"THE QUEEN OF QUEENS"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 65, 16 March 1940, Page 18

"THE QUEEN OF QUEENS"

MISS GLEDHILL INVESTED

BY LADY GALWAY

PLUNKET CARNIVAL'S GRAND

FINALE

Full-throated singing of the National Anthem and "Land of Hope and Glory" were among the most stirring features of the Plunket Society's Queen Carnival Ball, which was held last night in the Exhibition Cabaret. The ball, attended by many hundreds of people, marked the culmination of about six weeks of intense activity on the part of four young women, the climax being reached when her Excellency, Viscountess Galway, crowned the winning contestant, Miss Patricia Gledhill, in the carnival just concluded.

I. Each of the girls who took part in <j the ceremony last night had worked j. under the noms-de-plume of the four Services, Miss Patricia Gledhill being the "Army Queen," Miss Ruth Wheeler the "Navy Queen," Miss Patsy Ashif bolt the "Merchant Service Queen," 3. and Miss Suzanne Bothamley the "Air i, Force Queen." The identity of the 5. winning queen had been a closelypreserved secret, revealed to the public only when announced by Mrs. H. Jowett, president- of the Plunkei * Society, shortly before the actual * crowning ceremony. I POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE. Under strings.of coloured light, and down a long red carpet stretching the length of the' cabaret floor, the procession heralding. the. approach of the "queen of queens" began. Preceded by smartly-stepping "Beefeaters" ' resplendent in the familiar scarlet uni- » forms of the guardians of the Tower > of London, and-by a patrol of brisk " "be-busbied" guards, the first queen, • Miss Ruth Wheeler, made stately prot gress to a position beside the empty throne, which was draped with lengths >of rich purple and gold satin. Her ■ deep blue standard was held aloft by » two uniformed Royal Naval Volunteer Reservists, and she was attended by . Misses June Luckie, Bobbie Gibbons, • Marjorie Hutton, and Joan Gibbons, who wore wide dark blue ribands em--5 blazoned in gold with the name of t the queen they were supporting. With . similar pageantry, the second contesti ant, Miss Suzanne Bothamley, apj proached down the long red carpet, her standard being borne by Messrs. Stitch- , bury and Cummings, both of the N.Z.R.A.F. Her ladies-in-waiting were '. Misses Ngaire Aplin, Brenda Edmonds, [ Joan Ryan, and Barbara Bothamley. Cheers announced the arrival of Miss Patsy Ashbolt and her retinue, which " comprised Messrs. M. Ashbolt and L. ' Castle as banner bearers, and Misses Pam Ashbolt, Avril Rhind, Pam Pater- ■ son, and Joy Higgins as attendants. Four little girls in short white satin s tunics edged with gold triumphantly > trumpeted Miss Patricia Gledhill into the cabaret. She was preceded by two [ very small girl pages /in doublet and hose, who bore on satin cushions the heraldic crown and sceptre. Miss ' Gledhill herself, in a slim-fitting gown of gold threaded with glittering thread, ; and a flowing gold train edged with ! ermine, made her entrance amid great enthusiasm. Her attendants, Mrs. Eric - Reeves, Misses Nedra McDonald, : Denise Puttick, and Marie Gledhill, each wore lovely white frocks and , circlets of gold in their hair. Her , standard was borne by Lieutenants E. Summers and lan Murray. It was then that her Excellency was conducted to the throne where she received the crown and sceptre from the two small pages, and, with due ceremony, performed the long-anticipated crowning. Mr. W. H. Gledhill read from an impressive parchment the story of the carnival and his daughter's success, and escorted her on her triumphal progress. After the actual investiture was over, the gathering joined in singing the National Anthem and "Land of Hope and Glory," the queens then following Miss Gledhill's retinue in an impressive pageant of movement and colour, from the dance floor to the robing rooms. DEBUTANTE PRESENTED. ] Lady Galway also received during , the evening Miss Gillian Gooder, of j Masterton, who had journeyed specially from Christchurch, where she is , studying art, in order to make her debut. Miss Gooder, who is the daughter of Mrs. Rita Gooder, Masterton, wore a lovely frock of stiff white moire, the fullness coming from a released panel at the back. She wore a delicate pendant of carved ivory and white flowers in. her hair to match her posy of white tuberoses. With her Excellency in the official party at the time of the presentation were Mrs. Peter Fraser, Mrs. Walter Nash, Mr. and Mrs. T. C. A. Hislop, Mrs. H. Jowett, chairman of all the committees connected with the pageant, Mrs. Knox Gilmer, chairman of the ball committee, members of the Plunket Society executive committee, and Mr. Heathcoate G. Helmore, A.D.C. Mrs. Jowett presented Lady Galway with a bouquet in warm tonings to match her handsome gown of deep beige pebble crepe. Her jewels were a diamond clip and a long, single rope of lustrous pearls. The entire pageant had been arranged by Mrs. Philip Cooke. The small girls who had heralded the approach of the central figure in the ceremony were Rosemary Mazengarb, Elizabeth Florance, Wendy Cooke, and Melisande McNaughton, and the two tiny pages Ruth Leicester and Judy Shirer. The jewels used in the crowning ceremony had been lent by Mr. Max Berman. A LARGE ATTENDANCE. Among the many present were Captain and Mrs. V. G. Webb, Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Leicester, Mr. and Mrs. H. R. Chalmers, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Whyte, Mr. and* Mrs. Ernest Blundell, Major and Mrs. H. Ainslie, Mr. and Mrs. Eric Riddiford, Mrs. H. Vickerman, Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Gledhill, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Mack, Dr. and Mrs. E. P. Houghton, Mr. and Mrs. P. B. Cooke, Mr. and Mrs. C. Levin, Sir Charles and Lady Norwood, Major and Mrs. Eric Reeves, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Burnett, Mr. and Mrs. G. Bassant, Lieutenant and Mrs. J. D. Gerard, Mr. and Mrs. T. Cleary, Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Bothamley, Mrs. A. B. Gibbons, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton Gilmer, Mr. and Mrs. A. Hoar (Masterton), Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Wheeler, Mr. and Mrs. Duff Daysh, Mr. and Mrs. T. McCarthy, Mrs. E. Puttick, Mrs. H. F. O'Leary, Mr. and Mrs. H. I. Graves, Professor and Mrs. D. Florance, Mrs. Godfrey Wilson, Mrs. E. W. Hunt, Mr. and Mrs. O. C. Mazengarb, Mrs. Roy Mathews, Mrs. C. G. Morice, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Souter (Auckland), Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm Bennie, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Fowles, Mrs. Ashbolt, Mrs. Vivian Rhind, Dr. and Mrs. Reay Mackay, Mrs. Gwen Tringham, Mrs. C. Holden, Mr. and Mrs. John Jerram, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Blythe, Mrs. Cory-Wright; Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Sievwright, Mr.

