Financed Trip To Games By Working In Olympic Village

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28155, 19 December 1956, Page 6

Financed Trip To Games By Working In Olympic Village

Two New Zealand girls who consider themselves to be the luckiest girls in the country arrived back m Christchurch by air from Melbourne this week. They are Misses Shona Mackenzie, aged 20, and Pamela Curtis, aged 19, both of Christchurch. For the last two months they have been employed at the Olympic Village at Melbourne.

Sixteen months ago, these two attractive young women decided to attend the Olympic Games. Realising that such a venture would be considerably expensive, they decided to work in Melbourne during the Games. In February, Miss Mackenzie went to Sydney and obtained a position as a law clerk, and in September she was joined by Miss Curtis. Together, the two girls went to Melbourne to get jobs in the Olympic city —but they ran into what seemed an unsurmountable barrier. No business firms in Melbourne wanted to employ two New Zealand girls for the period of the Olympics. With their finances running dangerously low, the two girls turned to the Olympic information bureau in Melbourne in the hope that they would be able to obtain jobs, however lowly, at the Olympic Village. “We are prepared to act as housemaids or scrub floors,” said Miss Mackenzie.

They applied for jobs at the tillage, and to their amazement and immense delight were appointed to the reception centre—the very heart of the village. Miss Mackenzie was appointed a receptionist and Miss Curtis a stenographer. They took up residence at the village and for two months they nlayed their part in ensuring that the internal administration of the village was kept functioning smoothly. Unlike the many thousands of visitors to the Olympic Games, t’ e two girls had the opportunity, through their positions, of mixing with representatives of all the competing nations, They came to know the athletes. they joined in their festivities in the village, they helped to lighten the disappointment of athletes who had not performed as well as they could have and they shared in the joy of those who were successful.

Miss Mackenzie had, if anything, the more interesting job. As receptionist on the main gate, she was responsible. with the rest of her team, to see that no unauthorised persons passed through the gates. She handled and issued passes, provided information for the athletes on every conceivable topic and in general, helped them in every way. Miss Curtis was a stenographer to the assistant commandant of the reception group. Most of her time was spent typing and taking dictation on matters affecting the organisation in the village. Praise for Facilities

Both girls were high in their praise for the facilities provided at the village and the organisation of the Games The meals, they said, were “abso lutely marvellous.” “The food was sc good that team managers had to supervise what their charges were eating,’ said Miss Mackenzie. “The food was so good, and so plentiful, that we began to receive complaints that it was too good.” They both saw many oi the events of the Games —they were

given adequate time off—including the opening and closing ceremonies. Even when they were on duty they were in touch with - the events, through television.

One of Miss Curtis’s most important jobs was that of checking on all the representatives’ birthdays. During her period at the village she had to arrange for 170 birthday cakes to be made. The cakes, conveying the commandant’s congratulations on them in the appropriate language, were well received by athletes, who were extremely touched to know that, as individuals, they had been remembered in this way, said Miss Curtig. Both girls have brought back to New Zealand many photographs and souvenirs of their stay at the village. Highly prized by both are the many lapel badges of competing countries. Miss Mackenzie intends to get her 25 badges made up into two bracelets. “It was a wonderful holiday,” they both said. “We now have our eyes turned towards the Empire Games at Cardiff and possibly Rome, but a lot can happen in four years. We are definitely going to Cardiff, however, and with the wonderful references we have got we should get jobs there also.” They are also now planning to visit South Africa iri the near future.

Ashed if she would find some difficulty in settling down to a job back* in New Zealand again, Miss Mackenzie said: “I would not like to say. I will not be starting work for a while yet. I am just going to start a holiday.”