$6000 appeal launched

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33817, 14 April 1975, Page 18

$6000 appeal launched

Launching a $6OOO appeal at the opening of the Canterbury Workers’ Educational Association sixtieth anniversary celebrations on Saturday the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr H. G. Hay) said it would enable the thousands who had benefited from the association’s work to show their appreciation of its task and their confidence in its future.

The W.E.A. had provided a major community education service for 60 years and had earned the gratitude of many thousands of satisfied customers.

Its target should not be difficult to achieve. The appeal is designed to Hauidate the debt on the W.E.A. premises in Gloucester Street. The Minister of Education (Mr Amos), commending the appeal, said that the role of W.E.A. in continuing education was being considered and it was likely that it would become associated with the Education Department. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canterbury (Professor N. C. Phillips) said the university, which had had a very close relationship with the W.E.A. since its

establishment in 1915, was responding vigorously to the demand for continuing education.

In this area it was desirable that there should be a kind of mixed economy and the W.E.A. was something of a classic case. He hoped it would be possible for the university to continue to exert its influence under the proposed new control. It had a duty to give leadership and did not wish to abnegate that responsibility.