DEPARTURE FROM HARDWOOD

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28130, 20 November 1956, Page 16

DEPARTURE FROM HARDWOOD

CROWD OF 300 AT AIRPORT Nearly 300 persons were at Harewood airport to bid farewell to the main body of the New Zealand Olympic team yesterday morning. The overseas reception room was filled to capacity as wives, family members and friends spent their last few minutes with the team. Because the plane was an hour late arriving from Sydney, the team’s departure scheduled for 10 o’clock was delayed by 35 minutes, but no-one minded for there was much still to be said. In a record-equalling performance, T.E.A.L. maintenance staff achieved an 80-minute turn-round of the plane. The same plane, Ao-te-roa 11, the flagship of the fleet, was expected to take the remaining members of the team, cyclists and wrestlers, at 2.30 o’clock this morning. To mark its association with the Olympic Games the plane had the Olympic symbol emblazoned on its side. The team manager (Mr L. W. Woods, of Waikato) presented a silver fern lapel badge to Mr F. G. Hill, the Christchurch manager of T.E.A.L., in appreciation of the arrangements made for the departure of the team. Expressing his thanks, Mr Hill said: “I can assure you that we won’t charge you excess baggage rates for the gold medals that you bring back.” As the 37 team members and officials grouped on the gangway a spokesman for T.E.A.L. over the public address system wished all the competitors success in their events. One of the crowd then called for three cheers for the team. Waving to the crowd, members of the team filed into the plane to take their seats and continued waving by the windows as the plane moved out to the runway.