CATHOLIC BAZAAR

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume XLIII, Issue 2567, 19 April 1922, Page 3

CATHOLIC BAZAAR

AN AUSPICIOUS OPENING

GOOD BUSINESS DONE

BAZAAR CONCLUDES TO-NIGHT

With the object of raising about £1500 i'or the building of a new primary school at Leeston, the parishioners of the Catholic Church throughout the Leetson parish decided some six months ago to promote a queen carnival and to wind up the money-raising effort by holding a monster bazaar. For the purposes of the queen carnival the district was divided into three parts and three queen candidates were nominated —Miss Marion McEvedy (daughter of Mr and Mrs W. J. McEvedy) to represent Sout'ibridge, Miss Mary Grcenan (daughter ol Mr and Airs James Green an) to represent Doyleston, and Miss Lizzie McCartin (daughter of Mr and Mrs John McCartin) to represent Leeston. It is pretty generally recognised that to achieve complete success in a moneyraising effort it is desirable, if not actually necessary, to introduce a spirit oi

competition. Ever since tho queen contest began there has been apparent a keen, though friendly rivalry between the different portions of the parish an:: much good-natured "chaff" has beei indulged in. At frequent intervals dr.: ing the past few months social fimetion.s were held in support of the queen candi dates and these have nearly all been cr tirely.successful. A very considerable sum of money has been raised in th

Avay, as well as by the holding of com petitions. For some weeks past tl;;_ ladies of the parish have been workin; hard for the bazaar, all anxious that i should, prove to be the greatest money raising function of the kind ever hcl<; in the history of the parish. It w:\ mentioned at the opening of the bazaar on Saturday afternoon that it was ex actly ten years since a similar functio.-: had been held in the district under tinauspices of the Catholic Church. It wns soon apparent, however, that the ladies had not forgotten how to run a success ful bazaar. There were three large si allarranged in the hall, one under the control of the Southbridge committee, on-" am by the Doyleston candidate supporters and the other by those pledged to give their support fo the Leeston repir J tentative. The colour scheme folowcout in the decorating- of the stalls wasj very effective. Doyleston took white .- its. colour, Southbridge old gold and Leeston green. • OPENING CEEEMONY. A good gathering assembled at ".:.'*<. on Saturday afternoon to witness : official opening, which was performe<i ). Mr .F. Cunningham, chairman of iL lesniere Counly Council, in the unavoil able absence of the lion Sir Heati'i, Rhodes, Minister of Defence, and mem ber for the district.

in introducing- Mr Cunningham, the Rev Father Finnerty referred to the fa<\ that it was ton years since the las! bazaar hod been held at Leeston by Ir,;CathoJk- Church. The .affair they were opening that day had heo:i promoved with the object of raising' aleast £.1500 for the building of a no'-v primary school at Leeston to serve the needs of the whole parish. Judging by the whole-hearted, way in which the p-'o pie had been working together, and the spirit of harmony that had prevailed, he did not think they would have the slight ost difficulty in attaining their object ive. A great deal of hard work Lad been done, but they must all reinemb;v that it was necessary to put forward their best efforts during the next few days, lie felt quite confident that the workers could all be depended upon- t.<. do their part to bring about complete success. -Father Finnerty said he would like to take the opportunity of heartily thanking all the workers for what they had done, during the past few months. Jt was splendid to find the people work ing so enthusiastically for a worthy cause. Already a very substantial sun; of money had been collected. The display they had made in the hall spoke for itself. Father Finnerty then called ■upon the county chairman to declare the baranr open.

Mr Cunningham, who was very cordially greeted, said he felt it an honour to V.;i'i<> been asked to declare the bazaar open. They would all agree with him, he i'elt sure, when he said he was very sorry that Sir lieatou Rhodes had found it impossible to be present to open thebazaar. Sir Hcaton, as a member o' Die Cabinet, was a very busy man. He had been in Canterbury for several week-ends and would have been only too pleased to have opened the bazaar if circumstaneeshad not made itimpossiblc .for him to get away from Wellington. "It is a healthy sign of the times,'' said Mr Cunningham, "when on the occasion of such a big effort as this the Catholic people of the district decide to ask a local public man to perform the

