DOMINION STOCKING LEAGUE

Evening Star, Issue 19662, 15 September 1927, Page 12

DOMINION STOCKING LEAGUE

A FINE EXHIBITION Tito annuni exhibition oi work done during the year by the .Dominion Stocking League was held yesterday attornoon in the Hanover Street Jiapiist Sunday School. A large gathering was present to view the exhibits. The specimens of the work done by those attached to the league were displayed around the walls, and they weio a, striking tribute to the splendid work which has been carried on so unostentatiously. There arc many who will have reason to thank those ladies who by their self-sacrificing cfloris have brought sunshine into their homes. Iho league is fortunate in having not only a band of workers, but also a band oi artists at its disposal. A feature ol the exhibition was the tact that all kinds of material which formerly was 10yardc.l as waste appeared in a miraculous way to have boon turned to good advantage, Portions of stockings and other things have been fashioned into all sorts of attractive garments oi hundreds of different shapers and sizes, and it must be said that the articles on exhibition yesterday, numbering thousands, could easily have been displayed in anv shop window. Most of the material that conics to the league is ol the woollen variety, and will thcrcloro serve a most useful purpose. The league comprises about til teen workers, and what they have accomplished as the result of twelve meetings during the vear is wonderful. One worker Mrs Valentine—has made more than MIH3 gimnents, iincl 5 of course, tlic otlicis have done a full .share. In opening the exhibition Mrs uoitiiiiK'ton, the president of the league, stated that the annual exhibitions (which had been held for some sixteen rears) were mainly for the purpose of showing people how much the league valued the.material sent in, and showing that it was actually used. The garments which had been made were sent to the soldiers’, sailors’, and airmen s orphans and tho West Ham Central Mission. They would ho packed on tho following morning, and it was hoped that thev would arrive in London in time for'the winter There were several people to whom the league wished to express its grateful thanks. The Hanover Street Baptist Church authorities lent the league a room, in which members met on the second and last Tuesdays in each month from March till September, and it also lent the hall in which tho display was made. The firm of Arthur Barnett. Ltd., was so interested in tho work that it lent flags for decorations and also stands, in addition to the cases in which the gowks were carried Home. The goods, which were carried-free by one of the shipping companies, were sent to the High Commissioner, and then to tho two bodies for winch they were intended. After mentioning the assistance which the league had received from the P.ress, Mrs Worthington stated it wars almost impossible to realise tho work done by the secretary. The league was undenominational, and all tho churches were represented in its membership. Although the meetings were held in the hall, the work was really done in the homes of the members, who sorted tho material out to the best advantage at the meetings. The Rev. E. S. Tuckwcil said that the exhibition was somewhat similar to what he had seen in Australia, where stockings and other scraps of material were used to make garments to help missionaries in their work in India. He had never been so charmed by an exhibition of that kind as he had been that afternoon. It was very extraordinary that the league rvas able to convert pieces of waste material into such beautiful and useful garments as be saw before him, and to send them away to where they would be of such inestimable value. Ho would like to congratulate the league upon the success it had achieved during the year. He believed that the Christly motive of love stood behind _ the league in its work. If the ladies who had worked so hard could picture the delight that would come into the lives of the recipients of the. goods they must feel well ko warded.