DICKENS FAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 202, 27 August 1931, Page 14

DICKENS FAIR.

DISPLAY BY FELLOWSHIP.

TO ESTABLISH HOSPITAL BED.

The dainty frills and varied colours of the early Victorian age were to be/Seen in profusion at the first annual fair held by the Dickens Fellowship in the offices of the Penwomen's Club yesterday, the proceeds of the attempt being between £50 and £60.

The president, Mrs. Kenneth Gordon, introduced the three speakers, the Deputy-Mayor, Mr. A. J. Entrican, the chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, Mr. Wallace, and the immediate past president of the Auckland branch of the fellowship, Rev. A. B. Chappell. Mr. Wallace stated that the object of- the fair —that of raising funds for the endowment of a cot in the public hospital—was the noblest purpose to which the effort could be applied, and gave a few particulars of the hospital's treatment -of childen. He said that weekly child admissions - were from 100 to 200, and that during the year over 2000 had been admitted. Children constituted over one-fifth of the total admissions.

Mr. Chappell said the fellowship was in its sixth session, but this was the first time that anything in the way of a fair had been attempted. , There, was no doubt

that the sentiment that Mr. Wallace had expressed was uppermost in the mmds ox all citizens .who had any thought for the welfare of the people. Some of the more notable costumes, which formed a verjr pretty picture against a setting of gaily-coloured streamers and stalls, were: Dr. Marigolds Prescriptions (Mrs. Kenneth Gordon), Dolly Varden (Mrs. Jones), Mrs. Gummidge (Miss Statham), Sarah Gamp (Mrs. Dickey), Mrs. Micawber (Mrs. Sims), Miss Twinkleton (Mrs. Rennie), and Madame Defarge (Mrs. Webster).