MERRY ORPHANS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 68, 13 December 1933, Page 2

MERRY ORPHANS

Rotary Club Gives a Banquet SPONTANEOUS GATHERING A large number of small girls from ornhanages about Wellington were treated in the city at midday yesterday to an extremely merry banquet. It was a memorable occasion for them and aslofor their hosts, the members of the Wellington Rotary Club, who appeared to enjoy the whole affair no less spontaneously than their small At this function, which was held In the club luncheon room at Kirkealdle and Stains’, were small girls from the Presbyterian, Salvation Army, , and Levin homes. They were brought there by Rotarians in cars and hired omnibuses with happy anticipation on all sides, but it is doubtful whether the realisation was not even.better, as th? big party proved to be the greatest success. ', . , , When the children had arrived and each was seated about the room between two of her hosts, they found waiting for them on a great array of tables what they have always considered the nicest things to eat. The meal reached a most exciting climax with the appearance of plum pudding with silver coins hidden away in them. By the time the children had at last, after great endeavour, come to th conclusion that there was no reasonable likelihood of any more pocket-money being forthcoming in this way—and several of the hosts were to be seen at different times surreptitiously slipping in another sixpence or two—an enormous flat box of chocolates, which needed a man at each end to carry it. was taken around the tables. Then the gathering was addressed by the president of Wellington Rotary, Mr. C. J. B. Norwood. “It is rather a special occasion for us to have all these girls from their respective homes with us,” he said. “I’d like to make a well-merited compliment to the homes and to those who look after our guests, and to congratulate them upon the apparent splendid vigour and health of these little girls.” The welfare of such benevolent institutions had, of course, always been a matter of concern to the Rotary Club. “The dinner we gave last year to the boys was a wonderful occasion, but I think the girls beat them,” he said. , , Members then sang their cheerful Rotary song, and Mr. Clement Slay greatly entertained the children with A. A. Milne’s poem about a good little girl, and also with a Dickens vignette of Scrooge’s Christmas transformation, this with a background of carols sung by a group of club members. The children from the various homes gave a programme of choral singing before they left.