In Cottage and Castle

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 345, 1 February 1946, Page 8

In Cottage and Castle

RECENT Sunday Evening Talk was given by Miss Jean Begg who has been in charge of the Y.W.C.A, in the Middle East and South East Asia Command. Fifteen minutes is not a long time to have for the description of such a varied and magnificent achievement as that of the Y.W.C.A. during the war, and Miss Begg faced the problem which often arises in such talks, of having to decide whéther to give an all-over cover in generalities, or to concentrate on building up a detailed picture of one small corner. From the general listener’s point of view there is no doubt at all which is: the more telling. The closer a talk comes to the annual report form of composition, the further it deviates from the art which is proper and peculiar to radio, where much must be left unsaid if an impression is to be built up which the imagination can grasp and hold. Miss Begg began very effectively to do the latter, but half-way through her’ talk she seemed to remember that: she was representing a great organisation whose thanks were due to several noble ladies who had given active patronage. I could not help feeling that the wives of kings and generals might be the first to agree with me that one might take it for granted that all ranks concerned had worked as hard as they knew how, and that when time is very short, their own work might be lightly passed over in favour of ampler details of the Y.W.C.A.’s most significant contribution to the war-its homemaking in foreign cities, jungle and desert.