£8,000 HUT FOR SOLDIERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 238, 5 October 1916, Page 7

£8,000 HUT FOR SOLDIERS.

It might have been a club for officer* of the Regular Army (says the London "Daily Chronicle" of August 12). "Well," exclaimed a sergeant, who wore the South African ribbons, "if anyone had told mc ten years ago that a private soldier would have a place like this, " He broke off, too astonished to say more. This new V.M.C.A. hut for soldiers and sailors, to be known as the Shakespeare Memorial Hut, was opened in Bloomsbury, by Princess Victoria of Schieewig-Holstein. It is luxurious, light ■ and airy, with a balcony on which tired fighters can rest in easy chairs. The great billiard room, with its three tables, is reminiscent of a West End club.

The lounge, or silence room, given, by Mrs. Alec Tweedic, in memory of her eon Leslie, who was killed in. action, is equipped with Chesterfields and easy chairs upholstered in leather. There is a great big well fireplace, with cheerful promises of crackling logs when -winter comes once more; and close by is a grand piano, quite in keeping with the comfort and splendour of the club. The concert hall, too, will be a great boon. Standing at the- corner of Gower Street and Kcppcl Street, the hut will be particularly useful to men going to or coming from Kuston Station, KingVs Croas and St. Pancras.

The Lord Mayor presided at the opening, , ceremony. Professor GoUaass, hon. eecretary to the Shakespeare. Memorial Committee, explained that the Bite Was acquired for a national theatre; but with the outbreak of the war the realisation of the scheme was impossible, so the land was offered to the V.M.C.A. for a hut. c Mr. Yapp, general secretary of the V.M.C.A., said that Queen Alexandra had sent a letter of sympathy and support, The cost of the hut would be nearly £S,OOO, to which the Shakespeare Memorial Committee had subscribed £1,000, an anonymous donor £1,500, and the V.M.C.A. of New Zealand £2,000.