VICEREGAL INTEREST

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 91, 14 October 1940, Page 11

VICEREGAL INTEREST

A.N.A. CLUB OFFICIALLY OPENED

ENTHUSIASM OF THE TROOPS

When Viscount and Viscountess Galway arrived upstairs at the Army, Navy, and Air Force Club on Saturday night they were welcomed with spontaneous cheering which did not lessen until the viceregal party had mounted the dais. Most of the guests who crowded the club for its official opening were in khaki, but all the services were strongly represented. Their Excellencies were accompanied by Captain Lord Dormer, A.D.C., and members of the club executive !also welcomed to the official party Mrs. Peter i Fraser, Mr. and Mrs. T. C. A. Hislop j (patron and patroness), heads of Government departments, and naval and military representatives. Captain F. E. Bailey, chairman of the club, welcomed troops from Trentham to the A.N.A. and invited all men of the forces to make the club their home when on leave in Wellington. The Mayor briefly traced the club's progress since its establishment almost at the commencement of war. /'lt started in a small way," he stated, "in the R.S.A. rooms in Victoria Street, but they were too small. So are these," he added, amid laughter. It was due to the enthusiasm of the A.N.A. Club I and the Metropolitan Patriotic Committee that new headquarters had been found and in this respect he thanked Miss Phyllis Bates, whose ballroom was • used for dancing, and who had made very fair arrangements. "Two floors of this building are busy all day and not quite all night," Mr. Hislop said, in paying tribute to A.N.A. helpers, and before asking Lord Galway "to bless the house," he called lor cheers for the club and its workers. "DOING THEIR BIT." J The Governor-General expressed his and Lady Galway's pleasure at being present. "These are grim and serious times," he said, "but we can't be serious all the time. We must relax in the right way and in the right spirit] if we are to pass into a brighter period in the future." The A.N.A. j Club filled a long-felt want and its hos- j pitality to men of the forces was most commendable. j He gave a message for men of the reinforcements-to. pass on to their comrades. New Zealand was sound to the core and wholeheartedly in this busi- j ness of war. All were doing their bit. He wished the men very happy times within the club's walls, and concluded by saying good luck, and by extending his good wishes to all those doing their duty in whatever form it might be. The Mayor's call for cheers for Lord and Lady Galway was not uttered for j the gathering vociferously forestalled him. These, and the united singing of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," were warm tributes to the popularity of the Governor-General and all; for which he stands, OFFICIAL GUESTS. Among the official guests were the Hon. F. and Mrs. Jones, the Hon. W. E. Barnard, the Hon. Adam and Mrs. Hamilton, the Hon. Vincent Ward, Major and Mrs. Eric Reeves, Lieuten-ant-Commander Sleeman, LieutenantCommander R. D. Boyle, and Lieuten-ant-Commander A. L. Cross. Members of the executive are Mesj dames H. F. O'Leary, W. E. Barnard, E. Puttick, E. Luke, R. B. Gibbdns, A. B. Smith, and G. Webb; Miss V. Richardson; Messrs. F. E. Bailey (chairman), R. C. Burton, A. McNaughton, C. A. Morton, W. D. Gordon, R. B. Gibbons, B. Hartman, J. Murray, J. B. Joyce, L. Blundell, and J. M. A. Ilott. The members of the women's committee are Mesdames R. C. Burton, A. de T. Nevill, H. W. L. Saunders, W. E. Herbert, and ladies of the executive. '

Macgregor was convener on Sunday and those who helped her were MesI dames Jackman, Dennistoun-Wood, A. S. Morley, Misses E. Richardson, P. Healey, L. Nielson, R. Alexander, and E. Gibson. Institute's Christmas Parcels. At the recent meeting of the Tawa Flat Women's Institute, held in "Ye Olde Bull and Bush" tearooms, Mesdames J. Woods and Herron were appointed delegates to the half-yearly council meeting at Porirua. The war circle reported that. twenty-three Christmas parcels had been made up, sixteen sent to local men, and seven to the Patriotic Fund Board.