CHILDREN’S ISLAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 June 1938, Page 10

CHILDREN’S ISLAND

f DENMARK SERVES ITS YOUTH. Children have an island to themselves in Denmark—the small island of Thoro, which was acquired by the Copenhagen Municipal Teachers’ Association in 1930 to be used as a holiday camp. It is situated near the town of Assens, in Sjaelland, and accommodates some 250 children. Denmark has many holiday camps, for a total of 3,285 boys and 800 girls spent their vacations in such camps during 1937. Denmark’s Teachers’ Associations for men and women have been organising holiday camps for 38 years to give each child a free two or three weeks’ vacation. Expenses are met by donations from the associations’ funds, contributions collected by the Copenhagen Press, and assistance given by the Municipality of Copenhagen. Free transportation is also provided. The camps often receive gifts of food. Of the 62,000 school children in Copenhagen, about half succeed in having a holiday in the country. And while the city children go to the sea and country, provincial children visit Copenhagen for their holiday. Free sleeping accommodation and food at a low charge are provided. In 1936 an old frigate, Jylland, which had been abandoned for scrap iron, was fitted out as a hostel for school children visiting the city.