TRAVEL CLUB

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23770, 25 September 1940, Page 16

TRAVEL CLUB

YEAR'S WORK REVIEWED PATRIOTIC ACTIVITIES GIFTS FOR MEN ON SERVICE Having completed the seventh year of its existence, the Auckland Travel Club membership stands at 745, nn increase of 38 over last year, according to the annual report to be presented at the annual meeting on Friday. Lack of sufficient accommodation at the morning tea functions, however, still compels the keeping of a waiting list. The Friday morning tea receptions for visitors to Auckland maintained their popularity, an average of 400 members attending each week's function. Many overseas and New Zealand guests had addressed these meetings. A revision of the constitution of tho club to meet war conditions had resulted in tho insertion of a clause giving authority for the club to participate in patriotic and philanthropic work and to allow club funds to be spent for such purposes. The three club rooms in the Dingwall Building had been the scene of ceaseless activity since the outbreak of war, where Mrs. G. Pezaro was tho head of an efficient band of volunteer workers. Electric sewing machines, electric irons, large store cupboards and tables for cutting out patterns baa been installed, and hundreds of garments had been made and forwarded through the Red Cross Society for distribution in England. At the time of the influenza epidemic in the military camps, the club supplied pyjamas, slippers and other comforts to the emergency hospitals at Epsom and Ellerslio for the soldier patients.

Further patriotic work of the club included knitting lor the Ro\*al New Zealand Air Force men and for men on homo defence, the distribution of books to military camps, tho installation of a panatrope and radio equipped with amplifiers at St. Matthew's Hall for tho use of the Welcome Club for soldiers organised by Canon R. G. Coats, hospitality to soldiers on weekend leave, and the distribution of gifts for men of the mercantile marine. Bridge parties had also been held to augment funds for purchasing materials for the war chest, and the sum of £2-1 had been obtained from the two functions already held. Tho financial statement shows the club to be in a sound position.