WELCOME HOME

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32304, 25 August 1943, Page 5

WELCOME HOME

WAITAKARURU FUNCTION SUCCESSFUL EVENING FOUR SOLDIERS HONOURED Though somewhat delayed owing to the difficulty of getting .the four guests of honour together at once the welcome home tendered by the people of Waitakaruru to the soldiers recently returned from the Middle East lost nothing by the wait and the function held in the Waitakaruru Hall proved an outstanding success. The Welcome Home Committee under the chairmanship of Mr G. Paton, woked hard to make the evening a success and a great deal of work was put in on the decorations of the hall, which looked gay and bright with paper streamers, and a large number of flags, kindly loaned by Mr H. Fair. It is a long time since the hall wore such a festive appearance. The dancers, too, entered into the spirit of joy and the Paeroa Melody Makers supplied music which even the older people found hard to resist. Mr C. Hinton was the M.C. Sumptuous Supper The children present made use of the floor space between the adult dances, and extras for their dances were provided by Miss Marshall and Miss Wallace. The ladies' of the district went to much trouble in providing a sumptuous supper with chickens and sandwiches and delicious cakes. After supper, the Waitakaruru Girls’ Club, assisted by some of the young ladies sang patriotic songs, which were much appreciated. These were “There’s A Boy Coming Home On Leave,” and “Way Down Under.” Mrs A. McPherson and Miss E. Hegh also rendered solos. Pleasure At Their Return Later in the evening Mr G. Paton, on behalf of the residents, welcomed the guests of honour, Lieutenant R. Spence, Sergeant R. Burdus and Private R. Wilkinson, assuring them of the pleasure felt at their return and also in the knowledge that the war situation had eased sufficiently to allow such a large number of New Zealand troops to ’come home on furlough. Private F. Marshall was unfortunately absent through sickness. Two other returned men present in the hall were Sergeant R. Jenner, of Auckland, and Private W. Connor, now of Waitakaruru. Lieut. Spence, on behalf of the men returned thanks for the wonderful welcome which had been accorded them. With the guests of honour were Miss Burdus, Miss Wilkinson, Mrs Thomasen, Mrs Wallace and Miss Robertson. The hard-working committee is to be congratulated on the. amount of work put into the preparations which made the evening the success it was.