NEW ZEALAND NURSES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20763, 25 June 1937, Page 12

NEW ZEALAND NURSES

ENGLISH HOSPITALITY Mrs R. E. Betts, lady superintendent of the Welington South Nursing Division, and the nurses of the division. Misses Gaby, McCarthy, Cleaver, and Paul, who went to England for the centenary celebrations of the St. John Ambulance, have been having a very interesting time. Mrs Betts, in a letter to a friend in Wellington, gives a list of entertainments and outings to which they had been invited. On May 13 they attended Mrs Dent’s “At Home” at the Army and Navy Club rooms in St. James’s Palace. There were about 700 overseas guests present. At a reception on May 14 at St. John’s Gate Mrs Betts and her nurses were welcomed by Lord Onslow, the Almoner of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. There were 400 guests at this reception. including Lord Bledisloc. A tea party was given on May 18 at St. James's Palace by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught. The Duke being indisposed they were received by Prince Arthur of Connaught and Lady Patrica Ramsay. They met Canon James, of Wellington, at this party.

On May 19 they attended a special filming of a record of the work of the St. John Ambulance Brigade during the first fifty years of its existence, and also saw three short films on air raid precaution work. These films were presented to the brigade by Mrs John Maxwell, a commander of the Order. Mrs Betts and the nurses also received a special invitation to visit Elstree Studios whilst a picture is in the making, and Viscount Hambledon Invited them to visit two great London houses of his firm, Messrs W. H. Smith and Son, publishers and stationers. Reviewed by the Queen They took part In a review in Hyde Park by her Majesty the Queen on May 22, There were 7000 men and women on parade, and it was the first time a Queen of England had reviewed a march past of the nurses. Three hundred overseas visitors marched to the Cenotaph on the morning of May 23. Mrs Betts represented New Zealand, placing a wreath on the Cenotaph, with a South African War nurse, who represented South Africa. In the afternoon 2000 marched to St. Paul’s for the Empire Day service. The following day there was an overseas Empire dinner and dance at the Great Central Hotel when Mrs Betts again represented New Zealand.