Y.M.C.A. CAMP AT WAINUI

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27565, 24 January 1955, Page 10

Y.M.C.A. CAMP AT WAINUI

SILVER JUBILEE CELEBRATED

Two iron gates, erected to mark the ! twenty-fifth anniversary of the Y.M.C.A. camp at Wainui, were officially opened at the camp by Mr H. R. Lake, M.P., on Saturday afternoon. Silver jubilee celebrations of the camp began on Saturday morning, when abo.ut 300 visitors, including many men who had attended Y.M.C.A. camps at Wainui in their youth, attended a conversazione with the boys now in camp. The boys escorted parents and friends round the camp, which had been specially decorated with native ferns and flags, during the morning and afternoon. After lunch a huge cake, decorated with 25 small figures and the triangular emblem of the Y.M.C.A., was presented by Mrs R. M. Marsh, wife of the president of the Christchurch Y.M.C.A., to Mr R. S. Thomson, the camp director.

During the official opening of the gates, Mr Lake, who represented the Prime Minister (Mr Holland), spoke on the value of leadership as given by the Y.M.C.A. and urged the campers to follow the ideals of the organisation.

Other speakers were the president of the Christchurch Y.M.C.A. (Mr Marsh), Mr Don Ross, general secretary of Y.M.C.A. and founder of the camp at Wainui, and Mr R. S. Thomson. the Christchurch youth director. The chairman of the boys’ work committee (Mr I. M. Collingwood) read messages of congratulation from the Prime Minister (Mr Holland), the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nash), the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.), the Dominion president of Y.M.C.A. (Mr N. Cooper), and from many kindred organisations. The camp at Wainui was open for six weeks every summer to give boys the opportunity of learning to live with others in a healthy outdoor atmosphere, said the secretary of the Christchurch Y.M.C.A. M. Betts), yesterday. •