AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25878, 10 August 1949, Page 2

AN IMPRESSIVE CEREMONY

INVESTITURE AT ART GALLERY

His Excellency, the Governor-Gen-eral, Sir Bernard Freyberg, V.C., held an investiture at the Durham Street Art Gallery yesterday morning and long before the doors of the gallery were opened at 9.45 a.m., a long queue of men and women had formed on the footpath. Not often has so impressive a ceremony been held in Christchurch, and it will long be remembered as a notable event by those privileged to be present. His Excellency, his military secretary, and his four aides-de-camp wore uniform and her Excellency was a regal figure in her frock of deep red and silver lame with tiny ivory-tinted vestee at the neckline. Her closefitting hat was of red and silver to match her frock and she wore diamond necklace, brooch, and ear-rings and carried a silver bag. Only ohe Knight—Sir Arthur Donnelly—was invested. *He was accompanied by his brother, Mr lan Donnelly, of Timaru, and his sister, Miss Jane Donnelly, who wore a light leafgreen frock, fur coat, and black hat with outstanding feather mount at the side.

Of the six women who were decorated by his Excellency, two—Staff Sergeant Phyllis Gerard and Sergeant Ann Pettigrew—wore uniform. Miss M. Sparkes. who received the insignia of the 0.8. E.. wore a navy suit, white blouse, and navy hat with navy and white ribbon bows in front; Miss A. Buckley wore a navy suit, blue-grey blouse, and grey hat trimmed with

navy velvet; Miss E. Cardaie wore a navy suit, cornflower blue blouse and navy hat with flat navy and cornflower flat feather trimming, and Miss Mary O’Shea, of Granity (near Westport), wore a saxe blue tucked suit and matching hat swathed with veiling and finished with an upstanding osnrey. After the investiture the recipients and their friends were entertained by their Excellencies in the ballroom at the Art Gallery.