WORK OF Y.W.C.A.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 185, 6 August 1936, Page 14

WORK OF Y.W.C.A.

NEW PRESIDENT WELCOMED.

"We must guard against possessiveness, which is a thing which will sap the life of any movement," said Miss Elsie Bennet, general eecretary of the Y.W.C.A., at the annual meeting of the association held last evening. The test of any movement, Miss Bennet continued, was not in its balance-sheet, nor in its numbers, but in what happened to the people who passed through it. "Are we building up a fellowship? Are girls and women finding a'definite purpose in life?" she asked. Miss Bennet suggested that if the 1300 girls and women who were members of the association were honest and fearless in their thinking they would have an enormous influence on the life of the city, and she appealed for a spirit of service to make itself felt.

Mrs. A. D. Campbell, the retiring president, presided at the meeting, which was well attended, and introduced to the gathering Mrs. H. E. Pacey, who brought greetings from the National Board in Wellington. . The minutes of the last annual meeting were read by Mrs. Gavey, and the annual balance-sheet was discussed by Mrs. M. Rudd.

A cordial welcome was extended to Mrs. Rudd, the new president, by Mrs. Campbell, who thanked the members of the board and the staff for their assistance during her own term as president. Mrs. Campbell paid a high tribute to the work of Miss Bennet.

In reply to Mrs. Campbell's greetings, Mrs. Rudd said that the association had a wonderful heritage and appealed to the members to carry on the tradition. She likened the association to a great ship-building industry. "Build straight, build clean, build true," was her advice. Another speaker was Miss Jean Stevenson, the national general secretary, who, in an inspiring address, pointed out that the Auckland Centre was one unit in the New Zealand association and that in turn the New Zealand association was only part of a movement which reached all round the world. She asked the members to realise that there were thousands of other girls and women in different places who were working towards the same ideals, although they said it in different languages and in different ways. Miss Stevenson also asked that international understanding should be encouraged and such a fellowship as existed in the Y.W.C.A. could contribute largely. A charming floral tribute was made to Mrs. Campbeil by the members, when, during a farewell song, bouquets were handed to her. Another feature of the programme was the presentation of the annual report in story, song and dance, when the clubs and committees cleverly displayed their work.