Food for Britain

Hutt News, Volume XXI, Issue 49, 2 June 1948, Page 12

Food for Britain

WATERLOO SCHOOL GIFTS

The Waterloo School Committee has received letters of deep gratitude for parcels sent to Britain under the school-to-school scheme. Several of the letters were sent from schools at Redcar, Yorkshire. Mr. W. Appleton, Mayor of Wellington, who left for England last week, hopes to visit' these schools on behalf of the Waterloo Committee, as his greatgrandmother was born at Redcar.

A letter received from the Redcar Zetland School, Redcar, was as follows: —

"My dear New Zealand friends, — Your lovely box arrived on Thursday, April 29, and we shared the contents on Friday, April 30. It is such a pity that you could not see the excitement and the fun. I can assure you that we are all extremely grateful for your kind thoughtfulness. We packed up parcels during the war for a ship that we had adopted, so we know full well the time and trouble that has to be spent before' the gifts are eventually sent off. Although we* have a large school every family got something, as I expect you will hear when you get the letters from the children. It is a very great comfort to us all to know that you are thinking of us. All good wishes and many, many thanks. —Yours very sincerely, A. Brown."

"Fats Our Worst Shortage"

The following letters were re ceived from the John E. Batty School Redcar: —

"Dear Head Teacher, —On behalf of my children, staff and myself, may I thank you very sincerely for the wonderful gift box we have recently received. You must have given much time and care to the packing of such a magnificent box. The goods were distributed yesterday in as fair a way as we could devise. We have no really necessitous cases here as fortunately we are in a residential area of Redcar, where our children all come from gcod homes. Of course, everyone in England is, short of soap and flakes, etc., so that was especially welcome. We cut up the bars into tablets so that more children might have a small gift. And, as perhaps you know, we never. see such luxuries as tins of tongue. The children who received those were Indeed lucky. Any kind of dripping or fat is most welcome in any home, ao the tins of dripping rejoiced many a mother's heart. Please do not think I am discriminating concerning the goods, for they were all most welcome, but, as you perhaps realise, fats are our worst shortage. Several of the older children are writing letters of thanks to your children. I think Some hope to make pen friends. Will you please thank your children and staff, aiid accept yourself our sincere thanks. —Yours truly, Ivy B.Back, Headmistress.''

"Dear Children, —What a lovely surprise box of food and soap you have sent our children. I am writing to tell you how very grateful we all are. All the goods arrived In excellent condition and what fun and excitement there has been giving it out. There are 352 boys and girls at this school, aged from 5 years to 11 years, so there wasn't a gift for each. But I divided the goods out as evenly as I could amongst the eight classes, and in each class Jots were drawn. The lucky ones were very happy and those not so lucky Were good sports. The teachers divided the soap up into tablets and halved the packets of Lux. All the boys and girls send their warmest thanks to you and to your teachers who have so busily collected the goods together. So it only remains to me to thank you once again and to send the thanks of your 352 cousins in England.—Yours very sincerely, 1..8. Dack."