffrage petition. So just 12 years after putting her name behind women’s right to vote, she was standing here opening a new public place where women could meet.

Women were part of the story from the beginning of the tearooms as the first lessee to run the business here was Florence Cowan. Tea rooms gave women somewhere respectable to meet and socialise outside the home, and they also created opportunities for women to work, run businesses and earn an income.

The connection continues today, as mother-and-daughter team Jules and Vanessa Keen run Sopheze on the Bay.

Next time you are at the tea rooms, see if you can spy a photograph from around 1935 showing people enjoying high tea here, complete with tiered stands on the tables.

So after all our efforts finding proper tea cups and stands (thank you to South Canterbury Hospice for those) it turns out we were doing much the same thing people were doing here around 90 years ago! Different women... generations and reasons for gathering but the same Tea Rooms.

A huge thank you to Paula, Beth, Roselyn, Jan and Kirsty for bringing the morning together, to our speakers, raffle donors, Sopheze on the Bay, everyone who helped behind the scenes, and everyone who came along and supported the fund.

More than 120 years after Kate Craigie unlocked the door, women were gathered here again today, sharing stories, making connections and helping other women in our community.

A place that made room for women then is still making room for women now.

Thank you for supporting us and the women in our region.