NEW LOWRY HUT

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22786, 10 January 1944, Page 4

NEW LOWRY HUT

Established In Italy IMPORTANT ADDITION TO BASE CAMP From the Official War Correspondent with the N.Z.E.F. NEW ZEALAND ADVANCED BASE, ITALY, January 4. Through the generosity' of Mi- and Mrs T. C. Lowry'. Hawke’s Bay, the New Zealand Advance Base in Italy has now its own Lowry Hut, complete with kitchen and office appointments, dressing rooms, stage and big open fireplace, in which oak fires blaze every night to drive away the chill Italian midwinter. The original Lowry Hut, which was given by Mr and Mrs Lowry, is one of the best-known institutions at the New Zealand Base Camp in Egypt. Hundreds of men. who have experienced tile hospitality of the first, are now enjoying that of the second. The hut at the Italian base was completed on New Year’s Eve after a record building time, and Lady Freyberg performed the opening ceremony during the afternoon. The building is substantially constructed of stone and covers an area of 30ft by 70ft. It was built by Italian labour under the supervision of a New Zealand engineer, who, in civilian life, practised as an architect in Christchurch. The main hall will seat between 500 and 600 men. and has a small stage suitable for shows or picture screening. The hut is lit by electric power supplied by the camp plant, and is undoubtedly the most important addition so far made to the amenities of the new base camp. Mrs A. P F. Chapman, a daughter of Mr and Mrs Lowry, who has managed the Maadi Lowry Hut ever since its establishment, has taken over the control of the new hut. She is assisted bv two members of the N.Z.W.A.A.C. Welfare Division, the girls from the New Zealand Forces Club at Bari taking it in turns to do duty. The women workers at the new Lowry Hut have been given quarters in the nearby residence of the Duke di Sangro. The hut stands next to a big marquee canteen run bv the New Zealand Y M C.A. and the two together are the centre of Advance Camp social life. After the opening ceremony the YMC.A. mobile cinema screened pictures in the evening, and on the following evening the Ensa Company put on an entertaming show.