YOUTH WEEK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 November 1943, Page 2

YOUTH WEEK

MASTERTON CAMPAIGN OPENED REPRESENTATIVE GATHERING LAST NIGHT. NEED OF FOSTERING GOOD CITIZENSHIP. There was a representative attendance at the Y.M.C.A., Masterton, last night, when Youth Week was officially opened. Following the of the proceedings an adjournment was made to the gymnasium, where compel titions were held by the intermediate and junior boys. The president of the Y.M.C.A., Mr J. A. Kennedy, Dresided. Associated with him were Mrs Kennedy, the Mayor and Mayoress, Mr and Mrs T. Jordan, Mr G. H. Mackley, M.P., and Mrs Mackley, the chairman of the Masterton County Council, Mr R. E. Gordon Lee and Mrs Lee, and the general secretary, Mr L. M. Johansen.

Apologies for absence were received from the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Parry, and the Rev. G. H. Goodman. Mr Kennedy declared Youth Week officially opened. He said it was the idea of the new secretary, who was working on the right lines. A campaign for recognition of the value of youth organisations was being undertaken before the war finished. Youth Week was sponsored by the Y.M.C.A., but was a co-operative movement by several organisations. The aim was to bring the work of all these organisations to public notice and to promote still closer co-operation between them. Mr Jordan said that rather than there being a need for a new order, there should be a return to the old order of good citizenship. Good citizenship was attained, he said, by following the rule: “Do as you would be done by.” It was a sad sight, he added, to see the children in our health camps. There was surely something wrong. He congratulated the Y.M.C.A. on having Mr Kennedy as its president, and said that he was well fitted for the post. The new secretary had made a good start, and he had taken up the position with good recommendations. “On the youth of the country rests the success of the country,” said Mr Mackley. He spoke particularly to the children present, and urged them to excel in what they did. Mr Gordon Lee spoke of the value of clubs and organisations in training for a useful life, and said that life-long friendships were frequently made through them. The present war had shown, he observed, that we were not as healthy a nation as we had thought we were. He urged young people to keep themselves fit so that in the future the hospitals would only be half full, and not crowded as at present. The Townswomen’s Guild choir gave several pleasing items and responded to an encore.

Mr Johansen led in prayer, and the Benediction was pronounced by Brigadier Perry, of the Salvation Army. Aircraftman Rex Tatton judged the gymnastics, and he gave his decisions as follow: —Intermediate: Jack Lenz 1, George Masters 2. Junior: H. Braggins 1, Eddie Hoar 2. Special mention was made of the general progress which George Masters and Eddie Hoar had made in their work.

Mr D. E. Lyttle, a member of the Y.M.C.A. board of directors, carried out the duties of M.C. efficiently. Tonight, in the Y.M.C.A. rooms, a Bible Class rally will be held. Lantern slides will be shown and a missionary will give an address. On Wednesday the Ladies’ Auxiliary will hold a shop day, commencing at 10 a.m., and at night there will be a modern and old time dance.