EVELEYN COUZINS MEMORIAL

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24603, 27 June 1945, Page 2

EVELEYN COUZINS MEMORIAL

A suggestion has been made to the lady editor ol ‘The Press” and approved by the Mayor of Christchurch, Mr E. H. Andrews, that a memorial fund be opened to commemorate the work of the late Mayoress, Miss £. Couzins. The Mayoress’s Parcels Fund executive has been entrusted with the administration of the fund. Donations will be received by the accountant of the Christchurch Press Company, Ltd., Press Office, Cathedral square, and will be acknowledged by the lady editor. A motion of sympathy with the relatives of Miss E. Couzins, late Mayoress of Christchurch, was passed at a meeting of the management committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union last evening. At a meeting ol the Young Women’s Christian Association Business and Professional Women’s Club, members stood in silence as a mark of respect to the memory of the late president of the Y.W.C.A., Miss Couzins. At a representative meeting of women’s organisations, held in the City Council Chambers yesterday to launch the 1945 Mayoress’s Parcels Appeal, a vote of sympathy was passed with the Mayor. IMr E. H. Andrews, and with Mr and ’ Mrs W. Couzins. in the death of he Mayoress. At a social gathering of the North Canterbury Social Club for the Blind, held yesterday, a motion of sympathy with the Mayor. Mr E. H, Andrews and with Mr and Mrs W. E. Couzins,’ in the death of the Mayoress, was passed. Miss Couzins attended the first meeting of the club, held a few weeks ago. immediately before she became seriously ill.

MAYORESS’S FUND

PARCELS FOR OVERSEAS

A Very well attended meeting of representatives of women’s organisations was held in the City Council Chambers yesterday afternoon to launch the 1945 appeal for the Mayoress’s (Parcels Fund. Mrs M. E. Lyons presided and expressed sorrow at the death of the Mayoress (Miss E. Couzins), who, by self-sacrificing perseverance, purposeful leadership, and high Idealism had done much for the city of Christchurch, and had inaugurated and most successfully carried on each year the Mayoress’s Parcels Fund appeal. Before her last illness, Mrs Lyons continued, Miss Couzins had made preliminary arrangements for the appeal, and members of the executive committee felt that her devotion to the cause was a challenge to them to carry on the work. Mrs Cecil Wood said she felt that all who had helped with the parcels fund appeal in previous years would support this year’s appeal with equal enthusiasm, She read extracts from letters from soldiers, airmen, and naval personnel expressing thanks for the parcels and praising the high quality of their contents. Major F. A. Jarrett, who recently returned to Christchurch after four years’ service overseas, described the excitement in the division when the parcels arrived and the fun the men had in unpacking them. He said that he had received his first Christmas parcel in a desert hospital 30 miles from Mersa Matruh. and another when he was on his way to Tripoli, with the weather at Christmas cold and wet and miserable. The arrival 'of the parcels had a most heartening effect on the troops. "Italy in winter is awful, wretchedly wet and bitterly cold, -with biting winds," said Major Jarrett. and in the midst of great discomfort his unit received with joy theif Christmas parcels—the third he had received. The next year, near Bari, he saw the trucks taking the parcels to the troops. “Do not fear that any of them will be stolen,” said Major Jarrett. “Once they are loaded on to the trucks soldiers with tommy guns ait on them and guard them jealously.” He added that when he was In . London last year he learnt of the great number of parcels from New Zealand that were distributed to servicemen throughout England, in Central Africa, in Khartoum and outposts in many lauds. On his way from Rome to Cairo, he said, his aeroplane landed in Algiers, and there he met a lonely New Zealand airman, the only one in the town, who had been there for three years, and who 'sail he received his parcels regularly through London. Major Jarrett asked the meeting, if possible, to continue to send the parcels, which he said were greatly appreciated.