Hastings High School Old Boys Rugby Club Function

Description

Hastings High School Old Boys Rugby Club function [?], 1948 or 1949

The picture is taken in the grounds of what is now Hastings Boys’ High School. In the days of this picture, the school, which adopted the huia as its emblem and “Akina” as its motto, was the only co-educational secondary school in Hastings. The huia emblem can be seen on many of the blazers worn in this picture.

The building visible at the left is the former 900-seat King’s Theatre, moved from Karamu Road to the school. It eventually became the site of the the St John Ambulance Brigade in Hastings.

The quadrangle above was earmarked as the girls’ quadrangle; the boys’ was on the far side of the building. 

People:
Second from left in the front row is SI (Sydney) Jones, a popular master at the school, president of the RSA, and, later, MP for Hastings
Fifth from left is WR (Bill) Lochhead, a farmer and rugby coach
Next to Mr Lochhead is Ed Renouf, later to become known as secretary of the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Meat Company (Whakatu)
Tenth person in the second row is Doug Graham, later to become first chairman of the Hastings Intermediate School board