LEAGUE OF MOTHERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 March 1943, Page 2

LEAGUE OF MOTHERS

l MONTHLY MEETING OF MEMBERS AN INTERESTING ADDRESS. The monthly meeting of the League of Mothers was held in the Knox Hall yesterday afternoon. There was a large attendance and new members were warmly welcomed by the president, Mrs L. Maunsell. Members stood in silence for a few moments as a mark of sympathy with Mesdames Brisco, Corskie and McKen-zie-Douglas, all of whom had suffered bereavements. Mrs Spicer sang two solos and Mrs Leadley gave two very entertaining recitations. Mrs Maunsell introduced Miss R. Elliot, who spoke on the origin and work of the Red Cross Society. Appalled at the conditions that prevailed in war time, a Swiss solicitor in the year 1863 thought that some organisation could be built up which would treat friend and foe alike, she said. This had grown so rapidly that there were now 61 countries with Red Cross organisations with a membership of 20 million. The main purpose of the Red Cross was to alleviate suffering in peace or war time and to educate people in raising the standard of health. A very big branch of the work was that of packing and sending parcels to prisoners of war.; In 1914 a Junior Red Cross Society was instituted and this grew so quickly in U.S.A, that at the end of the war in 1918, with money earned by its young members, schools,' hospitals and clinics were built in the,’ n stricken European countries. Miss Elliot explained how all parents could'- * help in the formation of a Junior Red Cross Society in the Wairarapa. Mrs Maunsell thanked Miss Elliot for her most interesting address. The tea hostesses were Mesdames Maunsell, Baillie, T. Russell, Mabson, J. Russell and Miller Hope.