TWO MILLION ON FITNESS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 95, 8 May 1937, Page 14

TWO MILLION ON FITNESS

WHAT BRITAIN PROPOSES TO SPEND LORD BURLEIGH ASSISTING One ot Great Britain's most famous all-round sportsmen, Lord Aberdare, jhas been appointed by the British j Government to direct the NationaJ ! Physical Fitness Campaign there. ! Lord Aberdare may be better rememi bered in his active sport as the Hcn. C. N. Bruce. He excelled in many games, including cricket— he played for Oxford University and Middlesex -tennis, racquets, squash, and golf. He is a former rackets champion of Great Britain, the United States, and Canada, and among his many tennis triumph was his winning of the amateur championship of tha United States in 1930. Two years later, at the age of 46, he won the corresponding British title, after a gruelling final, which lasted three hours. On the new physical fftness scheme f 2,000,000 is to be expended during the next three years; £150,000 a year wljj be spent on it a year after that. No time is being lost in bringing the scheme into operation. Invitations have been isued to a number of prominent sportsmen to join regional aavisory councils. Lord Burghley, the ex-Olympic hurdler, and Mlss Dorothy Round, the tennis player, are members of the council for England. No Compulslon There is to be no compulslon in the scheme, and it is not to be confined merely to drill and physical training. The aim is to incorporate in it all forms of exercise that will make people fit and keep them fit. Games, sports, camping, and hiking will all be Included, and capital grants will be made for the provision of gymnasium equipment, including changing rooms and showers, swlmming pools and camping sites, There is to be no Hmit of the age of the people who may take advantage of the opportunlties offered. There is to be a physical training college in or near London, and the Crystal Palace site ls mentioned as a possible location.