SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Evening Star, Issue 24919, 17 July 1943, Page 8

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

[By Du.na.]

The monthly. meeting of the Townswomen's Guild was held Tuesday, when Mrs J. A. Cook presided. ..Members brought favourite recipes to be typed and exchanged and some very attractive quilts were shown, made from odds' and ends of material. The guild .is much indebted to Miss G. McGibbon, who gave aft interesting and instructive talk on cooking aiid food values.

Mrs J. MeLaehlaii presided over a'largo attendance of members of the St. Clair Women's Club oh Monday evening. Members had the pleasure of listening; to "ail interesting, and amusing talk by Miss W. McQuilkan, her subject, being /Wit and Humour in Literature.' A musical programme arranged, by Mrs A. Walmsley, with Mesdames Simpson and Longworth and Miss I). IBeck, each of whom sang a bracket of songs,' was enjoyed by .those present. A very pleasant function took place in Wakari on Wednesday < when the mothers, in the district met at afternoon ; tea to say good-bye to their Plunket nurse, Miss L. J. Tingey, who is leayirig to take up a position as district nurse. The president of the Wakari branch of the Plunket Society thanked Miss Tingey for the wonderful work she had done in the district and expressed the regret of the whole community in losing'her services; On behalf of the mothers in' Wakari, she presented • Miss Tingey with ""an Amphora vase as a token of their appreciation.

Owing to rapid expansion of personnel .in the, It.N.Z. A.F. an' increased supply of wool has been released to meet" the "demand of woollen, comforts necessary. Knitters are urgently needed for this national service to meet the requirements of the Air Force Relations. Wool and instructions may be' had' from the depot, Forbury Corner, or Miss Smith, D.S.A. . On Tuesday afternoon \ a very happy function took place at the office of the Hillside Workshops, when a presentation of a beautiful handbag was made to Miss Joy' Fraser .by the cliief clerk, Mr Mintroin, who; spoke of the high qualities of Miss Fraser's character arid the ;high, esteem in which she.was held. Speeches were made by other members of the staff .eulogising. Miss Fraser and her work, to which Miss Fraser suitably responded. Miss Fraser severed her '.connection at. Hillside. to .take up nursing duties. .The Psychology Circle of the Otago Women's Club met on Wednesday, when Miss Jl_K. Brown presided. The subject,for discussion was 'The Value and. Power. of Thought.' Papers: and readings , were given .' by Mesdames (Ritchie," Begg, Paterson, Cowan, arid Roberts, and.' .the Misses, Brown and Fenwick. •■- ••■■ -.-,-«.

'.The; Society of Women; Musicians held .'-its. monthly meeting on Monday. Mrs L, Beaumont presided, and after the business meeting a,talk on 'Music of'the --Romantic Period ' was given by Miss Mary Martin, and illustrated with musical items by Mrs Napier and the Misses Lucy Robertson. Dora Drake. Olive Nieper, McAdam, F. Sumner, with Misses Jessie Jones and ißbria Thomson as accompanists. •News has been- received that Miss Begg lias been' despatched 'to North Africa; to make the preliminary arrangements for y.-WLCA. centres for - the welfare and recreation of women serving with the British forces in North Africa. A member of Miss Begg's staff, .Miss Cavanagh, is already in Tripoli. The Y.W.C.A. in. the Middle East has now a chain of 16 centres, recreational and residential, and 13 mobile units, stretching from Egypt to Eritrea and from Talestine to Persia. The development of this new work'in Tripoli and Tunisia'will cost a further £5,000. and Mrs Churchill, president of the -Y.W.C.A. Wartime Services Fund, 'is. calling'for'subscriptions for this special branch of the war service work of the Y.W.C.A. St. John Women's War Committee.

'The" monthly meeting of; the St,. John Committee was held pa Tuesday. The /following reports • were received from conveners :—■-■;••

'Sewing.—A large, amount of , work had been completed during the month, and the following articles despatched to headquarters :*—96o -dysentery pads, 30 pairs pyjamas, 33 dressing gowns, and 312 face cloths. • Wool.—As a result of. the recent appeals in the papers for sock kni.tters a great deal of wool had been distributed, and the committee is grateful for the ready response to its appeal. The following articles had been despatched ■ pairs socks, 19 sleeveless pullovers,' six cardigans, and one scarf.

To Renew Oilskins. . Oilskin coats which have.lost their waferproof qualities can now be restored by a simple process which can be; performed by any householder (says the ' Argus'). A leading Australian paint manufacturer has made available the formula. This consists of one; quart of raw linseed oil, 2oz beeswax, 5o«. terebine., The beeswax should be dissolved in mineral or pure turpentine or power kerosene. As the solution is highly inflammable it is advisable to melt the wax in the same way as glue—that is, have one vessel containing the substance' standing inside another vessel containing water. The water forms/a check, and will prevent intense heat from the flames igniting the mixture. The mixture should never be heated over a naked. flame. When the wax is thoroughly dissolved all ingredients should be mixed into one solution and applied to the oilskins. For khaki-coloured dressing a small portion of Oxford, oclire or deep orange may be added. For a black dressing vegetable black, lamp black, or carbon black should bemused.

_. The mixture.is only satisfactory for restoring bid oilskins and cannot be used to make new ones. Although ingredients for this formula may be in short supply in some localities they should be generally obtainable. • League of Mothers.