opening ceremony." It indicated that they looked for the support of other sec-

lion;, of the community and that they deserved that support, just as their assistance was forthcoming when functions of a similar nature were held by other churches. It also indicated that their aims were of a worthy nature and that they desired to place those aims before the people of fthe district. It was rather remarkable that the church had not held a bazaar for ten years. He understood that it was their intention to build the new school in brick, so that '1 would last fur very many years. It was a wise thing to do and he thought they had every right to come before the peo■ple of tire district and ask for their assistance in attaining the object they had in view. It seemed to him that there was a growing desire throughout the world to-day to get together, to consider the other fellow's point of view i'-nd to clear away misunderstandings. It was very desirable indeed that people should be encouraged to view any matter from different standpoints. When people were able to do that it was often found that misunderstandings quickly vanished, that some of them were, after all, only traditional, and that the other fellows motives were really very worthy Up. thought the Catholic Church stood for much that was good in our national life. It carried out, in an unobtrusive manner, an immense amount of charitable and philanthropic work, not for the sake of any praise or publicity, but for the work's sake and in the interests of those who for various reasons were placed in unfortunate circumstances. Mr Cunningham tendered his congratula lions to the ladies for the fine display they had made on the various stalls. The quantity of goods gathered togothev spoke well for the energy they had pi: into their work. He trusted that thei efforts would meet with the whole-heari ed support of the community. He had :\. ways believed in all parts of the county working together in a harmonious spirit, i'or it was !o iheir mutual advantage to Jo so. This was a county effort ann

school when built .would not bo a 'boos lon school I:*ut a emmty school, built :u lit'cston. because it happened to be th most convenient centre. Mr Cunningham con eluded by .saying that ]fc was please to have the opportunity of iudentifyinji himself with the effort and in declaring the bazaar open, said lie hoped it would prove even more successful than the people anticipated. Upon the motion of Mr P. .T. Eceleto.ti, Mr Cunningham was' accorded, by acclamation, a hearty vote of thanks for his assistance. Any "movement thai was fov the good of the district always received Mr Cunningham's support, M; Eccleton said. BUSINESS IN EAENEST "No sooner had the bazaar been declared open than the army of workers se! about disposing of their wares wli Ii :' will. The stallholders showed greai keenness to do business and a'host o! persuasive young ladies were quickly o:. the track of ail and sundry, with thei' competitions of various . kinds am\ raffles. They had a. fine lot of articles, too, and it was in most cases quite an easy matter to get the desired shilling1. ■All sorts of devices were brought into use to extract coin from visitors, and the afternoon's takings must have amounted to a tidy sum. Outside-tho hall, in the large tents, the live weigh judging and various games were carried on, good business being done by those in charge. The refreshment room was well patronised and the fare provide did the ladies credit. Following is a IK' of those in charge of the stalls, each ot; which held a miscellaneous collection of plain and ' fancy needlework, sweets, home produce, dressed poultry and other articles: — Duylc.ston stall—Mcsdames M. Riordan ; T. M. Holley and Winter (plain and fancy work), Misses Thomson and K. Holley (sweets and surprise pack ets), Mrs J. Greenan, Misses Riordan. Smack, Stapleton (2), Crreeiian, (2). Rogers and 0 'Brien and Messrs G-odsel and Thomson. Southbridge stall —Mesdames J. P. McEvedy, P. "Dugan sen., and Bern McEvcdy, with a band of willing helpers,, selling home produce, needlework, vegetables, poultry, fruit, etc. Leeston stall—Mesdames M. Slattery, P. J. Eccleton. P. Slattery," Garry, P. O'Boyle, and Misses Bolmn, McCartin, Morgan, Me Cloy and O'Rourke. Refreshment room: Misses Ivilbrido Quinn, Carroll (Southbridge), O'Boyle, M. Stapleton, Greenan, Smack (D.oyleston), Mesdames McCartin, Dolan, Curran and Miss Hinds (Leestou). AT NIGHT. The hall, tents and grounds were crowded with people at night, and great business was done by all the bazaar vvorken-i. The electric lighting- ma.do ■-■

very marked difference to the appearance of the hall, setting the stalls oil to perfection. Assistance Avas given by the Ellesmere Pipe Band, which paraded up and down the main street and later gave selections at frequent intervals outside the hall. It was well on toward midnight before all the people departed for their homes.