MRS W. MACKAY HONOURED

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27092, 15 July 1953, Page 2

MRS W. MACKAY HONOURED

WORK FOR CHILDREN’S HOMES COMMITTEE

After 20 years of devoted service, Mrs W. Mackay has retired from the position of secretary to the Combined Children’s Homes Committee, and to do her honour, members of the committee held a very pleasant party at Church House, Cashel street, yesterday.

Mr J. L. Hay presided and briefly described the origin of the committee f s work and its later development. He said that at the first meeting called to consider the advisability of holding an annual public appeal on behalf of the children’s homes of Christchurch, he had been elected president, and Mrs Mackay undertook to be secretary. She had carried out her duties ever since with great benefit to the movement, and she had earned the admiration and esteem of all with whom she had been associated. Her love of needy children, allied to her efficiency and organising ability, had been of great value to the movement, Mr Hay said. On behalf of the committee. he presented Mrs Mackay with a parting gift. Bishop Warren, for the Anglican homes, praised Mrs Mackay’s spirit of happy service given, not only to the children’s homes appeal, but to the Crippled Children Society, the North Canterbury Hospital Board, and other welfare bodies. She would leave behind in the committee a fine spirit of fellowship. The Rev. W. T. Blight, ten behalf of the Methodist Church, and the Rev. Stuart C. Francis, representing the Presbyterian Social Service Association, spoke appreciatively of Mrs Mackay’s long and useful service and wished her happiness in the future. All the speakers joined in congratulating Mrs Mackay on receiving the award of the M.B.E. in the Coronation honours.

After hearing all the nice things you have said about me, I feel like a mother deserting her only child,” said Mrs Mackay in gratefully acknowledging the committee’s good wishes and gift. She recalled that the committee which annually raised money for the Anglican, Presbyterian, and Methodist children s homes had been suggested to her by Mr V. French. It was her ? i t ce of community service and it had been an enriching experience which had given her confidence to undertake other welfare work. When the committee was formed, she had written to the key person in every church of every denomination in and around Christchurch and she felt that the foundations of the children’s homes appeal, largely due to Mr Hay’s efforts, had been well laid.