WORK OF Y.M.C.A.

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 42, 13 November 1941, Page 8

WORK OF Y.M.C.A.

Activity Of Wellington Branch WORLD FELLOWSHIP Observance of the Y.M.C.A. worldwide week of prayer and world fellowship was included in the annual meeting of the Wellington branch of the Young Men’s Christian Association last night. The meeting opened with the Y.M.C.A. hymn, “Our Brotherhood,” and special prayers were offered. The work which the Y.M.C.A. is doing throughout the world, particularly among prisoners of war and troops, was referred to by the Rev. H. W. Newell in a brief address. With the Y.W.C.A. and the Students’ Christian Federation, the Y.M.C.A. was by far the greatest youth movement in the •world, said Mr. Newell. It was doing a great service for the victims of the war, and was thus laying the foundations of a better world. There were 3,000,000 prisoners of war in various parts of Europe, and the Y.M.C.A. and the Student Christian Federation were doing much to improve their lot. In Germany, Pastor Eric Christenson and a company of 44 secretaries were working among the prisoners of war, with circulating libraries, portable boxes of athletic equipment, and such things. In occupied France, in Britain, in Italy, and elsewhere, the same work was being done among the prisoners of war. The work was being done entirely by neutral people front the United States of America, Sweden, and elsewhere. The Y.M.C.A. was also doing a vast work among the troops of all nations. In Britain there were no fewer than 1000 mobile units, and the British High Command had stated that nothing maintained the morale of the men more than those units. The Boys’ Department. The work of the boys’ department was particularly a source of gratification, said the president, Mr. R. H. Nimmo, in moving the adoption of the annual report. The directors had affirmed the policy that the association’s programme for boys, far from being allowed to deteriorate as a result of the war, had to be maintained in the fullest possible measure, and, in effect, had to be enlarged whenever possible. That policy had been adhered to, and its result was seen in the expansion of the association’s work to new fields of effort in the suburbs of Wellington, and in the increased membership roll of the junior department. During the year, the mortgages had been reduced by £1790 to £7OOO on the main building and £lOOO on Donbauk, said the chairman of the. finance committee, Mr. 11. C. South. Vacancies on the directorate were filled by the appointment of Messrs. W. Benzies, A. H. Hoby, J. JI. S. Reid, R. IL D. Hall, and the Rev. H. W. Newell. A donation from the women’s auxiliary of £lOO to reduce tlie association’s debt and £lO for table linen, and also donations of £25 from the boys’ 'department women’s auxiliary toward a permanent camp site, and of £lO/10/frojn the girls’ auxiliary, were acknowledged by the president, and by Jlr. G. 11. Scott, vice-president, who referred to the impetus given by these women to the work of the association. At the conclusion of the formal business, the Rev. L. A. North sang two songs. Supper was served, and a film dealing with the building and opening of the Lowry Hutt in Egypt was shown.