Notes for Women

Southland Times, Issue 24830, 24 August 1942, Page 3

Notes for Women

Mrs E. V. Gray, Dunedin, is the guest of her sister, Mrs W. R. Rea, Pomona street. Mrs L. R. Lopdell, Pomona street, left on Saturday to spend a holiday at the Rocks. Mr- and Mrs E. H. Murray have arrived from Dunedin to live in Otautau.

Mrs J. L. Hazlett, Dalrymple street, left on Saturday to spend a holiday at Dipton. Miss Ellen Oliver, Holywood Terrace, has left to spend a few days in Geraldine before going to Christchurch.

Mrs A. F. Ritchie Crawford, Don street, left on Saturday on a holiday visit to Queenstown. Mrs E. J. Mills, Nelson street, returned on Saturday night from a visit to Wellington.

Mrs E. C. Tapley, Christchurch, arrived in Invercargill on Saturday night and will* leave today for Dipton. Towels for dressings are urgently required by the Southland sub-centre of the Red Cross Society. These may be left at the depot in Esk street. A gift evening in honour of Miss J. Ronald was held at Thornbury on Saturday night. Mr F. Weir made a presentation to Miss Ronald and Mr J. Ronald replied. Miss Hazel Christie,' a pupil of Miss Ruth Ritchie, has been awarded the special certificate issued by Trinity. College of Music for passing all grades from preparatory to higher local in theoretical work.

WEDDING IN EGYPT

WEBB—GILMOUR Particulars have been received by the bride’s parents, Mr and Mrs R. J. Gilmour, Invercargill, of the marriage in Cairo on June 19 of Corporal Joyce Gilmour to Lieutenant Kenneth Webb, of Cambridge, England, and at the time serving in his Majesty’s naval forces in the Mediterranean. It was a simple, quiet but interesting ceremony carried out at the Church of England Chapel of St. Augustine, Kasr El Nil Barracks. The senior chaplain, 2nd N.Z.E.F., Colonel E. B. Moore, officiated, and the bride was given away by Lieutenant-Colonel F. Waite, D. 5.0., who represents the New Zealand National Patriotic Fund Board in the Middle East. The bridesmaids were Private Christine Farrer (Hamilton) and Private Jean Knox Gilmer (Wellington), and Lieutenant T. L. Macdonald, M.P. for Mataura, was best man. The bride was in uniform, but the bridegroom was in informal shorts, his whole kit having gone to the bottom of the sea not long before. Private Nessie Chisholm played the organ, and while the register was being signed Sergeant Audrey Holdgate sang “Alleluia” from “The Messiah.” Lady Freyberg, wife of Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg, V.C., Officer Commanding the New Zealand Division, gave the bride a charming bouquet of lilies and lotus flowers and a wedding present of a gold powder compact. For the reception held after the wedding Mrs Blackford, wife of Major Blackford, British Army, lent her flat, which was a mass of flowers, all given and arranged by Lady Freyberg. Among the guests were Lady Freyberg, Mrs A. P. F. Chapman, Mr and Mrs Tchaylakian (Mrs Tchaylakian was formerly Miss Ursula Tothill, of Invercargill), Mr and Mrs R. Stockwell, Colonel David Pottinger (Invercargill), Colonel Maine, Lieutenant-Colonel Waite, Major Harvey, Lieutenant T. L. Macdonald, Pilot Officer Trevor Barker (Canterbury), Lieutenant Neely, 0.C., Sergeant Burnside, Sergeant Holdgate, and all the 30 original members of the Overseas Welfare Section of the W.W.S.A., with whom the bride left New Zealand almost a year ago. The health of the bride and bridegroom was proposed by Lieutenant Macdonald, and the bridegroom’s acknowledgment was of a brevity characteristic of the service to which he belongs. The Tuis pelted Lieutenant and Mrs Webb with rose petals as they left on their short honeymoon, at the conclusion of which both returned to duty. In her letter to her mother Mrs Webb eloquently expresses her gratitude for the unlimited kindness that was showered upon her. It began with the authorities at naval and., military headquarters, who alone could give the contracting parties the necessary permission to marry, and who, when the circumstances were explained, put everything in order in the least possible time. In this matter, and throughout, Miss Neely was not only a sympathetic commanding officer, but a generous and understanding friend. Lady Freyberg, Mrs Blackford, civilian friends she had made in Cairo, the bridesmaids and the Tuis as a body combined and co-operated to give the bride a full measure of happiness on her wedding day and her letters show how well they succeeded. When she wrote Mrs Webb said that on the next night the combined staff, men and women, of the New Zealand Forces Club were giving her a welcome home party in the men’s mess.