Troop celebrates 20 years work

Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 47, 13 June 1974, Page 3

Troop celebrates 20 years work

The Taupo troop of the Legion of Frontiersmen celebrates its 20th year of community service this week — but there will be no official ceremony to mark the occasion. "We plan to keep our big celebration until our 21st next year," said the secretary-treasurer, Mr I. ' T. Logan. The troop started with nine members in 1954 and now has 24. Still serving is the first secretary, Mr A. Buckleigh. Mr Logan said the only qualification for membership, which is open to men from 18 years of age, was "a willingness to work for other people." "The Taupo unit probably has a younger average age than other places, but we have members in their sixties," he said. "We are always interested to hear of prospective members — but it is getting harder to find people keen to work for other people for nothing." Since 1906 the Legion of Frontiersmen has worked in the community with quiet dignity. The Taupo troop does a

lot of traffic and crowd control work, where the public has an opportunity to see members on duty in their distinctive uniforms. One of the highlights in the local unit's 20-year career was in 1956 when members helped man road blocks to recapture George Wilder during one of his early prison escapes. For years the troop has been responsible for clearing and maintaining the Armed Constabulary redoubt in Taupo. The Historic Places Trust took over the area for a time, but it was left to become overgrown, until the legion stepped in again recently and restored it.

The big aim of the troop now is to build new clubrooms on a half-acre section granted to it by the Lands and Survey Department. In the meantime, the present clubrooms will be moved from Taniwha Street to the new site on Matai Street. "We only have a quarteracre section at the moment, and it is so near the main street that the rate bill is becoming quite hefty," said Mr Logan. f "Plans are to move the existing building to the new section, and then work toward another clubrooms."