Miss Jean Begg’s New ’Work

Wanganui Chronicle, 7 January 1949, Page 7

Miss Jean Begg’s New ’Work

MANAGING A LARGE V.W.C.A HOSTEL. “This most unexpected and challenging job,” is how Miss Jean Begg, of New Zealand, describes her latest post, that, of manager of the Helen Graham House, a large Y.W.C.A. hostel in London. Formerly director of Y.W.C.A. welfare work in Japan and also in the Middle East during the war, Miss Begg tells of her recent activities in a Christmas news letter, copies of which have reached New Zealand. “Rather like a rabbit warren,” is the term used by Miss Begg to describe Helen Graham Hostel, formerly the Thackeray Hotel. It now houses 300 girls and there was a waiting list as long again. “The demand for decent accommodation is pitiful and I believe that the acquiring of this hotel has been a great act of faith on the part of the London Y.W.C.A ,” Miss Begg states. Miss Begg has lately (.visited Germany. Though she spent only one long day in Munch it took only an hour to discover the immensity of the task of working with refugees and displaced persons, and how difficult the work was proving. Miss Begg stated that she joined in a discussion on child welfare, which the voluntary bodies were having with representatives of the International Relief Organisation, and the main topic was the preparation of the boys and girls of adolescent age for their new life abroad. “The workers with ‘D.P.’s’ are heart and soul dedicated to these unfortunate people and are faced with many emotional crises every day. That wears one out quicker* than hard manual work,” she adds.