Party at Wigram for children

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33091, 5 December 1972, Page 22

Party at Wigram for children

About 25 children from Cholmondeley Home will attend a Christmas party at Wigram today. The host will be the Airmen’s Club.

The children will be picked up by an R.N.Z-A.F. bus at mid-day and taken to the base where they will be shown through a Harvard and a Devon for 20 minutes, out on to the grass oval where Father Christmas will descend in a helicopter to

distribute presents, and then inside to the Airmen’s Club quarters where they can eat jellies and ice-cream. “The whole thing’s been in the alt for quite a while, said the club’s chairman, L. A. C. Gamer. “One of the chaps has had a bit to do with the home, so we thought a Christmas party for the kids would be a good idea.” On Friday, cadets on the Otaio which was berthed at Lyttelton, made a large Christmas cake in the shape of an anchor, and gave it to the matron of the Home, Mrs M. E. Todd.

“They told me not to give the children too much because it was full of overproof rum,” Mrs Todd said. Mrs Todd said that service clubs in the city were marvellous to the children, often arranging outings and picnics for them. “The public cater for us wonderfully. Only recently we appealed for toys for the children, and there has been an amazing response,” she said. Chomondeley home takes children up to the age of 10, whose parents for one reason or other are not able to look after them.