NAVAL HOSPITALITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26631, 29 November 1947, Page 8

NAVAL HOSPITALITY

PARTY FOR CHILDREN DIVERSIFIED JOLLITY Five hundred children were “ adopted ” for the afternoon by H.M.N.Z.S. Bellona yesterday, when a-party, organised by the warship’s Welfare Committee, was held. The success of the party could be measured by the evident reluctance of the children, although surfeited with two and a-half hours of excitement, to leave the ship. A group of clowns and pirates, accompanied by the Royal Marine Band, met the children at the Queen’s Gardens at 1.45 p.m., and for a short time the fun waxed fast and furious as the uninhibited sailors indulged in antics that easily eclipsed the performances of university students in Capping week. • , , “Hence, loathed Melancholy,’’ was the spirit and the mingling of the shrieks of the excited youngsters and the bloodcurdling yells of the “pirates,” created a gala atmosphere which shattered the peace of nearby business offices. A procession with a Pied Piper motif, led the party to the cruiser, where a round of entertainments, thought out and prepared with characteristic naval thoroughness, awaited the children. Novelties were the “ aerial railway,” electric dip and the diving suit which was found highly intriguing, while voyages in the “Maori war canoe” and the pirate ship ” were popular. The party was planned for orphanage and Heritage children, but later, to ensure that 500 were present, invitations were sent to school children. It was thought out in detail, organisers being assigned to each entertainment, while drill for the clowns was held on two occasions. The decision to hold the party, the first major one on the ship, was made by a vote of the crew and the cost was met from the ships company’s funds.