The Herald

50 years ago

SALISBURY, 24 April 1967. — A hostel, can be run well, with clean rooms and good food, and still be an institution. But add something extra — the friendliness and kindliness that make for a good atmosphere — and you have the next best thing to a real home.

It is the presence of this atmosphere that immediately strikes the visitor to Arcadia Girls’ Hostel, the bright modern building with its tasteful furnishings has been transformed into a “home from home” for the 17 girls who live there.

The hotel was founded in 1960 in response to a real need, which existed then and still exists.

One would have imagined that the demand for accommodation there would be a greater than the hostel can comfortably handle. But when the chairman of the house committee, Mrs M Fieldsend, and the treasurer, Mrs K Todd, took me to see the hostel this week, I learned that there is no long waiting list — a big problem is that there are too few girls. —