SAILORS’ SOCIETY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1941, Page 4

SAILORS’ SOCIETY

WORK OF BRITISH MISSION

NEED OF FUNDS STRESSED. APPEAL BY WELLINGTON MISSIONER, Mr J. E. Lea, Wellington Port Missioned of the British Sailors’ Society, is visiting Masterton to conduct a drive for raising funds to further the Society’s work. In an interview this morning Mr Lea stressed the importance of the work the Society was carrying out for the men of the Merchant Navy. Mr Lea said that while the average person realised the sacrifice the sailors were making, more could be done in bringing comforts to them as a means of practical recognition of their services. The men of the Merchant Navy left their loved ones and everything they held dear to face not only the rigours of a life at sea but to face death every day. With cool courage they manned the ships to bring our requirements, take our produce . and carry our troops. Nothing that one could do for them would be too much. In its service on behalf of the sailor the Wellington branch of the British Sailors’ Society had been particularly active since the war began. In commodious new quarters in Wakefield Street, Wellington, the men were provided with entertainment, reading and writing facilities, etc. Every evening honorary members served supper. Regular social gatherings and outings were held and on Sundays, tea was followed by a sing-song and Gospel talk. Mr Lea said that a sailor in the Merchant Navy left his home on receipt of a note to be at a dock at a certain time. Until he got on the ship he did not know its name or where it was going. His wife and family had no idea where he was going or for how long he would be away, until the sailor reached his first port of call, when he could write. Mails were so uncertain that the men never heard from their families until they arrived home. In England many left their homes to join a ship hurriedly without having any money or clothes other than those they wore. The Society’s work was to clothe them. Many sailors in. England needed all their money to provide new homes for their families. If the Society could supply every man with an outfit of clothes it considered it would be doing a national service. As a case in point boots had been supplied to men working in a stokeroom on a coal burner, as the ones they wore were full of holes. Many of the sailors assisted had been torpedoed two and three times while others were nerve-wracked. There were many sad cases. One such case was that of a sailor who returned to his home after spending 13 days in a lifeboat after his ship had been torpedoed. He spent ten days’ leave and left for New Zealand on another ship. On arrival in Wellington he found a cablegram waiting for him which conveyed the news that his wife and child had been killed by a bomb. It was the Society’s work to comfort such men and give them as much pleasure as possible while they were in port. Touching on the Society’s work in Wellington Mr Lea said that for the first nine months this year 18,000 men had visited the rest rooms; 3,386 teas had been given sailors, and 12,145 suppers served. Bus trips had been arranged and Rugby matches were played between ships in port. The winning team’s members each received a medal struck in copper off the “Victory.”

During his stay in Masterton Mr Lea may be communicated with through the local Y.M.C.A.