HISTORY MADE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 17, 21 January 1939, Page 18

HISTORY MADE

FIRST COCKTAIL PARTY

WELLINGTON CLUB ENTERTAINS

"Women have not been admitted to the club since bustles went out of fashion," stated a member of the Wellington Club at a cocktail party given there yesterday evening between 5 and 6 o'clock. This statement was more humorous than accurate, the fact of the matter being that no women had been entertained at the club since the year before the war, 1913, when a fancy-dress ball was held. For this reason the party yesterday evening was a momentous occasion; an event in the history of a club that is one of the oldest in Wellington, and its importance was in noway underated. The women guests were obviously well aware of jthe privilege they enjoyed and their [hosts paid them a gracious compliment

in the splendid arrangements made for their entertainment.

Masses of lovely flowers were arranged in the reception rooms on the second floor. Sir James Grose, president of the club, and Mr. Charles Turrell, vice-president, received the guests at the top of the stairs where, banked against the walls of the spacious landing, were groups of hydrangeas in all, the deepest and loveliest shades. These handsome flowers and stately gladioli held pride of place in the ■' floral decorations in all rthe rooms. But in the large billiard-room, where antlered relics of the chase looked dqwn from the walls, mixed groups of roses, larkspurs, spirea, and autumn-tinted leaves lay on tne white-clothed tables in pools of light casi by the low-hanging greenshaded lamps. Flowers also made bright splashes of: colour amid the tall palms and greenery in the conservatory, and the frocks-of the womenfolk provided the final' touches to a galaxy of colour so unusual/in these manly precincts. , .

Buffet tables laden with savouries were also arranged in all the rooms and white-jacketed waiters were assiduous in the attention to the requirements of the guests.

The Wellington Club was founded in the early fifties, its first home being in Waterloo Quay. The present building, which, is one of the largest on The Terrace, was taken over in 1877. There were a few, but only a few, of the women; present at the party last, night who had attended the ball held; there in 1913, and as the party was such a great success, it is to be hoped that it will not be another twenty-six years before they, and the other women guests, will enjoy the privilege of being entertained there again.