WAR DAMAGE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 138, 13 June 1941, Page 5

WAR DAMAGE

Y.M.CA PROPERTY b LOSSES IN BRITAIN Severe losses to the Y.M.C.A. organisation in Britain, as a result of the war, are detailed in a letter which has been received in NeWjl Zealand. J r It is stated that the London cen-,1 tral building has been out of action * since October last, when a large \ l bomb dropped in Tottenham Court * Road, and the blast went through.J the building and destroyed practic-', ally everything movable. Half the building is being rehabilitatedjfor the use of the Y.M.C.A. 1 The letter adds that Aldersgate'. Street, one of the oldest of the London Central Association.'i has been completely destroyed, the!' Hornsey Association, a modern! building in a northern suburb of, London, has suffered substantial, 1 damage, the building at Southamp-, 1 ton, and the building taken over for: war work in that city, have beeni wiped out. At Plymouth, the Central Association has been burned out.: a separate hospital destroyed, the Servicemen's Club has suffered substantial damage, also the Devonport Y.M.C.A. The boys' club at Xew- 1 eastle-on-Tyne has been wiped out. The letter states that a good many Y.M.C.A.'s have had their windows ,blasted out through bombs falling in the immediate area, and a number of special war centres have suffered, but without being beyond repair and ■ use. Considering the central situa'tion of most of the buildings, it was a matter of surprise that, up to now. the damage had not been •greater. When the B.E.F. withdrew from France, the Y.M.C.A. losses amounted to £70.000 in huts, equipment and stores. The letter concluded by stating that they had had great pleasure m meeting the representatives <_•!' Qu,.\'tw Zealand Y.M.C.A.