For WOMEN

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23882, 26 February 1943, Page 2

For WOMEN

CURRENT NOTES

Mrs L. M. Keys-Wells, of Spreydon, has received word that her youngest daughter, Miss E. G. Keys-Wells. who has been in England for 10 years, and who, at the outbreak of war, volunteered for military service, is now an instructor of , an ,Army catering corps at an Army depot and has been , granted the rank of junior commander, which is equivalent to that of captain. At a meeting of the Travel Club, held at Ballantynes yesterday morning, Mr C. G. McKellar, who presided, paid a warm tribute to the splendid work done by Mrs J, W. D. Mardon, a guest of honour •at the meeting, and until recently honorary secretary of the General Service Corps. Mrs Mardon w-11 leave next month for Stratford ar.d on behalf of the Travel Club and the General Service Corps, Mr McKellar thanked her for her work and wished her happiness in her new home. Members of the Y.M.C.A. Boys’ Gordon Hall auxiliary, at their first meeting of the New Year, received many lett s of thanks from servicemen overseas for parcels sent by the auxiliary.

The Papanui sub-centre of the Red Cross Society, at its last meeting, presided over by Mrs F. Burrell, decided to give £2O to the Sick, Wounded, and Prisoners of War Fund.

Mrs Reginald Bird (formerly Miss Vera Fox, of Christchurch), who has been living in Durban, South Africa, since sbe was evacuated from Singapore in 1941, has learned by a radio message, picked up from the Malayan Office, Sydney, that her husband is safe and weil in Singapore, and that he had received letters and a parcel from her. This is the first news of her husband Mrs Bird has had since December, 1941, Mr Bird was a member of the staff of the Malayan Treasury Department. Readers of “The Press” have responded generously to an appeal- made on Tuesday for empty packing cases for the Red Cross Society’s central depot. Yesterday, some of the large cases were already filled with hospital comforts ready to be sent to headquarters. Mrs Herbert Smith, who, is in charge of the depot at 105 A Cashel street, says she is very grateful for the cases that have already been sent in and would be pleased to receive more large cases, which are urgently needed.

To-morrow is the last day on which the 1942-43 issue of health stamps will be on sale and the local area committee, which is in charge of the campaign, is working hard to make record sales to-day and to-morrow morning. From the sale of health stamps is obtained the money with which to provide health camps for children who arc in need of a holiday. Health camps held in Canterbury last month were an outstanding success and those who buy health stamps to-day and tomorrow will help to send delicate children to health camps next summer. Mrs O. C. Harley a,.d Mrs C. Shaw were hostesses yesterday morning at a well-attended meeting of the Travel Club, the first meeting of the present year. Mr C. G. McKellar presided at the gathering, which was held at Ballantynes. Songs were sung by Mrs R. Sherris, for whom Mrs R. S. Storie was accompanist. The speaker was the Rev. J. R. Metcalfe, a Yorkshireman, who has spent 30 years as a Methodist missionary in the Solomon Islands, latterly in the north-east of Bougainville, and who arrived in New Zealand some weeks ago. Associated with him in the Solomons, he said, was a Christchurch man, the Rev. A. W. E‘. Silvester. Mr Metcalfe spoke warmly of the natives of New Guinea and the Solomons, who, since the outbreak of war with Japan, had behaved magnificently. “The Americans and Australians found in New Guinea,” he said, “not cannibal kings but Christian 'gentlemen. They now call the natives not Kanakas or niggers but ‘fuzzy wuzzy angels’ and before many months we shall hear of many more ‘fuzzy wuzzy angels’ in the Solomons.” At the monthly meeting of the Shir-ley-Richmond sub-centre of the Red Cross Society, presided over by Mrs J. N. Preston, it was decided to give £4O to the prisoners of -war parcels fund. The committee also agreed to take charge of the Red Cross shop for a day, in conjunction with two country sub-centres.

PARTY AT “ELMWOOD” A thunderstorm and heavy rain marred a garden party opened yesterday by the Papanui-Merivale subbranch of the Plunket Society, at “Elmwood,” lent for the occasion by the Lon. Sir R. Heaton Rhodes. The stallholders had arranged their wellstocked stalls round the wide lawn, more than 150 persons had paid for admission, and were eagerly buying, when heavy rain set in and business had to be suspended. However, the goods, of which there was great variety, v. be, sold later. ' The stalls and stall-holders were as follows; Cakes, Mrs R. J. Lyon; produce, Mesdames Cummings, H. M. Cocks, and L. M. Wilson: cooked food, Mesdames E. Douglas Pullon, Hamilton, and Watson Dawson; variety, Mesdames G. Holder, V. Mathews, and H. S. Feast; tea, Mesdames J. Ferrier and R. C. Jamieson,