Waiwhare Wire 1991 03

WAIWHARE WIRE

OCTOBER 1991

Well folks, the sweat is really pouring off me as I furiously write this introduction in order to meet the deadline. I promised Carol that I’d have this ready last week, but as per usual I put it off and off because of other important commitments… like watching the World Cup semi finals or mowing the lawns or reading the paper while sitting in the sun … you know, real important stuff like that.
So then I hope you enjoy this issue, just as much as I enjoyed contributing to it …and now I’ll rush off and give this to Carol so she can whip it into the mag. – Tony.

Another bumper issue!!! There certainly appears to be no shortage of material for our local mag. Tony is taking more of a back seat these days (pressures of work etc.). Actually he has trouble keeping up with our team – we’re highly organised you see.
However, for all of you who have been the target of his jokes and stories don’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet – he still intends to contribute to each issue (providing it’s in by the deadline) …but perhaps now is your chance to get even with him!
‘The Wire’ under it’s new management will be coming to you every 2nd month. We would like all of you to contribute at some time, in some way, however small – photos, stories, special recipes and news – especially news (we can’t publish it unless we know about it.) Letters to the Editor is an idea we rather like … but remember this is a family publication.
A special section outlining some aspect of the history of Waiwhare is planned for inclusion when possible – we could use some help here – photos, stories etc. We thank Helen Arthur for her help in this area so far. And please … we want feedback – how you feel about ‘The Wire’, what you would like to see in it etc.

By the way, some folks down Sherenden way have been so impressed with our mag, they are putting one of their own together. We will be working in conjunction with them on some articles and swapping ads but each mag will contain it’s own local news and views. Anyone interested in receiving the Sherenden mag (no name, as yet) should contact Julie Holst.

Heartiest congratulations to the district’s newly engaged couples –
John & Shona
Dave and Tracey
The ball has really started rolling. Our single male population is dwindling fast. Even Andrew Ward has packed up his waterbed and moved to greener pastures. Who will follow?

Also – congratulations to Kirsty and Davy Hill on the arrival of young Robert. No doubt he will be out in the backpack learning to prune kiwifruit before long.

We welcome to the district, Bruce and Kate D’Ath and family. We hope you are settling happily into your new residence in River Road.

Jane Fountaine will be hosting a coffee morning at her home on November 11th. Further details at a later date.

mmm…much better than Mum’s baking! I’ll just have one more before that greedy dog comes back.

Scouts and Cubs
Both the Scouts and Cubs have had an eventful year to date with the Cubs having been on 2 one-night camps at Duke St Hall and one next month at Waimarama and the Scouts a two-night camp at Rissington earlier this month.
In June both Scouts and Cubs demonstrated their skills at the Flaxmere Skateboard Bowl then at the indoor pool afterwards. In July they attended a very interesting Civil Defence day at Omahu and Andrew Clarke went up to Scouts.
Some of the Cubs went to a Krypton Factor competition in Hastings and, along with the 2nd Hastings group, won the competition and managed to get their photo in the paper.
The backwoods cooking at the Willowford Falls on the Ward property in August proved most successful. The Scouts cooked on an open fire and also made ovens from baked bean tins. Even though no utensils were used some very delectable and varied meals were cooked and enjoyed. For example, rissoles and an egg cooked inside a scooped out potato and wrapped in tin foil. Perhaps we should have had a Scout’s section in the Waiwhare Cookbook! The Cubs caught up on Koru badge work at this meeting.
In September at Wallace’s the Cubs made another kind of stove – this time a “hobo stove” using a large coffee tin, a small fish can, corrugated cardboard and melted wax. Again some very imaginative meals were cooked, including square eggs! More badge work followed.
Next month the Scouts will be abseiling at Te Mata Peak. A big congratulations goes to our Scout leader, Ron Moroney, who was awarded the Medal of Merit by the NZ National Awards committee for good services to the Scouting movement. This is a great honour. Ron has been our Rata Olsen Scout Leader for over 17 years.
Finally, in November, Scouts and Cubs begin selling tubes of sunscreen lotion as a fundraising venture. These will be $9 a tube / so if you are interested please contact me at 8742-407 or you may be approached by one of the local members.

