WOMEN HELPERS ENTERTAINED

Southland Times, Issue 25794, 4 October 1945, Page 6

WOMEN HELPERS ENTERTAINED

Patriotic Effort In

Invercargill

Six long years of faithful service by a loyal band of patriotic workers was recognized in some measure last night at a social function in honour of the hundreds of women associated with the patriotic effort in Invercargill. The function was arranged by the men members of the Invercargill Metropolitan Patriotic Committee to provide an opportunity to say to the women workers “thank you for a job well done.” About 250 members of various district and city committees and organizations accepted the invitation to be present at Smith’s tearooms where the function was held. And just how well the “job’ had been done and how faithful had been the service given was explained by Mr D. W. Stalker, chairman of the committee, and the principal dispenser of thanks. Invercargill’s target for the last year of the war was £17,600, he said. During that period a sum of £8293 had' been raised by the Queen Carnival committee—a splendid effort —but in addition to that, Invercargill had over-subscribed its target by approximately £3000; the women had collected more than £20,000 in the 12 months! That, he thought, was a marvellous effort. He referred to Southland’s contribution as a whole and said that in less than six years the sum of £350,000 had been subscribed and collected in patriotic funds.

SOUTHLAND’S PART “Southland never missed sending forward its contributions on the due date, and not once did we fail to reach cur target,” said Mr Stalker. “Moreover, we made a gift of £6 to each returned serviceman—no other centre did as well as that—and we found £lOO,OOO for the after care of the soldier, the man who breaks down in the years to come. That has all been achieved by team work. I am not going to individualize. lam going to say ‘we’ did the job, and I am proud to have been the skipper of the team.”

The work of the ,various committees was referred to by Mr Stalker. He mentioned the street workers, the “Dug Out,” the waste paper depot, the house-to-house collectors, the parcels depot, the knitters, tire Air Force Relations, the W.D.F.U., the Lady Galway workers for UNRRA and the host of subsidiary committees which (Jave unsparingly of their time and labour. There were the women who were on the streets and at the “Dug Out” on cold days, warm days and wet days, workers behind the scenes, the silent workers and all the others who pulled their- weight in whatever jobs they had to do. ...Some of these jobs were tough jobs, but they were carried out cheerfully and successfully. He suggested they should not disband until a direction was received from headquarters; he hoped they would not be wanted again, but until headquarters told them their job was finished they were not finished.

MAYOR’S THANKS Their first thought at that unique gathering was to offer sympathy to those people who had lost their loved ones in the war, said the Mayor, Mr A. Wachner, who is also chairman of the Southland Patriotic Council. He also referred to the prisoners of war and their dependants and hoped that within the next few months all of the men would be safely back in New Zealand. He praised the women workers who had collected the funds from a generous public, and felt that they would gladly give their services in whatever call may be made upon them in the future. They had performed a magnificent service and had earned the thanks of all. “On behalf of the city I thank you,” concluded Mr Wachner.

The Mayoress (Mrs A. Wachner) replied on behalf of the women and said that they did not expect, any thinks for the work done.

At the request of Mrs J. Mcllwraith a vote of thanks to Mr Stalker was carried by acclamation.

