CANTERBURY'S HEALTH CAMP ORGANISATION

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 13 May 1961, Page 8

CANTERBURY'S HEALTH CAMP ORGANISATION

8000 Children Have Benefited

ISpectaUu written for "The Prsas” by R. MITCHELL] BO years ago, in August, 1931, four Canterbury youngsters went to Geraldine for the first health camp held in the province. Since then, something like 8000 ailing children have received new strength through a course run by the health camp movement in Canterbury. Today, in contrast to the very temporary arrangements at Geraldine, the children stay at the permanent and well-appointed Glenelg Health Camp, on Murray Aynsley Hill, under the care of staff members with long experience in this work.

The present Glenelg Health Camp Management Committee. which is a local subsidiary of the King George V Memorial Health Camps Federation, is a' lineal descendant of the committee which organised the first Canterbury camp. That camp was run by the then newlyformed Sunlight League, and until 1948 the league continued to be responsible in some degree for the health camp movement in the province. From 1945 to 1948, the Glenelg camp was under the joint charge of the Sunlight League's health camp committee and the federation. The Sunlight League dropped out after a Government ruling that revenue from the annual health stamps could no longer be paid to the camp committee as then constituted, because the interests of the Sunlight League were not confined to health camps. The management committee includes a number of citizens widely representative of the community as a whole, as well as co-opted members from voluntary organisations. 42 Children The Glenelg camp takes 42 children at a time, boys alternating with girls. This arrangement dates from the completion of the Junior Chamber Wing, which was opened on December 2, 1948. by the then Minister of Health, Miss Mabel Howard, after a fund-raising campaign organised by the Canterbury Junior Chamber of Commerce. Before that time, the courses were of 30 children of both sexes. The camp itself was opened by another former Minister of Health, Mr A. H. Nordmeyer, cn April 14. 1945, It was paid for out of the King George V Memorial Fund. Children attend the camp from everywhere in the South Island north of the Waitaki, except Nelson and Marlborough. Nelson and Marlborough children go to the camp at Stoke, Nelson, while Otago and Southland have a permanent camp at Roxburgh. The children, who are almost always between five and 12, are chosen by the district medical pf health on the recommendation of the school health authorities, doctors, teachers, or parents. In the Glenelg camp district, the places in each intake are allocated to Westport (two children), Greymouth (five), Christchurch <24), Timaru (seven), and Ashburton (four).

Responsibility for the maintenance of the children in camp from the various districts is in the hands of district committees, one of the main activities of which is to press forward the sale of health stamps. In Christchurch and many other towns and cities, the local committee arranges for various women’s organisations to take turns at duty in the main post offices during at least the first weeks of each health stamp campaign. The committees and camps in the Glenelg and gtoke health camp districts dected in stamps—by the appearance in 1916 of several Stamps overprinted L.F.F. for the yge of the Liberian Field Forces.—(Central Press Features, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.)

come under the general direction of the Christchurch Central Council, which is responsible in its turn to the federation. The chairman of the council is Mr George Burns, with Mr K. T. Sugden as secretary. Mr Sugden is also secretary of the Christchurch district committee and the Glenelg management committee. The management committee chairman is Mr J. N. Minson. Among those who have contributed greatly to the health camp movement in the Canterbury district by their enthusiastic service are Miss M. Enright and Mr W. S. Baverstock. Their connexion with the health camp movement goes back to the days of the Sunlight League. Timetable The children’s day starts at 7 a.m., with ’’reveille" and breathing exercises. Breakfast is at 7.30, with teeth-cleaning to follow. Then the bigger ones make their beds under the supervision of the aids, while the smaller children are told a story. Three of the bigger children in rotation help to dry the dishes. In term-time, school is from 9 a.m. to noon, followed by dinner and then an afterdinner rest until about 2.30. There is another hour of school with a walk or organised games to follow, and tea comes at five. In winter the little ones go straight to the shower and bed after tea, while the older children have free play; in summer both groups stay up a short while longer. Lightsout varies with the time of year and the age of the children, but is never after eight o’clock. On most nights there is a story in bed before lights-out, read by one of the aids.

Permanent Staff

Being an all-the-year-round camp, Glenelg does not share the difficulties of impermanent staffing which beset the summer camps such as Stoke. The matron, Mrs E. A. Morrison, M.8.E., who is a trained nurse, has been at Glenelg since the opening. Her deputy, Miss D. Moor, has had 10 years’ service at Glenelg. For relieving duties two retired nurses, Miss H. Willis and Miss H. Taine, have been on call for many years.

The position with the staff of aids is not nearly so happy, however, as many of them are very young and few have been at the camp longer than a year or so. This is, of course, no special problem of the health camp, but a facet of the general shortage of labour in the community at large. The outside staff consists of two gardeners, the senior of whom, Mr S. Cattermole, has been at Glenelg for* four years. The salaries of the matron and sub-matron, incidentally, are paid for by the Health Department, while the Glenelg camp committee pays the rest of the staff. The camp school, although on the Glenelg grounds, is maintained and run by the Canterbury Education Board on the same lines as its ordinary primary schools. It is a two-roomed school, built in September. 1949. The present headmaster is Mr B. I. Biggs, with Mrs W. Wood as his assistant. The curriculum is in general simi-

lar to that of an ordinary school, but with rather more emphasis on craft and activity work. Not only the camp committee, but also several other citizens from outside, come regularly to help with various aspects of the camp. Miss I Morris has been taking cubs and scouts almost since Glenelg started, and Junior Chamber members show films once every fortnight. Other people have helped with various projects at times over the years. Although no charge is made for keeping the children, most parents do in fact make a contribution. Up to very recently, parental visiting was discouraged during the course, but the rules in this respect are now being revised. Accommodation The main building at Glenelg was originally a private house, but it is spacious and airy and wellsuited to its present purpose. Situated on Murray Aynsley Hill, it is sheltered by the Port Hills from southerly winds and by trees from the north-easterly and nor’wester, and yet the grounds of the camp school, behind and above the house, give a (pleasant view of the city and the Pegasus Bay shoreline. The house which became the nucleus of the present Glenelg building was built by Mr G. Bowron. He named it “Raroa.” The next owner, a Miss Robinson, changed the name to “Glenelg." Why she chose this name is not definitely known, although there is a town of Glenelg in Australia and a valley by the same name in Scotland. Miss Robinson sold the property to Mr C. C. M. Ollivier, from whose estate it was bought for the health camp. Considerable additions were made to the house during its private-ownership, period. The children sleep on the upper floor of the building, which has two storeys, Also on the upper floor are rooms for the matron and submatron and other staff, and toilet and bathrooms. The ground floor has the dining-

room and kitchen and playrooms and office*. Adjoining the ground floor is a large hall which acts as a gymnasium and play-room. Close to this room is a learners’ swimming-pool.