Neil Fountaine, Jarreau Purcell and I went with about 50 other Scouts to a Mahora District Scout camp at Weka, Rissington in October. It was a fun-filled weekend of canoeing down the river, abseiling, pioneering and an assault course. Our gear went down to the campsite some 200 metres below the road by means of a newly installed winch and we walked down over one of the largest swingbridges in the Southern Hemisphere. It was great fun and the food was good (except when Neil and Jarreau were cooking).
Michael Ward

[Original story]

COUNTRY GARDEN RAMBLE
SUNDAY 3rd NOVEMBER, 1991
VISIT
5 PUKETITIRI COUNTRY GARDENS
+ ENTERTAINMENT

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FROM 10am to 4 pm
ADMISSION BY MAP FOR SALE AT NBHS PRIOR TO DAY (Phone 835 7814) OR ON THE DAY AT THE PATOKA STORE

NBHS
ENTERTAINMENT
in the gardens includes:
NBHS String Group
NBHS Brass Group
NBHS Jazz Group
NBHS Barbershop Quartet
NBHS Pipers

CHARGE: $5 each Adult to purchase map   School Chn. Free
(Proceeds to NBHS OUTDOOR EDUCATION BLOCK AT PAKAUTUTU)
THE MAP WILL SHOW YOU WHERE THIS IS AT THE END OF THE ROAD… FOR THE ADVENTUROUS!!!
LUCKY NUMBER PRIZES IN EACH GARDEN

STALLS
COUNTRY PRODUCE
PLANTS FOR SALE
PICKLES, JAMS ETC
PONY & DONKEY RIDES
REFRESHMENTS & LIGHT LUNCH AVAILABLE
RAFFLES

NBHS PARENT LEAGUE SAUSAGE SIZZLE

PONY CLUB
With the weekends being so busy lately, Pony Club has not been held as regularly as I would have liked. The weather is slowly becoming warmer so hopefully we will get back to having our meetings on the second sunday of each month.
We have five members going for their ‘D’ certificates in November – good luck to these riders.
Many of the Pony Club riders have recently begun to enjoy jumping. Because of this, we have invited Murray Thompson up in December to take a jumping course. Never know, we could have some future N.Z. reps amongst this lot.
During the past few weeks some riders from our club have attended some local competitions. The following children gained places against some very tough competition : Elissa Chalmers, Bridget De Barre, Lauren Harper, Rowan [Ryan] Harper, Serena Goulding, Nicholas Webster, Hamish Webster.
It is really great to see these children doing so well ; they are certainly becoming very confident and are enjoying meeting new friends.
I would like to thank Kerry, Margaret, Carolyn and Adrienne for attending the combined sports as stewards in my absence. The health was not 100% that Sunday and I appreciate you all giving up your day to attend this event.
EVENTS COMING UP
14th-15th December – Murray Thompson – Jumping course (tentative date)
18th-19th December – Overnight Trek at Omahaki.
29th January 1992 – Fun Day.
Anybody wanting to know more about Pony Club, don’t hesitate to give Kerry Chalmers 8742855 or myself 8742871 a ring.
Christine Goulding.

Ballroom Dancing
There is a strong possibility that Derek and Janet Hutchinson of Napier will be able to come out to the Sherenden Hall in March or April next year to take social ballroom dancing classes. They would have to have about ten couples – the more who come, the less it costs and the cost is likely to be around $5 a night for the four two-hourly lessons. They teach what people want to learn. More details next year.

Mutton Recipe Books
No doubt most of you have heard that yet another recipe book has surfaced in Waiwhare. This time it is a mutton recipe book and it contains over 50 recipes, including stuffings and marinades. A must for every family, an ideal Xmas stocking filler – only $2.50. Available from Waiwhare School. Proceeds to the school. Enquiries to Linda Ward (874-2419) or Liz Kay (874-2490).

LOCAL HISTORY

FEBRUARY 20, 1935… The Camp Explosion. A Terrible Affair. At Waikonini Station. Mr Frank Hildreth, of Mangawhare, who was the first upon the scene after the explosion at the camp on the Taihape Road about 30 miles from Hastings, by which Arthur Patrick McGuire of Dannevirke, met his death, said: “It was a terrible affair, when I got there which was about 10 minutes after it happened, Mr McGuire was not with the men. He went over to Mr Good [Goode]’s house which was not more than 400 to 500 yards away from them for assistance and both he and Mr Good were on the scene about as soon as I was. Some of the men were practically naked, their clothes having been either burned or blown off them,” he said.
“Some had just a blanket round them. Mr Good lost no time in getting his car and four of the men for the Memorial Hospital. Mr Peter Sheild left with the other two soon afterwards. The whole camp was blown to smithereens and it was a wonder that they were not all killed,” said Mr Hildreth.
The camp was located in plantation about five chains from the road, and following the explosion, a fire started, but this was soon extinguished. The cars conveying the injured men made a good trip down, reaching the hospital about half an hour past midnight. Medical attention was immediately given, but despite every effort made to relieve his suffering, Mr McGuire passed away at 7.15 o’clock yesterday morning. Inquires at the Memorial Hospital late last evening elicited the reply that all the injured men will require fairly lengthy hospital treatment owing to the extensive nature of the burns sustained. The condition of Messrs Geake, Algie and Sanders was stated to be satisfactory. The late Mr McGuire is survived by a widow and seven children.

