£387 REALISED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 934, 2 December 1933, Page 17

£387 REALISED.

St John Free Ambulance Appeal. The sum of £387 was realised from’ yesterday’s street collection in aid of the St John Free Ambulance funds. This result, which is £76 in excess of the £3ll last year, is considered very satisfactory by St John Association officials. There was a dearth of collectors at times but those who manned the streets worked with a -will in relays from 6.30 in the morning until 10.30 in the evening. During the day one or two “stunts” were devised to illustrate the work of the association and to further the appeal. Attention was attracted about nine o’clock in the evening when a glistening white ambulance rushed through the Square with siren screaming and pulled up in front of the United Service Hotel. With hundreds of shoppers thronging the streets a large crowd gathered and wide publicity was given to the brigade’s work. The “stunt” consisted of lowering a man swathed in bandages from the hotel balcony by means of the now well-known alpine stretcher, the invention of Colonel F. W. W. Dawson, of which the Governor-General had a practical trial. The stretcher was lowered to a spot by the ambulance door and the man was rushed into the vehicle and whisked away in a most efficient manner.

With the conclusion of the appeal those who organised the drive were tired but satisfied. They declared that they could not complain of the result, for a sum greater than last year’s total could not be anything but gratifying.