NEW CLUB HOUSE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 302, 22 December 1933, Page 6

NEW CLUB HOUSE

WANGANUI AERO CLUB THE OFFICIAL OPENING. I A SUCICESSFUL INVESTMENT. A sum of. £5OO was invested in wool by the Wanganui Aero Club when prices for that commodity were low, and at present-day values the club’s holding should be worth £l2OO. On the success of that investment the club wa.s able to continue its building scheme at the Wanganui Airport, erecting a club house, which was officially opened yesterday by the president of the club, Mr. A. S. Burgess. Mr. Burgess traced the history of the undertaking from a financial point of \ iew and stressed how valuable an asset tho airport was to Wanganui. He pointed out that aviation was, as vet, in its infancy, and a city equipped with facilities for the land’.ng and taking off of machines was fortunate. Wanganui was possessed of an area of land that was second to none in New Zealand. Prominent airmen who had made landings were unanimous in thq opinion that the port could not be bettered anywhere in the Dominion. After the opening ceremony the ladies’ committee provided a pleasing afternoon tea. The Building Described. The opening of the new club house marked further progress in the Wanganui Airport, which at no distant date will become the finest airpert qp this coast. The elub is to be congratulated on tho step taken. The club house, inspected by a “Chronicle” reporter yesterday, appeared to be a completed building, but he was told it was but a third of a contemplated building scheme. Thc present portion contains a wide and spacious verandah. Beyond is the club tpom, rich but simple in effect, thc lower portion of the walls being panelled in picked heart rimu. About this tho walls and ceiling are covered with a sound deadening and insulating board. This, left in its natural finish, broken only by the panels and beams of the ceiling, is restful. Landscape windows on two sides give a clear view of the airport, and a pleasing room is finished by a well-designed, open brick fireplace at one end. w Off this room is a kitchen, complete *in every respect. Later this will form part of the residential portion of the club. This, with two wings, each comprising a sitting room and a locker room for both sexes, will one day form the completed club house, which is to be carried out in the mission style. The present flat roof, when closed in, will form a lounge room. Tho coast line, when seen yesterday from this point, presented a wonderful panorama, and it does not need any imagination to sec airships from Australia making Wanganui thc central airport of the North Island. While congratulating the executive of the club, a word of praise is due to Mr. J. C. Gopperth. the builder, and the architects, Mr. R. G. Taiboys and associates, who have spared no' effort to give Wanganui yet another valuable asset. Competitions Held. A landing and novelty golf bombing competitions were held, and in tho latter a very exciting finish resulted. Thc ’plane is piloted and from it a golf ball is dropped and a golfer then holes out. Miss Trevor Hunter (pilot) and J. S. Harrison (golfer), and E. J. Strachan (pilot) and Miss Peggy Gibbons (golfer) tied four times, on each occasion the golfer holing out in three. On the fifth occasion victory went to E J. Strachan and Miss Gibbons, who holed out in three to their opponents’ The landing competition was won by E. J. Strachan, with J. R. Franklin second.