BELGIANS IN BRITAIN

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 13802, 20 November 1942, Page 3

BELGIANS IN BRITAIN

SERVING ALUED NATIONS ffoM EN DOING THEIR PART Isabelle Blume-Gregoire, '' w of the Belgian Government *?L Member of the Conseil'ConIf of the Belgian Government "Idon, is one of the exiled wo'who turn to good account the n? " „1 situation with which they 3 *'confuted. In the first instance :'" 1 m belongs to her compatriots. ! i 3 nead of all the welfare ser- \ \ fOl . Belgian refugee sailors and filers, numbering 18,000, and she '"director of the Women's Section of L Anglo-Belgian Employment Excliallge, where all Belgian women from 16 to 50 are registered, states ,, r ie christian Science Monitor. Most of the Belgian refugees are sailors and fishermen. Large Beldan colonies have, therefore, developed in eight British ports. With the help of men and women welfare norkers, Mme. Blume supervises the hostels, clubs, canteens, dispensaries, and libraries which she has organised for these refugees and # their families. But she also makes full use of the unique opportunity London offers as a centre of international, life, because she is convinced that international collaboration must play an Important part after the war if lasting peace is to be ensured. She is therefore anxious to keep up all possible international contacts and at meetings of international organisations she often is a speaker. Mme, Deguent-Huysmans, former war correspondent in Spain and Finland for a leading Belgian paper, Is editor of the journel "Marine," a beautifully illustrated magazine published by the Belgian Government in French and Flemish for the refugee sailors and fishermen. Mile. Roost was appointed assistant to Professor Bigwood on the Leith Ross Committee (Inter-allied Economic Commission) and thus is now helping her former teacher at Brussels' University to prepare for the feeding of Belgium when the occupation ends. Belgian cultural activities in England are directed by the Fine Arts Department of the Ministry of Education, with Mile. Sarah Huysmans at its head. They include exhibitions ol the work of Belgian artists, weekly concerts and lectures as well as broadcasts . Belgian Nurses Organise Belgian nurses, who escaped with

the troops from Belgium and France have been organised into a special technical staff with its own uniform. Young Belgian women are serving with the British WAAFS and ATS as drivers, clerks, cooks, etc., and commissioned rank is being obtained by some of them. In addition, the Belgian Government is formulating a scheme for the training of women ambulance drivers. The Belgians have a strong and well-founded industrial tradition. The bulk of Belgian women, about 3,000, working in England, are employed in textile and munition factories, and many in army sewing centres. A special Belgian industrial training centre has been established in London. Young Girls Trained A technical school for girls from 16 to 18 has been established, where training is given in dress-making and various other trades. Women are now also admitted to the school of diamond polishers, which was evacuated from Belgium. The Belgian Government pays a great deal of attention to the training of women in shorthand, typing, book-keeping and above all in the English language. Several hundred women have thus been equipped for posts in Belgian Government offices, in the offices of the "Fighting French," and also in the BBC. Older Belgian women and those with domestic responsibilities of their own are also pulling their weight. Mme. Blume's appeal to form- domestic squads for part-time domestic work in hospitals suffering from shortage of staff, has found support among these women.