GIGS OPENS RETREAT HOUSE

A S one of his last official acts as "commander-in-chief of Great Britain's Far East Ground Forces. General Sir Francis Festing opened a new retreat house in Singapore for the use of Catholic servicemen in Malaya.
On Tuesday the General left for En-gland where on September 29 he will become Chief of the Imperial General Staff. A Solemn Mass for his intentions will be offered in Singapore on June 22.
General Festing will be the first practising Catholic to head the gesteral staff since the Reformation. He was born in Dublin in 1902. He " read himself into the Church at the age of 16 ". He serves Mass whenever he can and made certain that there will be a Catholic Chaplain aboard the ship bringing him to England! „ The General is married and has four sons. His grandfather, Sir Francis Festing, and his father, Brig.-Gen. Festing served in the Boer War and with the British forces in the last war.