and Mrs. Stronach Paterson, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Todd, Mr. and Mrs. Desmond Todd, Mr. and Mrs. Norman Allen, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Norwood, Mr. and Mrs. Len George, Mrs. A. Longmore, Mr. and Mrs. Hillis Symes, Mrs. Lan Reid, Mr. and Mrs. P. Hanna, Mr. and Mrs. Max Berman, Mrs. W. Higgins, Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Stichbury; Misses Rhind, Amy Kane, Geraldine Litchfield, Jean Gilmer, Valmai Maudsley, Denise Puttick, Valeric Carr, Bunty Blundell, June Halligan, Mollie Rodie, Isobel Biggar, Patricia Luckie, Joyce McGill, Kathleen Hayes, Judith Pasley, Molly Goldfinch, Lola Benge, Patricia McNamara, Judith and Barbara Allan, Valeric Pope, Ina Small, Pam Chapman, Betty McLean, June and Dawn Allison, Ronnie King, Pam Blundell, Yvonne and Winnie Vickery, Anne Baillie, Valmai and No.eline Cramond, Margaret Thodey, Margaret Briggs, Barbara Gibbons, Betty Johnston, Annette Gunn, Shirley Spears, Colleen Bohan, Ruby Faulkner, Patricia Greenfield-Brown, Pam Orbell (Timaru), Molly Brown, Claire Mack, Patricia Hogg, Evelyn Johnson, Cushla Campbell, Lois Goldfinch, Freddy Whatley, Susan Whyte, Pat Ryan, T. Hegarty (Gisborne), Oriol Pollock, Marjorie Bennie, Maureen Shoosmith, Lindsay Knight (Dannevirke), Ruth Skerman, Helen Widdop, Diana Newman, Jean. Fenwick, Shirley Conway, i Marie Yates-Jones, Helen Gibson, Diana Dickison, Janet Miles, and Valeric Richardson; Dr. Robert Stout, and Messrs. E. Anscombe, H. Jowett, P. Tuckey, F. Renouf,- W. Wylie, F. Dougal, B. Nicholl, C. Spidy, D. Cochrane, G. Home, W. Gibbons, B. Vickerman, K. Blair, D. McGill, D. E. Fouhy, W. D. Murie, J. Blythe, P. Kelly, D. Dean, A. Harpur, J. V. Ilott, W. Pasley, H. Walls, W. Zander, C. Didsbury, W. Combs, G^ Dowling, S. Rae, K. Renn, D. Simpson, W. Reid, T. Jowett, C. Evans-Scott, R. Moodie," W. Spring* hall, A. Sutherland,, and R. Morpeth, Captain E. Grave Morris, Commander A. B. Fanshawe, . Captain R. W. Haddon, Lieutenants G. Colledge, R. Murray, Burns, E. Summers, P. Patterson, H. G. Thomas, R. Sinclair, D. Powdrie, I. Murray, and G. Roydhouse.