Royal Navy Had Method of Caring For Men on Leave

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1942, Page 6

Royal Navy Had Method of Caring For Men on Leave

Instructive to those who desire to see established in Taranaki a spacious leave club for servicemen is the story of Claridge's Fleet Club, which performed a wonderful service in Alexandria in 1935-36, when there was a great naval concentration in the Middle East as a precautionary measure against Italian intransigency. Writing about it in "The Grey Diplomatists," Lieutenant-Coxmander K. Edwards, R.N. (retired), says that soon after the fleet arrived it Was realised that a naval club was necessary not only to provide a decent . place where men could gather and obtajn food and drink, biit also to prevent naval personnel being despoiled by the . Egyptians. He alluded to swindling over exchange, curios and other things and to prohibitive prices. The committee which brought the club into being was composed oi three naval officers, one of them a chaplaip, the British consul-general and the Rev. P. B. Clayton, the founder padre of Toc H. The Admiralty granted £150 for starting it, but this money was repaid. The ground floor and half the second floor of Claridge's Hotel, which had been closed for two years, was rented for £82 a week. The rent was guaranteed by the Admiralty, but the guarantee was never called on. The institution was an instantaneous success. 2000 men visitihg it on the first Sunday. and very soon the whole of the first floor and the basement were in use, as well as the ground floor. It had a barber's shop, billiard and ping-pong tables, a card room, writing rooms and a library, the rule there being that when a man drew a book he deposited his cap, which was redeemed when the book was handed back. Bands plaed twice a week and there were frequent concerts and dances. Language classes were started. When it was fully established the average attendance on Saturdays and Sundays was between 4000 oHT'd 5000. There was a money-changing counter and a curio stall which prior to Christmas had a daily turnover of £100. The club had beer bars, where the beer was sold at the Malta price— about one-third of that ruling elsewhere in Alexandria. As much as £150 worth of beer was consumed daily, but there was no drunkenness or disorder. The club ran its magazine under the editorship of a naval chaplain. With its manifold activities, catering for so iarge a number of men, says Lieutenant-Commander Edwards, Claridge's Fleet Club proved a flnancial success. Its average weekly turnover was more than £4000, a reserve of £2000 was created to pay for dilapidations, and when it closed, with the dispersal of the fleet, a considerable sum was handed over to naval charities. year.