A happy interlude was the handing of a gift to Mr George King by Mrs Stanley Brown from the depot workers. Mr King was official packer at the depot. An entertaining concert programme was provided by Misses A. Curran, M. Race and M. Hawkes, and Messrs J. Ferguson, N. Sansom, H. McL. Eggers, K. Curran and L. Adamson. Miss D. McDougall was the accompanist. THE GUESTS The guests were:— Mrs A. Wachner, Miss M. McK. Weir, Mrs A. S. Rogers, Miss C. M. Fraser, Mrs George Swift, Mrs E. F. Brass, Mrs M. E. Derbie, Mrs J. C. Dunn, Mrs Stanley Brown, Mrs F. Popenhagen, Mrs J. E. L. Jenkins, Mrs A. Tosh, Mrs M. A. Wilson, Miss B. V. Wilson, Mrs J. McCartney, Mrs B. W. Hewat, Mrs A. H. J. Wyatt, Mrs G. R. Bamsdale, Mrs G. M. Broughton, Mrs Ruthven, Mrs Holloway, Mrs Cameron, Mrs K. G. Roy, Mrs V. A. Clark, Mrs W. E. McLean, Mrs H. P. Weston, Mrs A. E. Barlow, A. H. Lillicrap, L. C. Aitken, M. Jackson, Mrs E. J. Carswell, Mrs L. Pope, Mrs W. Troon, Miss D. M. Robertson, Mrs W. E. Hazlett, Mrs A. R. Dunlop, Mrs Watson, Mrs Hitchon, Mrs McMillan, Mrs Drewe, Mrs Noble, Mrs E. J. Milligan, Mrs I. Taylor, Mrs G. List, Mrs R. Withington. Mrs A. Campbell, Mrs R. N. Todd, Mrs W. Sturman, Mrs R. C. Abernethy, Mrs H. Sutton, " Mrs E. Croft, Mrs Galway, Mrs W. R. Ronald, Miss Y. Crofts, Mrs G. L. Sadd, Mrs C. H. Gatehouse, Mrs J. Pickard, Mrs M. M. Dobbie, Mrs A. M. Ayling, Mrs Norman Earl, Mrs Alf Dixon, Mrs J. W. Berridge, Mrs D. G. Brown, Mrs H. E. Shieffelbein, Mrs Geo. Lilley, Mrs M. Tinker, Mrs E. Clark, Mrs L. McKenzie, Mrs R. Acton, Mrs J. C. Bolger, Mrs C. Steward, Mrs S. Kennedy, Mrs F. Hazlett, Mrs W. H. Anderson, Mrs James Weir, Mrs J. Archer, Mrs A. Ross, Mrs T. S. Mackie, Mrs W. Findlay, Mrs F. Hutchins, Mrs J. Gillespie, Mrs J. McLaughlin, Mrs A. McAra, Mrs W. M. C. Denham, Mrs G. Millar, Mrs E. Lyon, Mrs H. Nelson, Mrs N. Glasson, Mrs R. Miller, Mrs E. Tanner, Mrs F. Hazlett, Mrs J. F. French, Mrs A. P. Peters,

Miss E. Hazlett, Mrs W. M. Tuck, Mrs C. Warburton, Mrs G. Williamson, Mrs K. G. Roy, Mrs F. Pasley, Mrs McG. Wilson, Mrs W. S. Robbie, Mrs E. E. Maxted, Mrs H. W. Crowther, Mrs W. A. Stout, Mrs L. Gee, Mrs R. J. Gilmour, Mrs Eric Stout, Mrs D. Pont, Mrs A. Hawkes, Mrs I. M. Grieve, Miss M. Benzie, Mrs S. Murdoch, Mrs R. E. White, Mrs J. Rewcastle, Mrs A. Donaldson, Mrs I. W. Scott, Miss C. R. Scott, Mrs C. H. Poole, Mrs E. E. Humphries, Miss V. A. Jamieson, Mrs R. Grace, Mrs H. R. Kingsland, Miss T. Gilbertson, Mrs G. E. Mitchell, Mrs H. J. T. Pierce, Miss E. G. Woods, Mrs W. H. Hulse, Mrs A. McKenzie, Mrs A. F. Walker, Mrs H. C. Mackenzie, Mrs W. Grieve, Mrs A. M. Shand, Mrs H. P. Fougere, Mrs L. C. Smith, Mrs F. Bartlett, Miss Bum, Miss F. Anderson, Mrs J. G. Petrie, Mrs A. McCallum, Mrs H. Jackson, Mrs J. Brownridge, Mrs E. Borland, Mrs T. Marshall, Mrs L. Norris, Mrs H. Slocombe, Mrs J. Hayes, Mrs F. Hinton, Mrs J. Cowman. Mrs D. M. Brown, Mrs R. Melrose, Mrs V. Quill, Mrs J. Brownridge, Mrs A. McClure, Mrs J. Gilbertson, Mrs R. T. Sommerville, Miss C. McEwan, Miss E. A. McEwan, Mrs R. R. Gudgeon, Mrs A. Stewart,.Mrs M. Beal, Mrs D. Donaldson, Mrs F. Double, Mrs C. Munnings, Mrs C. L. Harvey, Mrs J. Mcllwraith, Mrs D. Palmer, Mrs T. Barr Stoddart, Mrs J. F. Dundas, Miss P. Taylor, Miss E. Oliver, Miss N. Gilkison, Mrs K. E. Brownlie, Mrs L. T. Mollison, Mrs E. Campbell, Mrs J. J.

Cough, Mrs B. Wallace, Mrs F. N. Watson, Mrs E. E. Boyd, Mrs T. J. J. Graves, Mrs G. Browne, Mrs A. L. Adamson, Mrs C. E. Watts, Mrs A. L. Walker, Mrs F. Kingsland, Mrs A. Pittaway, Mrs J. J. Wesney, Mrs J. G. Macdonald, Mrs C. E. Smith, Mrs N. F. Sansom, Mrs A. F. Waters, Mrs J. Boniface, Mrs J. Kennard.