Day With Tania Verstak For Crippled Children

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29985, 21 November 1962, Page 2

Day With Tania Verstak For Crippled Children

Crippled children throughout Canterbury will have the beautiful “Miss International,” Miss Tania Verstak, all to themselves for most of the day in Christchurch on December 13. And Miss Verstak wants it that way.

Deeply interested in the work for all types of crippled children in Australia, she asked to spend one day with young New Zealanders in the same plight in each city she visits on her tour of the Dominion.

“Our boys and girls are very excited about Miss Verstak’s visit,” said Mrs F. S. Miller-Mead, secretary of the Canterbury and West Coast branch of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society, yesterday. “We are bringing them in from countiw districts as far afield as Kaikoura and Rangitata.”

The 1961 "Miss Australia" contest, won by Miss Verstak, raised about £250,000 for spastic children in Australia, she said. “In each New Zealand city Miss Verstak visits she will take part in some special effort to raise funds for the society,” she added. “In Christchurch she will speak at a fashion parade held for the society by the D.1.C.” The society was most grateful to Miss Verstak for her support and was looking forward to showing her its projects. said Mrs Miller-Mead. Miss Verstak will arrive in Christchurch on December 12, with a travelling companion, Miss Diana Paul.

Next day, after attending a civic reception, she will visit the society’s Canterbury l d West Coast branch headquarters in Antigua street. There she will meet children from country areas and their parents. One of the crippled children will present her with a bouquet After lunch with the branch patron (Mr J. Leslie Will) and Mrs Will, Mrs Miller-Mead will take Miss Verstak to the Cerebral Palsy School in Worcester street to see the children at work. From there she will be taken to the Centennial swimming pool to see a class of crippled children having their weekly instruction.

Miss Verstak will also visit the home of Mrs E. A. Coombes, an honorary life member of the society, whose garden is open throughout the season in aid of branch funds. Later Miss Verstak will be taken to see Adams House, a holiday house being built in New Brighton. Next will be a visit to the Activities Centre in St Asaph street to see the Cerebral Palsy Craft Centre at work. In the adjoining headquarters building she will meet senior boys and girls, who are severely disabled and yet who have been fitted for employment. In the evening she will attend the fashion parade for tie society, preceded by a cocktail and dinner party. Miss Verstak’s New Zealand tour is being sponsored by Dowd Associates, which has conducted the “Miss Australia” contest for the last nine years with proceeds for spastic and crippled children in Australia. While in Christchurch, Miss Verstak and Miss Paul will make guest appearances in fashion parades at the D.I.C.