MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1940, Page 9

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST

19-YEAR-OLD GIRL. WINS GEORGE MEDAL.. LONDON, October 4. A nineteen-year-old Caterham A.R.P. warden is the first woman to receive the George Medal. She is Sonia Straw, a.secretary by day and first-aid warden at night. She has a jolly smile, a boyish walk (she is a Sports enthusiast arid holds awards for all-round ' athletics) and she doesn’t like talking about herself. . Miss Straw attended wounded wo-men-and children during, ari air-rai’d at -Caterham, Surrey. “Actually, I don’t remember much detail,” she said. “After the bombs had crashed, I rah up to a building where I knew there ‘ were people. I found a terrible lot of casualties there, and there was no one to help them. So I just set to work. Anyone else would have done the same. Most, of them were women and children. Actually, I

wasn’t really a fully qualified warden at the time, but I am now.” That didn’t finish her night’s heroism. One of her fellow-wardens supplied the rest of the story. A telephone call came through to the depot asking for news of an elderly woman who had been missing all day from a bomb-shattered street. Miss Straw volunteered to go in search. The street was roped off, since there was a time bomb there, but she walked straight into it through the falling masonry to the ruined house where the woman lived. It was collapsing, but Miss Straw went in and explored the rooms until she finally found the woman under a bed. After giving what comfort she could, she went out for a stretcher party, who carried the woman 'to safety.

WOMEN TAXI-DRIVERS SAME CONDITIONS AS MEN LONDON, September 14., Latest job taken over by Britain’s women in the war is driving taxis. Sheffield City Council has just approved an application for women to do this work, and the first took the wheel this week. She has passed the regulation police test for a public hire license. The police surgeon has put her through the same test for physical fitness that he gives to a man taxi-driver. The application to use women in this work was made by a big Sheffield firm of taxi owners, because they could not get enough men. “These women have to work under exactly the same conditions as our men,” the secretary of the firm said this week.

REMEDY FOR “NERVES” TAPESTRY WORK REVIVED LONDON, October 22. A centuries-old remedy for soothing’nerves has been revived by the women who spend their nights in shelters or standing by for duty. They are stitching elaborate tapestries like those worked by the women of medieval days. Hundreds are finding that embroidery makes the long hours of waiting pass more quickly and takes their minds off the sound of gunfire and enemy aeroplanes overhead. Queen Mary has just started work on two lovely old French fruit designs of pomegranates, grapes, and pears. When they are finished the tapestries will be mounted as chair seats. The Royal School of Needlework, which is remaining in London in spite of the war, has been supplying a number of clients with designs and materials.

| CHRISTMAS CAKES I SEASONAL ADVICE War or no war,'there are , many reasons why Christmas this year should riot be allowed to pass without at least. some .of the trappings which /have endeared it to the heart of humanity for. centuries. First and foremost, of course, “the boys” must not be deprived; of ; their much-loved Christmas cakes ' and puddings—whether' they are already overseas, or in-camp here, or. about to go into canip.'; And” thenthere- are the'children, for whom, after, all, the thrills of’"'Christmas last 'such a very’ few. short years. ' Here are three reliable cake recipes. - RICH CHRISTMAS CAKE

Line cake tin with two thicknesses of greased paper, and have two pieces ready to put over the; top of the cake. All fruit should be cleaned and washed a few days before cake is made. To wash fruit put into a colander and hold under a running tap. Spread out on a tray to dry in the open.

Ingredients: 11b. flour, lib.. butter, fib. sugar, lib. currants, lib. raisins, jib. mixed peel. fib. almonds, fib. crystalled cherries, joz. mixed spice. 1 teaspoon cinnamon, -j Teaspoon grated nutmeg. -f; pint- brandy or whatever spirit is . available. Small \ cup treacle. If teaspoons salt. 1 teaspoon baking powder. 10 eggs. C

Beat butter and sugar to a,cream until sugar is dissolved. Separate the yolk of eggs from the whites. t ’" Beat the yolks well, add' to them the brandy; beat, them well into butter and sugar until all is well ' mixed! Add a little flour to which the baking powder and salt has been added; Mix well, then add spices and half the fruit, mixing it all. well, as each ingredient is added. Add a little ■more flour, then remainder of the fruit. Add treacle, then the rest of the flour. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and mix in lightly. Lastly,' add 1 tablespoon of boiling water. Bake from 3-3 j hours. Be sure the oven is' hot enough to start the cake, but not hot enough to burn it. Allow the heat to gradually become moderate, and keep at the same heat for two hours.

