TOWN SALES £500

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22621, 26 April 1948, Page 6

TOWN SALES £SOO

POPPY DAY RECORD PUBLIC GENEROSITY Friday’s efforts by Poppy Day sellers in the borough of Gisborne realised just over £SOO, it was estimated today by officers of the Gisborne Returned Services’ Association, which sponsored the effort. When country and Coast sales are , accounted for the aggregate should 1 rise to over the £BOO mark, and estab- 1 lish a record. The receipt in the town area included £l7 8s in outright donations, comprising £5 from Mr. T. Todd, another £5 from an anonymous donor, £2 2s each from Messrs. J. S. Allen and Sons, Limited, and Mr. H. M. Jackson, £1 each from Mrs. H. Kenway and Mr. G. W. Kells, and an anonymous gift of £1 4s. Many poppy-sellers reported that individual buyers had paid more than the standard price for their blooms, as a further indication of the generosity with which the public met. the appeal. Individual Sellers’ Figures Sellers were more numerous on Friday than on some previous occasions, and a better coverage of the town area was possible Sixty Gisborne High School boys and girls assisted in the suburban canvass and their aggregate returns were about £l6l, while individual sellers who in previous years had worked up an extensive “private connection" marie individual returns ot £2B. £24, £2O and other sums near the £2O mark. An incidental effect of tne afternoon power cuts in the suburbs, noted by the organising committee, was the early disappearance from the shopping area of large numbers of women’who had to hasten home to prepare evening meals. The ranks of the women sellers were also thinned by the same factor, and between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. the sale was carried on largely by male helpers, \ although some determined women stuck to the task until the last possible sale had been made. This year the sale of poppies in Hastings yielded a record total of more than £650. Over £SOO was collected in Napier.