TOWN AND COUNTRY LINK

Taranaki Daily News, 11 September 1934, Page 28 (Supplement)

TOWN AND COUNTRY LINK

WORK OF THE Y.W.C.A. HOSTEL SHELTERS LONELY GIRLS. MANY AIDS TO SOCIAL HAPPINESS. Just about the time when the drudgery of women butter-makers on the farms began to be lessened by the establishment of dairy factories a women’s movement began that was destined to play a great part in Unking town and country life throughout the Empire. The Young Women’s Christian Association was founded in the “eighties” of last century and since then has gone from strength to strength until it is nOw firnaly established throughout the British Empire, the U.S.A., and elsewhere. The movement in .Taranaki has met with much success, and at New Plymouth the Y.W.C.A. is accepted as one of the prominent social agencies of the district. The association has a well-equipped hostel where girls and women who are strangers can obtain not only the shelter and comforts of a well-kept home, but will be introduced to avenues of social enjoyment calculated to remove any sense of loneliness. For the girl who comes from the country districts the Y.W.C.A. has much to offer in the way of comfort and happiness. For the leisure hours, that to a lonely person with perhaps little money to spend on recreation can often be very dreary, the association offers its members many methods of enjoyment or study. Athletics are fostered, so are more serious matters such as training in, the duties of citizenship and the pleasures to be found in service for others. The results athieved have given the associations in Taranaki courage to go forward, and the value of such, work as the association is performing is thoroughly recognised in town and country alike. There is no distinction of class or creed in membership of the Y.W.C.A. Provided ifs principles and rules are accepted members are free to accept or reject the opportunities the association offers them, and mostly the acceptance is full and eager.