NEW LOWRY HUT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 88, Issue 6, 8 January 1944, Page 5

NEW LOWRY HUT

FOR N.Z. TROOPS IN ITALY (Official War Correspondent. N.Z.E.F.) N.Z. Advance Base (Italy), Jan. 4. Through the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. T. H. 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 and stage, and a big open fireplace in which oak fires blaze every night to drive away the chill Italian midwinter. The original Lowry Hut, donated 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 the hospitality of the first are now enjoying that of the second. The hut at the Italian base was comnleted on New Year’s Eve after 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 bv Italian labour under the supervision of a New Zealand engineer, who in civilian life practised as an architect in Chris'church The main hall will seat between .>OO and 600 men and has a small stage suitable for either 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. Ix>wry, who had managed the Mnadi Lowry Hut ever since its establishment, has taken over 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 nt 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 the big marquee canteen run bv the New Zealand Y.M.C.A.. and the two together are th" centre of the advance

camo social life. After the opening ceremony the Y.M.C.A. mobile cinema screened pictures in the evening and on the following evening the E.N.S.A. company put on an entertaining show.