Diane’s mother sent me this cutting from the Dannevirke Evening News, which was running a series of articles on “News from the Past” from old Hawkes Bay newspapers. This was one of the most distressful events of my youth and it could have been very a costly one for my mother as this was before the days of ACC and we were still in the Great Depression. Mrs McGuire sued my mother for a large sum of money as compensation for the death of her husband and I can remember the whole family going to court to hear the case, sitting on the edges of our chairs in a cold sweat of apprehension.

The explosion took place in a camp in a plantation of wattles on the old Taihape Road near Mr Good’s house, which is the same old house below Chris Ward’s new one. The men had been splitting wood with gunpowder in a blasting gun for posts etc. One day a bag of gunpowder was delivered to Waikonini homestead and the cowman-gardener, who was going over to the camp in the evening to play cards, decided without being asked to take the gunpowder with him.

The men settled down to cards accompanied by cigarettes and mugs of beer and after a while one of them decided to test a fuse card, which he lit and held until it burnt his fingers. He dropped the burning fuse, which unfortunately landed in the bag of gunpowder, which resulted in a gigantic explosion with ghastly results. My brother, Peter Sheild, said that the men he drove to town smelt like roast meat and it was a wonder that they survived.

Although we had a station manager the supervisor was Dalgety’s manager, but he had not seen fit to have a special insurance for explosives, which he should have done. In summing up the case the judge decided that as my mother had not asked the cowman-gardener to deliver the gunpowder and that it was not in working hours, she was not responsible for what he did in leisure hours.

Mrs McGuire lost the case but I think she did get some compensation from Dalgety’s insurance due to the manager being the supervisor. As for the family, we were sorry for the victims, but we got off the edges of our chairs and sighed a big sigh of relief.

Helen Arthur

In last month’s issue we said that the old Mangawhare library building was still standing. This in fact is not true – it was sited on the Tolley property and is definitely not there today.

GARDENS IN THE WIND
Sound familiar? This is in fact the title of a new NZ publication that was probably written with the gardeners from Waiwhare in mind. The seven chapters deal with landscape design, site and vegetation analysis, site planning and preparation, examples of wind gardens, plant selection and cultivation. It is available from – where else? – Touchwood Books, your local tree and gardening bookseller. Local/Wire subscribers can purchase it for the special price of $25 ($29.95 elsewhere).
Diane and Peter’s garden is open to the public from November 16th to 24th. Feel free to come and inspect the gardens outside and the huge range of books inside. The books are now located in the “Book Shed” beside Helen’s place. 10% discount is always given to locals.

NZ RED CROSS SOCIETY INC
SUNDAY FUNDAY
IN THE LOVELY GARDENS OF ‘OKAWA’
T & J LOWRY, TAIHAPE ROAD.
FAMILY FUNDAY!!!!
A DAY OF FUN FOR EVERYONE
DONKEY RIDES   SAUSAGE SIZZLE
FACE PAINTING   LOLLY SCRAMBLE
HASTINGS CITIZENS BAND
KARAMU HIGH SCHOOL DANCING GROUP
HANDCRAFT STALLS…xmas presents?   Pottery, China painting, Wooden Bowls, Patchwork, Hats, Guernsey Jerseys, Plants, Garden furniture, weaving, Knits, Wooden Toys, Dried Flowers, Nightdresses Shirts, Xmas Novelties, Needlework and much, much more!
SUNDAY, 3RD NOVEMBER, 1991
10a.m. to 4 p.m.- ‘OKAWA’
SIGNPOSTED FROM FERNHILL
Adults – $3.00   Food available
Children – Free   Tea and coffee free
The Red Cross Family Funday is being held to celebrate 60 years of Red Cross in New Zealand (it was a branch of the British Red Cross before 1931) and is also a part of the Spring Festival currently in progress. The Lowry family has had a long association with Red Cross as the Late Mrs TH Lowry Snr had been Hawke’s Bay Patron and later Dominion President. Mr & Mrs Lowry were renowned for their generosity as they often combined their horse racing interests with Red Cross fundraising activities.