RAISIN CAKE ••'rrnwu.-yaw This is another very havoursome cake if the large raisins, which need stoning, are used. Allow 4dz. of them and 4 oz. of currants to lib of flour, 3oz each of butter and lard, soz. of sugar, the grated rind of a small lemon, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 2 eggs, and 1-j gills of milk. Sieve the flour into a basin and into it rub the butter and lard; then add the prepared fruit, the grated lemon rind, sugar, and baking powder. Mix all together and make a well in the centre. Pour in the well-beaten eggs and the milk and mix from the centre outwards. Bake in a paper-lined tin until well risen and firm to the touch. This takes about 1| hours. ' ECONOMICAL CAKE This makes a very good Christmas cake, as it does not readily become dry. Take 11b. of flour, |lb. of butter, 1 |lb. each of currants and sultanas, 4 oz of mixed peel, i-lb. of sugar, 2 tea- 1 spoons of mixed spice, 4 eggs, the grated rind of a lemon, a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, and 1 pint of stout. I Prepare all. the ingredients and with the fruit and peel mix a little flour. Put the rest of the flour into a large basin and into it rub the butter until free from lumps. Add the fruit and the other dry ingredients, except the

[soda, and make i a well in the centre. Heat the stout in a small saucepan; to. it, add the soda, and while still frothy pour it into the centre of the dry ingredients. Add the well-beaten eggs and beat the mixture well with the hands. Pour into a lined cake-tin and bake in a moderate oven until well risen and firm to the touch. It should be given about 3 hours. CHRISTMAS PUDDING And here is a Food Ministry recipe for making the war-time Christmas puddings. As they are not as rich as normally, longer cooking this end is advised, at least six hours. Ingredients: ,6ozs breadcrumbs, 3ozs flour,, fib. suet, f teaspoonful salt, j teaspoonful mixed spice, fib. sugar (brown if possible), 2 eggs, 1 small carrot, grated, the juice of an orange. 1 tablespoonful marmalade, fib. raisins and fib. currants, making in all lib. dried fruits (if preferred use jib chopped prunes and jib. sultanas), 2ozs. chopped nuts, stout or old beer to mix, and if possible a little brandy or rum.

Chop suet finely. Clean and prepare fruit and mix well with chopped nuts, grated carrot and all the dry ingredients. Add eggs well beaten and marmalade, then orange juice, stir-in gradually sufficient stout or old beer to make stiff, moist consistency. Stir for at least an hour, longer if possible; the more the mixture is stirred the better. Put into one large or two smaller pudding basins and boil for at least six hours.

ACTIVE PART IN WAR. WOMEN WHO KEPT THEIR HEADS Recent air raids on Britain have proved the success of the Air Ministry’s experiment in employing women for plotting and radio operating at R.A.F. Operational Stations. In the early days there were doubts. Were women suitable for this work? Were they quick enough and able to concentrate? Above all, would they keep their heads and not get “rattled” in a raid? Those women who were first enrolled for these duties had to prove their worth and were watched with critical eyes. Raids in the past few weeks have given them the chance to show their mettle. Proof that they have come through the. test magnificently is contained in the news that W.A.A.F. radio operators and plotters are being enrolled in. increasing numbers.

Modern operational practice, in fact, has given women a chance of a more active and vital share in the war than in any war since the days of the Amazons.

Filmgoers have been able to picture the kind of work these women do. The words “operations room” conjure up a picture of a large room with a map in the centre, with a gallery around, with telephones and microphones everywhere.

I Girls sit with headphones on, quiet.iy knitting or reading. Perhaps nothing happens for half a watch, though [something may happen at any hour of the day or night. Suddenly there is tense excitement —but the girls work quickly and calmly. It is up to them to indicate to the watching officers where the enemy are. On their speed and accuracy the fighters rely for their orders. On theii’ ‘quick-witted calm by day and by night many lives may depend. .Women have shown they can do it. What is more, women have found that they enjoy doing it. They take to the life like ducks to water.

All promotion in the W.A.A.F. is through the ranks. Both plotters and radio operators stand a good chance. Officers are chosen from their number when additional officers are required. Intelligence, good education, eyesight and hearing, and the highest integrity are the qualifications needed for these jobs in the W.A.A.F. Age limits are 18 to 35. Pay is 2/2 a day at the end of a short period of training. Uniform is given to recruits during their first few days at the W.A.A.F. Reception Depot. Food and accommodation are free.