VICTORY LUNCHEON

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 52, 30 August 1945, Page 10

VICTORY LUNCHEON

E.S.U. WAR WORK GROUP ENTERTAINS GUESTS

Flags and flowers decked the Eng-lish-speaking Union rooms yesterday when the E.S.U. Women's War Group held a victory luncheon and entertained as their special guests Mrs. K. S. Patton, wife of the American Minister, the Mayoress, Mrs. Appleton, Dr. Alexander Gillies, president of the English-speaking Union, Mrs. Gillies, Mr. R. C. Burton, chairman of the executive, Mrs. Burton, and Mrs. B. Simpson, who has provided and served morning tea for the group throughout the war years. Men of the executive committee were also among the guests. Her Excellency Lady Newall, who was unable to be present,, sent a message expressing her best wishes. "It has been a big job but we have never tired of it," said Mrs. E. D. Good, convener of the Women's War Work Group, who welcomed the visitors. The group, continued Mrs. Good, had been formed at the request of Mrs. Hislop, the formers Mayoress, to knit for the Army. A small fund had been collected and with it members had decided to buy extra wool for garments to b*e sent to the blitzed areas. Activities and funds had increased through stalls, competitions, and small social gatherings, so that during the war years a total of £490 had been collected. They had been able to buy as much wool as could be worked on with the result that each year two large fully-packed cases of handknitted garments had been sent to England. LETTER FROM AMERICAN SERVICEMAN. .In addition, donations had been made to the Red Cross parcels fund, the Boys' Institute, and the Plunket Society. Assistance had also been given on street days and in other campaigns to further the war • effort. Parcels of knitting had been given to famiMes of soldiers, to returned servicemen, and patients at Silverstream Hospital. Mrs. Good read a letter from a U.S. serviceman who^ had written to thank the group for a jersey which, he said, had kept him warm during the cold nights on Iwo Jima. He referred to the New Zealanders' "friendly and gracious acceptance" of Americans, and expressed a hope that the« two nations might be drawn . closer together. ■_; ._,.._,_ "I have never been, associated with a happier and harder working group of women,"said Mrs. Good. Despite home ties and, for many, great personal sadnesses during the war, they had worked marvellously. Mrs. Good announced later that the war work group would continue with its work for at least a year to help the Mother Country. GROWING NEED OF ASSISTANCE. Mrs. Appleton, who. brought a congratulatory message from the Mayor, paid a tribute to Mrs. Good's work and excellent guidance. Through her own duties at the patriotic wool depot she knew what a great amount of work the group had accomplished. Wonderful letters had come from overseas servicemen expressing deep appreciation of all that had been done for them. It was a pleasant task now to visit different women's organisations and to pay tribute to them. She thanked them on behalf of the citizens of Wellington. There was more and more need of their work now, said Mrs. Appleton. At the Galway Guild 515 cases of clothing for UNRRA had been packed in the last five weeks. "The standard of what we are sending is par excellence," said the Mayoress. "You'd wear it and I'd wear it." • TRIBUTE FROM PRESIDENT. "I dare say many of you have said during the war years, 'How much longer can I hang on?'" commented Dr. Gillies. He congratulated the group on "finishing the course" and recalled his pride in their work when in England in 1940 he had been invited to inspect the first cases of garments on their arrival and to hear the tributes ! paid by those qualified to judge the ' standard of material and manufacture. " He congratulated them on sticking to ; the job when home responsibilities had become so great and rejoiced with ■ them that the war was over. "Though ; I know that people with your energy 1 and altruistic motives will find some- ; thing else to do," he said. CREATION OR DESTRUCTION. What the war group had accomplished redounded to the credit not , only of the E.S.U. in Wellington, but to the whole of New Zealand, said Mr. R. C. Burton, chairman, who , thanked the workers on behalf of the Wellington executive. A letter such as that received from the American serviceman would do more to crush isolation and to cement the bonds of friendship than anything else could do. The future peace of the world depended on the development to the full of the Creed of the Englishspeaking Unipn of Britain and America, so that now, when there was a weapon which stood both for creation and destruction, creation should supersede. Newly-finished knitted garments ready for shipment to England \vere on display and were examined with great' interest by the luncheon guests.