FINE COLLECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 30 (Supplement)

FINE COLLECTION.

Rotary Club Street Appeal Successful. £1265 TO AID POOR PEOPLE. Hampers containing plenty of eatables will help to make this Christmas a cheerful one for thousands of poor homes in Christchurch, following the efforts of the members of the Rotary Club, who yesterday collected £1265 16s 6d for their Christmas cheer fund. The public gave £IOOB 15s Sd of the total, while the remaining £257 Os 8d was made up from members’ subscriptions and donations. Last year £llOO was collected, and though optimistic, the collectors this year never dreamt that this amount would be exceeded. The club members were assisted in their work by members of Toe If, the Y.M.C.A. and the Optimists’ Club. The collectors worked right through the day, and to a late hour last evening. To-day the work w’as carried on, but the directors have another avenue' for the energies of themselves and their staffs. For a long time, with the help of the various charitable organisations of the city, they have been collecting a full and complete list of the families in Christchurch who are deserving of the assistance and cheer that the appeal affords. Each family is classified according to the number of children and dependents, and -a special hamper is made up. The goods are bought, sorted and packed in the one day, and the delivery is in itself a task calling for expert organisation and many willing helpers. FESTIVAL AT HOSPITAL. The magnificent effort of yesterday’s street collection by the Rotary Club for the Christmas Cheer Fund will be augmented by the collection to be made at the Hospital concert to-mor-row afternoon. Five of the city bands will participate. These will parade at the Post Office, in the Cathedral Square and leave in the following order:—The Stanmore Silver Band will leave at 2 p.m. and will play a selection of music in the Hospital grounds prior to the official programme, which will begin at 3 o’clock. The Band of the First Canterbury Regiment will leave at 2.15, followed by the Woolston Band at 2.25, Derry’s Band at 2.30 and the Municipal Band at 2.35. The concert will begin with the massed bands playing “The Great Little Army.” A feature of the concert will be the fine choral performances by the Royal Christchurch Musical Society and also the community singing of Christmas carols, led by the Choral Society and conducted by Rotarian W. IT. Dixon. This concert has been a great success for many years, and large numbers of country visitors and citizens will make a point of enjoying it to-morrow.