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"Vision of a better life"

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Description: This image was taken for a story that ran in The Manawatu Evening Standard on Friday, 7 November 1978 “Vision of a better life: Mrs Boyle, left, and Mrs Chandler, with their men of the moment, Bill Rowling and Trevor de Cleene.” Lettie Chandler (aged 77, formerly Mrs Lettie Allen) founded the Tangimoana branch of the Labour party in September with the assistance of her Australian based daughter Kath. Both women were motivated not so much by party loyalty, but by social welfare improvements for the elderly residents of the beach.

Lettie first joined Labour in 1924 after witnessing match girls waiting in freezing conditions for the doors of Bryant & May to open in Wellington. She held numerous positions in the Wellington party branch, was elected to the Hospital Board in 1950 (remaining for the next twenty years), chairing its social welfare committee. She sat on school committees, the Howard League for Penal reform, and the Prisoner’s Aid society. She was also Wellington City Councillor for 6 years. Retiring to Tangimoana, Lettie remarried at age 65 and initially lost her drive to form a local branch, commenting ‘In Wellington the women were interested, more aware of politics’. Whereas in Tangimoana, she often heard the comment ‘I’ll just have to ask my husband’. Despite this, Lettie felt that “there are plenty of interested people who live here but who need someone to give them a push to get started.” Lettie and Kath also worked to get people involved in Rongotea and Sanson by checking rolls and delivering pamphlets.