"SHELLFIRE KIDS"

Evening Star, Issue 25300, 7 October 1944, Page 8

"SHELLFIRE KIDS"

NEW ZEALAND FUNDS PROVIDE HOLIDAY . (Official News Service.) LONDON, October 5. The people of New Zealand are helping 200 " shellfire kids " —children from shelled areas in Dover and Folkestone—to enjoy a fortnight's holiday in the popular seaside resort of Brighton. Money from the Southern England Relief Fund, contributed by the National Patriotic Fund Board, is covering part of the expense and the people of Brighton are doing the rest. The children had just arrived at Brighton and were tucking into a huge hot meal when the. New Zealand High Commissioner, Mr W. J. Jordan, and the Mayor and l Mayoress of Brighton saw them yesterday afternoon. They yelled their delight at the announcement of a programme of entertainments and games that will make this their happiest holiday of the war. They know New Zealand is helping them to have it, and their excited faces, beamed their gratitude. A party of New ' Zealand Air Force men was helping to serve the meal, and seemed to be enjoying it as much as the children. This is only one of the ways in which the money from New Zealand is to be spent. Dover and! Folkestone have suffered as much as front line towns. Since the fall of France, in 1940, for example, nearly one-tenth of Dover's 11,000 properties have been destroyed or damaged beyond repair. Last month was tho worst, with a shelling warning more than 30 times. At its height the townspeople had to stay under cover . for 13. hours.