N.Z. TROOPS IN BRITAIN

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 September 1940, Page 10

N.Z. TROOPS IN BRITAIN

WARM HOSPITALITY OFFERED. (From the Official War Correspondent attached to the New Zealand Forces in Great Britain). ALDERSHOT, August 20, Among the ineffaceable memories of the Second Echelon’s sojourn in England will be that of the kindness of the people. Partly that is due to our having come so far to share the dangers that are so near, these days, to the Old Country. Partly it is because we are New Zealanders: the fine reputation of the First N.Z.E.F. has not been dimmed by passing years. But mostly it springs from the innate hospitality of the English heart. The Englishman is reputedly reserved and aloof. In peacetime that may be fair comment: ordinarily a visitor from the Dominions does feel at home sooner in Scotland or Ireland than in Southern England. Under the testing strain of war, however, reserve has melted. To soldiers of the Empire, the English-, man has thrown his heart wide open; and with his heart, in many instances, his home. The hospitality offered New Zealand troops is as varied as the social and economic status of the people offering it. There is no. variation in its cordiality. It ranges from invitations to spend the whole of one’s leave or convalescence in stately country homes—or in such parts of them as are not given over to hospital or other war work —to quick, eager urgings to take a cup of tea while momentarily halted before a tiny cottage. If you, reader, would appreciate what that means to the giver; try making two ounces of tea per .person last a week in your kitchen —and see how little is left over for strangers at the gate. Yet not once or twice, but scores and hundreds of times, this has been the experience of our men on the march here in the South of England. Sometimes, the tea ration probably, already exhausted, they are offered cocoa or coffee; sometimes milk; sometimes beer. But it happens all along the road: the donors, young women, matrons and old ladies; old men, married couples, mothers and daughters, children. And,‘ apart altogether from the physical refreshment and the cheery greeting of the moment, it is something these young men will never forget; Local people in the camp areas are especially good. Through the Dominion Soldiers’ Club in Aidershot, a Dominion .Soldiers’ Hospitality Committee arranges leave-day VISITS TO PRIVATE HOMES. No special entertainment is offered, but men are, as it were, received into the family. They may have a bath, their clothes are mended,, they play the piano, they talk of their own homes and relax as though they were there. When meh and hostesses get along well together, these visits become regular, until a soldier feels that he is indeed one of the family, and welcome as such. The association is then direct, and . requires no further attention from the Hospitality Committee. Here and there it will be lifelong association: in less than two months there have been several cases of New Zealanders becoming engaged to daughters of English zhomes opened to them as -strangers. Other local invitations come for an afternoon’s tennis, or motor drives, or rounds of golf. A mature corporal, veteran of the latter years of the last war, was really excited when he received an invitation to play on a district bowling green. The

canteen at the First New Zealand General Hospital is entirely staffed by local women helpers, who have formed their own committee and arranged a roster of attendance. The Y.M.C.A. has provided them with a tent and the necessary equipment, and the Padre, a muscular Presbyterian from Dunedin and ex-rifleman of the “Dinks,” is their link with the military; but otherwise the ladies manage splendidly on their own. They have provided games for the patients, too: dart boards, chess and draught sets, packs of cards, quoits and so on. They take convalescents for drives, and entertain them in private homes. With the help of different friends, one family has been taking 12 men every Saturday afternoon since the-hospital was established, and proposes to continue doing so indefinitely. Another host hired a bus for a long afternoon’s tour, with a garden tea at the end. A widow who lives in the nearby village has fitted‘out a big games room, with a full-size billiard table, other table games, cards, darts, and a wireless. .She has given a standing invitation for seven or eight patients one evening every week, and four or five of the hospital staff another evening. They are made free of the room, cigarettes and sweets are in plentiful supply, and the hostess is sorely disappointed if everyone does not take supper before leaving. “Nonsense!” she says, in waving aside thanks. “It’s nothing to what all of you are doing for us.” Another woman is lending a houseful of furniture, including a piano, to increase the comfort of staff quarters and common-rooms at the hospital.

NO RANK DISTINCTIONS. Few hosts or hostesses anywhere differentiate between officers and 'other ranks. Among those who do is a titled lady,-who. has been among the foremost of the hospital helpers. The generous and friendly hospitality which she offers is particularly stipulated to be for men only. Among large organisations assisting in the entertainment of soldiers, New Zealand and others, the Victoria League and the Overseas League are prominent. The Victoria League's hostel in Malet Street, London, is popular with the boys; and the scheme under which relatives overseas may by a payment to their local branch of the league, provide accommodation in London for named soldiers was happily conceived. All the Empire Societies have joined forces to establish the Empire Societies War Hospitality Committee, which has rooms in the ground floor of the Royal Empire Society’s building in Northumberland Avenue, London, between Trafalgar Square and the river. Typical of particular and general efforts in the provinces arid Scotland are the Australian and New Zealand Club at Bristol, and the Overseas League Clubs ,in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Bristol Club was formed to bring together Australians and New Zealanders resident in that city and district. Now it welcomes also Dominion soldiers on leave, and offers private hospitality from its members.