MISS LORIMER RETURNS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25566, 20 June 1944, Page 3

MISS LORIMER RETURNS

, A visitor to Dunedin during the weekl end was Miss Betty Lorimer, daughter of Mr and Mrs J Lorimer, of Christchurch, and a niece of Miss Jean Begg, of Dunedin, director for the Y.W.C.A. War Service in the Middle East, under whom she has been working for the past three years and a-half. This is the first occasion on which the Y.W.C.A. service uniform has been seen in this city. It comprises a khaki tunic and skirt and beige shirt, with royal blue shoulder tabs, and a tie. The Blue Triangle appears on the sleeve and beret, and Miss Lorimer wears two service ribbons. The Africa Star and the M.B.E. for services at Basra. She is visiting New Zealand on her brief furlough, and will leave this morning for Christchurch. Miss Lorimer spent two years In Iraq and Persia, and was in Teheran when the Three-Power Conference was held there. \

“ No words can adequately express the value of the work of Miss Begg, or appraise her capabilities as an organiser,” said Miss Lorimer. “ Thirty-six clubs have already been established for servicewomen in her territory, which extends from Algiers through Malta to Italy and Sicily, and includes Irak, Persia, Syria, Eritrea, North Africe, Kenya, and Malta, and now Miss Begg, who is at present in Colombo, is organising clubs for the South African Asian Command. Some of the clubs are residential and some are non-residential, and a residential club has recently been. opened in Cairo for married couples, va>men in uniform, and their husbands. Women of at least 15 nationalities, use these clubs, where they may entertain their men or women friends of any rank. They are thoroughly democratic organisations. Some of the clubs, like Darbhanga House, in Cairo, are beautiful palaces, lavishly equipped, but at others out in the desert the furnishings have been improvised by the girls —chairs and tables made out of packing

cases, upholstered and covered with tent canvas, and mosquito netting used for lamp' shades. Four clubs have already been established in Italy, one at Bari, which is extensively used by New Zealand girls.” ' - v

Guests at the Sorrento Club, on the Bay of Naples, had a wonderful view of the eruption,of Vesuvius, Miss Lorimer said, and just below was the jetty from which the girls embarked to spend their leave on the lovely Isle of Capri. Equipment was ready now to establish clubs in Rome. The Malta club, recently’ dpened, was under the charge of another Dunedin girl, Miss Meg Saunders. It was expected that she would get home leave by the end of the year. The Y.W.C.A. was grateful to the army for releasing one of its nursing V.A. s, Miss Rona Fogg, W.A.A.C. (formerly of Dunedin), to help for two months at Darbhanga House. She was now at one of the base hospitals in Italy. New Zealanders abroad, Miss Lorimer added, were held in high esteem. The gallantry of the Dominion’s soldiers was known throughout the world, and the ■girls had just as high a standing. They were regarded as being remarkably enterprising, resourceful, and capable. They had resilience, and could carry out arduous work under any conditions —and always cheerfully. 1