A Salvationist artist: George Holloway Garth R Hentzschel 9

‘TO MEET A NEED IN THE LIFE OF SALVATIONIST STUDENTS’: THE STORY OF THE SALVATION ARMY STUDENTS’ FELLOWSHIP IN NEW ZEALAND PART TWO: FROM HOLIDAY TREKS TO ATTEMPTED REACTIVATION

Introduction Kingsley Sampson

The first part of this story was published in the previous issue of the Australasian journal of Salvation Army history. 2 It covered the activities of Salvation Army Student Fellowship (SASF) branches in New Zealand from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. This second and final paper tells the remainder of the story of the SASF in New Zealand.

Holiday treks 1962 – 1964

Several outreach holiday treks were undertaken by the SASF during the 1960s. These had an evangelistic emphasis and focused on presenting programmes for children and adults in motor camps over the Christmas-New Year holiday period.3 Support was also given in the Sunday meetings at nearby Salvation Army corps.

New Year Holiday Trek – 1962

The first SASF trek took place from 2 – 7 January 1962 at Rotorua and Tauranga under the leadership of Major John C. Waite. The war cry of 27 January 1962 published a full report on the trek and the following information draws on that report.4 Apart from Waite, participants were Adrienne Brown (Otahuhu Corps), Laurence Hay (Christchurch City Corps), Robert Imlach (Eden Corps), Pamela Jones (Hamilton Corps), June Kent (Linwood Corps), Doug Laskey (Hamilton Corps), Margaret Major (Linwood Corps), Elizabeth Reid (Oxford Corps) Margaret Richardson (Christchurch City Corps), Tom Smith (Hamilton Corps) and Carolyn Suter (Christchurch City Corps). The team assembled at Hodderville near Putaruru on Tuesday 2 January where they saw something of the boys’ home and the farm and agricultural school.5 They also decided that a halfhour each day would be set aside for prayer in addition to following The way, a daily bible study

Reference citation of this paper; Kingsley Sampson, “‘To meet a need in the life of Salvationists Students’: The story of The Salvation Army Students’ Fellowship in New Zealand. Part two: From holiday treks to attempted reactivation”, The Australasian journal of Salvation Army history, 6, 1, 2021, 6 – 20.

2 Kingsley Sampson, “‘To meet a need in the life of Salvationists Students’: The story of The Salvation Army Students’ Fellowship in New Zealand. Part one: From the mid-1950s to the late 1960s”, The Australasian journal of Salvation Army history, 5, 2, (September 2020), 129 – 149. 3 Motor camps are similar to holiday locations called caravan parks in Australia or trailer parks in the USA. Motor camps in the 1960s throughout New Zealand provided a holiday site for people with tents and caravans plus they often had small cabins to rent, some with kitchen and bathroom, others just with beds and access to communal facilities. 4 The war cry, (New Zealand, 27 January 1962), 5, 10. The war cry report did not give dates for the trek’s activities so these have been deduced from a letter from Major John C. Waite to participants dated 29 November 1961 in which he outlined the proposed programme for the trek. 5 Hodderville was a Salvation Army boys’ home and training farm in the southern Waikato (in the North Island).