The Maori Hill branch held its monthly meeting on Thursday. Mrs W. Sharp presided, and thanked members for the flowers brought for the Queen< Mary Hospital. Members were also reminded that next meeting would be a " grandmothers " day. The thought brought by Mrs Ingram was ".Keep on keepih' "on.'.' Songs by the choir and by Mrs Hartley were much ap preciated, the accompanist being Mrs Dixon An enjoyable account was given of a trip to Honolulu, the speaker representing New Zealand at a conference where she was ihc only British subject among 45 nations. The monthly meeting of the Opoho branch was held on "Tuesday. Mrs Drake, prosi dent, was in the chair. The thought for the month was " Service is the rent we pay for our room on earth." Mrs Muir head addressed the meeting on the work of the Roxburgh and oilier health camps for children. Acceptable solos were rendered by Miss A. Guy. -

Navy League Notes. "Almost coincident with (lie-request from overseas for more pull-overs and socks cornM one from Wellington asking us to send, in addition to the. usual monthly quota (which includes 45 pull-overs and 63 pairs socks), as many more' of these articles as possible. So it'will'be'realised that even more knittors are needed, and those who are already working hard are most warmly thanked Before the request from Wellington ,wa? received there had already been packed for overseas 745 garments, including 190, pairs sea-boot stockings, 105 pull-overs, 103 pairs sock's, 84 balaclavas, 36 pairs gloves and 55 children's garments, including 5 shawls At 'this time of the year, especially, it is advisable to have a small store of comforts in hand for visiting ships and local needs. Sea-boot stockings, in particular, are seemingly not provided on merchant ships, and are a welcome gift. One blessing is that the branch has a fair amount of wool in hand, which can be obtained every Wednesday morning at 8 Dowluig street, or bv written application to the chairman, Women's Committee, Mrs Sutherland Ross, who will also have some wool to "ive out at her home, Broomlull, Koslyn (Mackay's Corner), next Thursday morning from 11-12. Y.W.C.A, in Alexandria. -In '» letter to the Y.W.C.A. ' Review ' Miss Meg Saunders, of Dunedin, says:— " We are now—thanks to the Bth .Army —lirnilv enough established to have a set programme. Our latest and best activity is a weekly dinner, dance; we dine from 7 to 9 o'clock in our funny basement dining rooms.' If the boys haven't partners they hand their names in during the week, and .'we do the rest. The lads get such a thrill out of taking the girls down to dinner, and over food acquaintances seem io flourish. An R.A'.F. orchestra plays from 8 to 11 o'clock, and we serve buffet supper from 9.30. The part that nearly breaks ones heart is tlie poor chap who tries to gate crash and when he answers one's inquiry with ' Got a service woman partner! When I've scarcely spoken •to ,and not danced with an English, girl for lliree years!' We do what we can for these lads on Saturday afternoons, when we have tea dances and don't'guarantee partners, but tear round introducing and changing folks over. "To-day I am very thrilled, because I have just heard that there is a possibility of,' the New. Zealand, Base Band visiting Alexandria end a chance that we will be able to have them for a Sunday afternoon. I can just visualise our lovely garden m all its summer glory of flowers, palms, and trees, bright garden umbrellas, canvas chairs, and a super band. Miclde, the cook, will do "his stuff.'with merengues, cheese straws, and ice cream. I must tell you about Mickie. He's a little, old yellow Berber with a crooked leg and a wonderful chef's hat. There's nothing he can't make, and, his very special dish and a great favourite with the American Red, Cross staff around the corner is apple pie. The apples, of, course, are tinned Nafti,. but it is just great to see folks' expres. sion when they realise that it is apple pie they are being offered. "We haver a lot of sidelines to our club —the ,' ambulance train sisters always call to wash and iron their curtains and have baths. 'Sisters.,'in" transit to and from C.C.S.s.and those on : their way to Tripoli revel in our gas geyser baths that supply unlimited hot water any hour of the. day or night. ' Lakshmi,' the Y.W.C.A. station wagon'presented by the women of India silver trinket fund, is famed for her carryin°- capacity; when the 7th Australian General Hospital was stationed about 35 miles away I-drove out, sometimes twice a dav, and often brought in as many as 12. A New Zealand unit that, was stationed here gave us great assistance by lending drivers when I was too busy to go. The lads loved it, 12 girls to take out and another 12 to bring in, dinner at the ' Y,' and a certain 'date ' to follow. This summer ' Lakshmi'. is .to be filled. with swimming enthusiasts for transportation to the beach. . ' . " Another job 1 enjoy is visiting one of the hospitals stationed in Alexandria, to hand out patriotic gifts to the New Zealand patients. They get such a thrill out of cigarettes made' in New Zealand.; '. their Christmas parcels supplied by the Patriotic Board were grand and much appreciated The convalescent Kiwis always make the Y.W.C.A. their first port of call on being discharged from the' hospital. Tea, garden,-' girls, and dances—-' pennies from heaven,' they call us; but in this way-a number 'of .New Zealand Air Force' and Navy lads have an opportunity of lrieeting other New Zealanders. Colonel 'Waive alwavs sends me several copies of the ' N.Z.EJV Times' for distribution.'.'