A MEMORABLE NIGHT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 99, 21 August 1945, Page 5

A MEMORABLE NIGHT

RECORD WELCOME HOME

FUNCTION

THURSDAY EVENING'S GAIETY

"It gives great pleasure to be able to extend to you men a Welcome Home particularly as the surrender of Japan has jusit been announced." In such a manner did His Worship the Mr B. S. Barry, open his address to the returned men assembled before him at the Welcome Home Dance held in the Caledonian Hall on Thursday evening. "It is to v you," he said ? ''and the many others who< took part in the battle that we owe the great news which we have received. Some of you have been prisoners of war; all of you have

seen service overseas, and we trust it will not be long before you are settled down to civilian life once again. I therefore extend to you our very best wishes for the future*"

Coinciding withi the Peace Celebrations the Welcome Home dance was definitely the feature attraction on. Thursday night—the second night of Peace. Dancers came from far and wide to j,oin in ? and by 9 p.m. the hall was literally packed to the doors. Although! a loudspealcer had been installed outside to relay the dance music in case the hall proved to be too small to accom-i modate. the crowd, the packed floor inside' totally outshone the cold bitumen outside and any whio may have cast a glance in the direction of the road thought better of it } and joined the throng on the floor. The Premier Band supplied the music. Surrounded by what could only be described as lavish decorations they played dance after dance with scarcely a minute between. The rest of the hall was strung with coloured flags and bunting and supplied typical atmosphere for the occasion. Mr Taffy Atkinson was Master of Ceremonies but for once the crowd needed no urging. Never were they more eager to dance. The Boys' Band was also present and after the crowd's self-elected period of community singing had ended played a military two-step. Supper arrangements must receive special mention. Catering for the large number of patrons who attended must certainly have been no easy task, but the ladies' committee in charge handled the proceedings in a style which left nothing to be desired. Besides the usual seats round the additional rows were, placed down the centre of the hall. Sufficient it is to say that the feeding of the multitude went off without a hitch.

At 9.30. # preparations were made for the official welcoming of guests of honour, The men formed up outside the and with the Pipe Band in the van f marched' in to form up in front of the stage.

Following the address by His Worship the Mayor and the reading of an apology from Mr W. Sullivan, M.P. for his unavoidable Mr Luxton for the County ? said that it was, his pleasure to 30111 Mr Barry in giving the. returned men a very hearty welcome home. Everyone he said owed a lot to these and » » the other men, who had fought to bring freedom to the world. For the R. S. A. ? Mr L. H. Brown spoke. "Fellow he said. "You have been away from New Zealand

now for a long time and doubtless you are a little behind in local events. I am going to let you into a secret. The last Welcome Home dance ? which was held in the Winter. Show Buildings fell, stnngely enough on V-E nighit. Now this Welcome. Home dance has fallen on V-J night. It would appear that if anyone requires advance information on any event of world importance one has onlv to contact the 9 ~ * Mayor! "As an old Digger I know that you have, all bad some hard times. Hut 1 also know that you have had some good times! I know that whew tlier in base camp or on the battle field you have made cobbers. In civilian life you make friends and acquaintances, but it is only on the battlefield that you make cobbers.- The; Returned Services'' Asso-

ciation is a body which keeps cob-" bers together. "[ welcome you back to this land, and I trust you will live to enjoy the freedom for which you have fought" Fit. Lieut. R. W. Stewart and Spr. G. Hancock replied on behalf of the men, both mentioning their pleasure at being back in New Zealand and thanking the public for the splendid reception accorded them. Both also spoke in praise, of the parcels they had received saying that they ha.l been and still were very much appreciated by the men overseas. Among the returned men present were: Spr. G. Fit. I.ieut, R. W. Stewart, 'Pte Ptc C. "E. Thatcher "Pte H. Pte H. V. Marx and Sgt. N-, A. Pulley.