IN FULL STRIDE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 156, 3 July 1940, Page 3

IN FULL STRIDE.

N.Z. Y.M.C.A.'S WORK.

SERVICE FOR TROOPS.

MOBILE TEA VAN IN ACTION. (From the official war correspondent attached to the New Zealand Forces in Britain.) LONDON, July 2. With the commissioning yesterday of the motor tea van presented by the New Zealand War Services' Association, and the opening to-morrow of the London headquarters, at 22, Charing Cross Road, a stone's throw from Trafalgar Square, the shore activities of the New Zealand Y.M.C.A. with the Second Echelon will be in full stride.

The camps are being served by eight large reading, writing and recreation marquees and five smaller chapel tents. There is no canteen service, this being provided by the wet and dry canteens of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute. The mobile tea van will prove a great boon on route marches and manoeuvres, which it accompanies, providing hot tea free. Eight hundred troops are served at each half-hour's halt, and this is repeated at the next halt. On the first run of the motorised reconnaissance column the van travelled 193 miles, and served tea five times in the course of a long day. The London headquarters are staffed by New Zealand women resident in Eng- [ land, and include facilities for reading, writing, games, information, accommodation bureaux, showers, baggage and storage. Nearby is a restaurant, now run by the British Y.M.C.A. It is proposed to establish a cafeteria and also central rooms in the chief town in the training area. Irons and Sock-Darning. For the convenience of New Zealand troops on evening leave, electric irons are available in the camp marquees, and there is also a free sock-darning service, the gift of local women helpers. The padres of all denominations and the Church Army are co-operating in all arrangements. In one camp where there is no Y.M.C.A. tent, the Church Army is supplying equivalent services.

Field secretaries with the forces are Mr. C. G. Briggs, of Wellington, Mr. J. Kennedy, of Christchurch, and Mr. I. McIvor.of Auckland, and the military are assisting them with the necessary staff. Owing to the future of the New Zealand division being uncertain, Mr. H. Lowry's gift of £10,000 for a base Y.M.C.A. has not been expended in the meantime. The Lowry family's practical interest in the-welfare of the troops was well illustrated when, following the presentation of the tea van, Mrs. A. P. F. Chapman drove it to the London camp, and said she would like to continue driving it on the job.