WILSON HOME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 14

WILSON HOME

OPENING 'CEREMONY ' - function this afternoon MAYOR TO . OFFICIATE , j - After weeks of preparation, the Wilson Homo for Crippled Children, at Takapuna, will be officially opened this afternoon. It was intended that the Minister of Health, the Hon. P. Fraser, should be tlio principal speaker, but a message from Wellington last night stated that, owing to indisposition, he would bo unable to visit Auckland, and, in his absence, the opening ceremony will be porformed by the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis. The only other speaker will bo the chairman of the Hospital Board, the Rev. W. C. Wood. It is intended to open the grounds to the public at 2 o'clock and the official opening will take place at 3 o'clock on the terraces overlooking the Hauraki Gulf. The Takapuna Brass Band will be in attendance. After the building has been formally opened, the public will be permitted to inspect the home. The first patients to be admitted to the home were transferred from the Auckland Hospital on Tuesday. All are victims of infantile paralysis, but it is intended to take in another patient suffering from osteomyelitis, a bone disease, after the home has been opened. This is regarded as an indication of the future uses to which the institution will be put. Tho surroundings of the home are unique in their extent and their beauty. The 13 acres of land on which the buildings aro erected possesses sweeps of lawn, tennis courts, pergolas in abundance and a multiplicity of flower beds and shrubberies and, from tho many vantage points, unrivalled panoramic views are obtained of the Hauraki Gulf. For some weeks workmen have been engaged in altering the home for use as a hospital. The Hospital Board has yet to extend the main verandah to provide a solarium, funds for which have been provided by the Auckland branch of the Crippled Children's Society, and a start will shortly be made in the erection of a bath-house adjoining the main building. This will house most of the facilities for hydro-therapeutic treatment, which is one of the most important features of the curative work.