CAMP FOR GIRLS

Evening Star, Issue 22443, 14 September 1936, Page 2

CAMP FOR GIRLS

THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS Tho annual secondary schoolgirls’ camp, arranged under the auspices of ho New Zealand Student Christian Movement, was held at Pounawea from September 5 to September 12. Fortyeight girls and officers were present, representing eight secondary schools—from Oamaru, Dnndiu, Balclutha, and Invercargill. Mrs J. A. Moore, of Dunedin, proved an ideal camp mother, and Miss H. K. Dalrymple, of tho Otago Girls’ High School, was chief officer. Other officers were: Miss ShallcraSs, of Otago Girls’ High School; Miss Ashton, of tho Dunedin Y.W.C.A.; Miss E. Anderson, of King Edward Technical College; Miss Mason, of South Otago High School; Miss M. Farquharson, of St. Hilda’s; and Miss M‘Arthur, of Otago Girls’ High School. Miss M’Arthur, assisted by three exgirls of the school.—Miss N. M'Hugli, Miss J. Gardner, and Miss J. Graham —superintended very efficiently the preparation of meals. Weather (renditions immediately before the camp began, when there was a heavy fall of snow down to sea level, made preliminary arrangements somewhat difficult, but these improved to such an extent that most of the afternoons during the camp week were spent as usual out of doors On Sunday morning members attended the monthly service held by the Rev. R. Blair in the Pounawea Hall. Each morning after camp inspection and prayers, Bible circles were held for an hour, the study book used being ‘ Jesus of Nazareth,’ speciallyy prepared for schoolgirls by the Australian S.C. Movement. In prayers, such readings were selected from Basil Mathews’s ‘ Life of Jesus,’ as fitted in with tho study of the day. Evening talks were given by officers on the subjects of ‘ Highways,’ 1 Highways Through tho Ages,’ ‘ Highways of Today,’ ‘The Royal Highway of Life,’ ‘ Every Girl on the Highway.’ Four boats were hired for the week, and the attraction of these proved irresistible to all. The result was that practically everyone, under the direction of excellent boat captains, became more or loss expert with the oars by the end of the week. The native bush was almost equally thrilling. Appreciation of beauty was encouraged in a practical way by moans of competitive team collections ot objects of interest gathered from the bush, tho island, and seashore. The demonstrator of the winning team was from South Otago High School. On the usual whole day outing, campers crossed tho Owaka River and walked down to Sweet Water Creek, where they had lunch During tho afternoon they went on over the buried forest and along the magnificent Catlins Beach to False Island and Cannibal Bay. An unexpected treat was given on the last day, when at the invitation of Mr and Mrs Wilson, of Tawanui, the party were taken in motor lorries up the Owaka Valley to their residence, and after a very delightful lunch were shown over tho Tawanui sawmill. Here the girls saw the great logs of native beech, white pine, and macroearpa. after passing through different stages, being made into , butter boxes, cheese crates, and lobster crates. The return journey of 1G miles was by way of the Catlins Lake. Trips by boat to the island were innumerable, and one dark night a torchlight procession made its way along a white shell trail in the bush to see tho glow worms at Hungeriord’s Well. One evening the girls entertained tho officers with a distinctly original programme, which was followed by a generous supper Practical service took the form of knitting bed sox and hot water bag covers for Nurse Torrance’s patients in Dunedin. fn manv respects this camp, the twenty-second Otago and Southland camp, was a unique one, and officers and girls alike thoroughly enjoyed the varied experiences of the week.