Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 4. p 950

RED CROSS W ORK IN THE COUNTY.

The excellent work done by the Berkshire branch of the British Red Cross Society was recognised at a meeting held in the Large Town Hall, Reading, on Saturday, April 26th, 1919, when the chief speaker was Mr. E. A. Ridsdale, Deputy Chairman of the British Red Cross Society.

Mr. W. A. Mount, M.P., presided, and the gathering also included the Mayor and Mayoress of Reading, Vice-Admiral Fleet, C.B.E. (County Director), Mr. Leonard Sutton (chairman of Committee), Brig.-Gen. Huleatt (County Secretary), Mr. C. E. L. Freeling (County Treasurer), Miss A. Waltham (Assistant County Director), Mrs. G. W. Palmer, Mr. C. E. Keyser, Countess Roberts, G.B.E., Lady Berkeley, Major Hanbury, Major M. L. Porter, O.B.E., Mr. Alfred Palmer, General Mahon, C.B., Mr. S. áCourt, Capt. Cyril Tubbs, Miss B. M. Apthorp, O.B.E., Mrs. Crawshay, O.B.E., Miss M. Wyld, M.B.E., the Rev. G. Gore Skipwith, Mrs. Berwick (Bracknell), Mr. R. H. Douglass (Ascot), Mrs. Bullen-Smith (Binfield), Miss F. Brown (Didcot), the Rev. W. K. Kefford (Shaw), Miss L. Monck, M.B.E. (Crowthorne), Lady Vansittart-Neale, Miss Mylne, Mrs. Abram, M.B.E., Dr. Scott (Abingdon), Mrs. Tubbs, O.B.E. (Donnington), Mrs. Keyser, Mrs. W. M. Childs, Miss Boldero (Newbury), Mrs. Victor Rhodes, M.B. E., Mrs. Fosbery (Lambourn), Mrs. J. S. Henderson, Miss Wooldridge, Miss Durham, Miss Hedley (Windsor), Mrs. Cole (Hungerford), Mrs. Western (Wokingham), Mrs. W. C. Blandy (District Secretary, Reading), Mrs. Hartnett, Mrs. Bowley, Miss May Sutton, Mrs. Hawker (Mayoress of Newbury), etc. There was a large attendance, but the hall would doubtless have been full but for the inclement weather.

The Committee reported as follows: - €”The approximate number of paying and guaranteeing members is 180 and of associates 220. This shows a slight falling off from last year. The Countess Roberts has been awarded the G.B.E. and Vice-Admiral H. L. Fleet (the County Director) the C.B.E. The amount realised by "Our Day"€ was £3,757 7s. 7d., a most satisfactory result. The Sunday Church collections amounted to £1,576 3s. 2d., half of which (£788 1s. 7d.) is allotted to the branch. The branch suffered a severe loss by the death of the late county secretary, Mr. C. J. Haviland. Much of its prosperity was due to him; since 1909 he had worked most energetically as lion, treasurer for the county and district secretary for Bradfield. During the war he took over also the duties of county secretary, but in June last he handed over the treasurership to Mr. C. E. L. Freeling. We have to record the lamented death of our lady president, Dame Edith Benyon, G.B.E.

[photo, group, interior] Wokingham Red Cross Hospital.
Five hundred patients were treated at the Church House Auxiliary Hospital, Wokingham, in addition to many out-patients, and all praise is due to both nurses and orderlies (shown in the picture) for the steady and untiring service they have rendered. In the centre is Vice-Admiral H. L. Fleet, C.B.E., County Director, of the British Red Cross Association.

The County Director's report contained the following: -

After the armistice the auxiliary hospitals began closing down in agreement with the officials concerned, and at the end of March only three, "Maidenhead",€ "St. Anne'€™s" and "Struan House", Reading, will remain open. They will be kept as a reserve as long as required. It has been my duty to confer on the staff the grateful thanks of the Berkshire Branch o f the B.R.C.S. for their splendid voluntary work, performed unselfishly and ungrudgingly, and at the same time to impress upon them the importance of continuing in the organization, in order that the Red Cross may be maintained in the future.

[photo, exterior, building] WARGRAVE V.A.D. HOSPITAL, WHICH WAS CLOSED AT THE END OF MARCH, 1919. [Photo by Southgate, Twyford.]