Hastings District Patriotic Committee
THE RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT of the Hastings Patriotic Committee is one of which its people may well be proud. During the war years, never once has Hastings failed to fulfil its Patriotic obligations; in fact, on almost every occasion it has more than fulfilled its quota – while it is safe to say that on more than one occasion the example set by Hastings Patriotic efforts have been an inspiration and benefit not only to the Hawke’s Bay Provision Council, but to the Dominion Conference of Patriotic organisations. Before the close of the present campaign, Hastings will have raised well over £100,000 during the war years; its parcels committee have distributed nearly 20,000 parcels, while the goods handled at the Patriotic Depot have totalled well over half a million.
Hastings Patriotic efforts have been co-ordinated into sub-committees whose personnel number some 250, but in the field of money-raising it has been established that every organisation in Hastings, from children to adults, from churches to politics, and some thousands of other private individuals, have actively participated with money-raising campaigns in varying degrees.
The Patriotic activities of Hastings have covered a tremendous field. There has been the Seed Cropping Committee, which has produced hundreds of tons of seed and vegetables when these were in short supply. During 1942-43 the Committee produced sufficient of certain types of medicinal leaf for the needs of the British Commonwealth, while profits amounting to over £6000 have been transferred to Patriotic Funds.
The reclamation of waste material, particularly paper, provided onerous tasks for a number of enthusiastic Patriotic workers, who stuck to their jobs week by week and year by year.
The collection, sorting and packing of some 60,000 garments fell to the lot of the Lady Galway Patriotic Guild, while another team of consistent workers have performed a similar service with books and magazines for the men of the Services. Thousands of books were packed for despatch to the Middle East and Pacific areas, while the Mercantile Marine received its share also of the reading.
Hastings, too, has provided a team of silent but painstaking workers in the hundreds of women who have knitted over 15,000 woollen garments. The Air Force Relations Committee, too, has provided a similar service for Air Force personnel.
The Hospital Committee has found hostesses for hundreds of visiting Allied Servicemen, while the hostesses themselves have provided the most generous hospitality to men, many of whom were direct from the jungle campaigns of Guadalcanal and Tulagi.
The Welfare Committee already has financially assisted some hundreds of men of the Services who through circumstances outside their control have returned from overseas to find themselves with financial troubles. This committee, too, assists disabled men with their applications for pensions.
Add to all these a hundred smaller activities combined with the magnificent efforts of similar enthusiastic committees at Havelock North. All co-ordinated, they form one vast Patriotic Organisation which has reflected “the will to win” of the people of this district and their desire to play their part in providing welfare services for the men who have given the greatest service in the cause of Democracy and Freedom.
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