The team has made sure a major dose of Newfoundland hospitality is in store for General Council commissioners, who began meeting in Corner Brook today.

There will be moose to eat, a kitchen party, opportunities for knitting and rug hooking, and a jigs dinner for some commissioners taking part in excursions. (A jigs dinner, a Newfoundland standard, is vegetables and salt meat.)

Stonehouse and Brett explain that some of the moose was donated, and Linda’s husband, Dave Stonehouse, and his hunting buddy Ralph Ellsworth bagged a small moose on a charity moose licence on behalf of the General Council.

There will be a demonstration of rug hooking, and people can knit squares that will be made into blankets by the Mount Pearl UCW. The blankets will go to Stella’s Circle, a community service in St. John’s. (Editor’s note: The photo is from the Stella’s Circle website.)

“We hope people will have fun,” says Brett. “We know there will be a lot of heavy work here.”

She adds that she hopes commissioners will experience a flavour of Newfoundland and also gain a spiritual sense of Newfoundlanders. “We hope there will be some uplifting as well,” Brett says.

The committee of 15 has worked steadily on local arrangements since the last General Council, with the intensity increasing in the last two years. Officially, the team has 130 volunteers, but plenty of additional people just show up to help.

“We have a good crew and things are working out,” says Brett.

Almost all the pastoral charges in the province have been involved in some way. “People have been very generous,” adds Stonehouse.

A number of services have been donated or discounted. Every UCW group has made at least a half dozen registration bags.

Transportation has been the biggest issue, getting both people and things here. “Being an island, it’s hard to get in and out,” notes Stonehouse.