Visit Of Athletes From Australia

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29907, 22 August 1962, Page 11

Visit Of Athletes From Australia

'T'HE term "power house" conveys to most New Zealanders visions of massive hydro-electric schemes, but it is unlikely that the 20 young men from a club of that name in Victoria, Australia, who will visit Canterbury during the Christmas-New Year period, have ever had a closer association with the electrical industry than a household electrical switch. The visitors are members of the athletic section of the organisation known as Lord Somers’ Camp and Power House, which was founded in 1929 by the then Governor General of Victoria. Lord Somers, to foster a better understanding among youths of industrial and public schools backgrounds. The tour will take place largely through the enthusiasm of L. G. Jones, a Canterbury sprint champion of the Toe H Athletitc Club.* who ran for Power House while in Melbourne.

At the request of Lord Somers, Dr. G. McAdam undertook the task of organising camps on similar lines to the Duke of York’s camps in England, and tn January 1929, 40 boys selected by Victorian public schools and 40 chosen by industrial firms went into camp. The experiment was successful, and it was decided to establish a camp on a permanent basis so that week-end camps could be held during the year as well.

Associated with this venture was the building of a club-house in Melbourne as a central headquarters for the camp project. At the clubhouse friendships made at the camp were continued and the traditions for which the club works furthered. Among the objects of the movement are the development of good character, sportsmanship, and leadership. Because of its location and function in the movement the club-house in Melbourne gained the name “Power House” of the men of Somers—a generating house of character and leadership. As part of its activities, Power House now fields teams in a wide range of sports including Australian rules football, Rugby, hockey, basketball, rowing and athletics. During the last athletic season Power House won the B grade inter-club premiership without loss, and the C grade, thus gaining a coveted place in the A grade competitions for the 1962-63 season. In the coming season the green, black and white uniforms of Power House will be seen on several athletic tracks in the Canterbury Centre, with the Australians competing at Christchurch, Timaru, Temuka, Waimate, Westport and possibly Greymouth. The visitors are expected to arrive on December 24.