OLD ENGLISH MANSION

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 9, 11 January 1941, Page 4

OLD ENGLISH MANSION

NOW CONVALESCENT HOME NEW ZEALAND SOLDIERS

DR. H. ROBERTSONS POST A line mansion in warm, red bricks, designed more than two centuries ago by a pupil of Christopher Wren, is now the temporary home in England of 50 New ‘Zealanders, officers and men of the 2nd N.Z.E.F., who are convalescing and recovering from various accidents and sickness. The medical officer is Major 11. D. Robertson, Wanganui, wiio was in England al the outbreak of war, and the matron is Sister L. J. Cradock, Wellington, who was trained at Dunedin Hospital. She enlisted in the New Zealand Nursing service in England. The building is rented by the New Zealand Government for the nominal sum of is a year. Major Robertson and Sister Cradock are the only "Jit” members of the staff, apart from the domestics. The orderlies and other assistants are men who have nearly completed their convalescence. The ownei of the building is a qualified doctor. She has retained her staff of servants, and she has generously offered to contribute £IUOO a year toward the expenses of the convalescent home while it is occupied by New Zealanders for the duration of the war. The ownei has never been to New Zealand, and until the New Zealanders moved into the district she had met lew people from the Dominion. “I wanted to do what I could in this war, and this seemed to be the most useful thing f could do,” she explained. She has retired from practice, but she is assisting v/ikh the medical work.

Standing in over 100 acres of parkland, studded with century-old oak trees, and looking out on to an artificial lake, it is an ideal and delightful spot for men who are being nursed back to health. They are at liberty to wander over the estate so caifjfuiy planned by Wren’s pupil. For exercise there are two tennis courts and a nine-hole putting green. The many bedrooms have been converted temporarly into warns, the biggest of which opens out on to the gardens and is known as the "Garden Ward.” All are decorated in bright but restful colours. Valuable oil paintings hang- in the hall, and a fine oak staircase has been padded over to protect it from potential damage from stretchers which may have to be carried up and down. Sickness and accidents form the majority of cases. There have been several despatch riders injured, and a number of men hurt while playing football. All arc delighted to find themselves in such surroundings.