INSTITUTE
The next CWI Meeting will be held at Helen Arthur’s place on Thursday, November 14th. It starts at 6pm and will take the form of a walk around Diane and Peter’s garden, followed by a pot luck tea. The books will also be on display.

[Poem]

OTAMAURI PLAYCENTRE

Things are ticking along nicely at Playcentre lately. ‘The Opening’ was a great success and it was lovely to see so many local faces there. We began the term with a trip to the Omnigym at Onekawa. Children and parents alike could be seen tossing themselves fearlessly into a sea of foam rubber. The clamber back was not always such an elegant sight. We left the beam, climbing bars and forward rolls to our agile pre-schoolers but there is no doubt we were all more than ready for an early lunch of fish and chips at Anderson Park.

We took the four year old group to Sherenden School Junior room this term, where, ably tutored by a number of five and six year olds, they enjoyed a range of maths games and stories. At our visits to both Waiwhare and Sherenden Schools we’ve been made very welcome and have been pleased at how well the playcentre children have fitted in.

In between these visits we’ve had some happy days at playcentre, painting or gluing, dancing or hammering, the children themselves choosing from a wide range of activities.

Not to be outdone by big brothers and sisters we also had a Pet Day, with a budgie, goats, puppies and a hen and chicks. We drew the line at Cross Country though and found roly poly down the grass slopes and a quick whizz around an obstacle course much less arduous.

Our A.G.M. in September was a very pleasant affair. With wind and cheese for starters we didn’t have too much trouble filling all the positions. Our current role is around 27 with 10 children also attending the Thursday session for 3½ year olds and over. They’re a great little bunch so feel free to come and visit us at either of our sessions.

TUESDAY 9.30a.m. – 12.00 MIDDAY OR Thursday 10a.m. -12.30pm.

DON’T FORGET THE FLOWER SHOW THIS SATURDAY

You should have received your programme by now. Should be a good day.

Enquiries to Leonie Smith ph. 8742 804

[Original story]

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE WAIWHARE BUS CO.
The Waiwhare Bus Co. came about back in May 1989, when the local school bus routes came up for public tender by the Education Board.
The district really got involved then because:
1.   It realised that it could control the routes if we had the contract to convey the children to and from school.
2.   Once we had that control, having our own buses would enable the principal to use them for school trips, sporting activities and any other activities which the district thought otherwise appropriate.
3.   One of the most unfair policies of the Education Board was what is known as the “Parent paid extensions”, which simply means that on each route the bus is only paid to go to within 1.6km of the last child on the run. In the past some parents have paid the Education Board up to $1800 per year to get the bus to the last house. With our own bus service we did away with all this discrimination and shared the cost in picking up the children of these unfortunate families in the district.
4.   Because the Waiwhare Bus Co. is owned by its members, who are mainly locals of this district, they have a valid say in their services. This lends to much better efficiency and cost savings for everyone.
5.   We are employers of local labour who know our residents and care for the children. If we had an outsider controlling our pickup points there was a possibility that children would be left behind if he/she was late for the bus.
Since the bus service has been up and running the two buses have been doing about 42000km per year between them. Approximately 7000km of this has been in the extensions, school trips and sporting activities. We have so far managed to keep within our budget on our tendered prices to cover all this extra running and have not had to make any extra charges on the public/
If any resident would like to know more about the bus service or would like to be a member of the society, you are welcome to contact any of the committee below:
Graham Lawrence 2-876-1006   Tony Ward 889
Ian Paton 850   Mike Barnett 445
Graeme Fountaine 448   John McRae 883
Next Issue – Waiwhare Bus Co. Incorporated – what is it?

The Hawkes Bay Polytechnic has asked us to inform people of the Summer School 22 programme. Courses in Student Creative Drama take place from Jan 16-23. Children from 9-14 years can attend 3 hour workshops and teenagers from 14-18 years a 6 hour one. The Ballet and Dance School is held from January 12-23. Hostel accommodation is available. Enrolments must be in by November 17th. More information and enrolment form available from school.

SOCIAL CRICKET
The wicket has been fenced off! The grass is looking good! Preparations are being made! We are about to embark on our usual summer craze of trying to project a little hard red object through the window of the school principal’s house, with a piece of wood cut from the trunk of a willow tree.
I’m trying to get away without having a meeting this year (only about four jokers turned up last year) but I’ve been holding quiet conversations with you when I bump into you about the coming season.
Our first game has been arranged. It is against Okawa, being held at our sports field on Sunday 10th November beginning at 11am. I’ll ring around nearer the time to arrange a team and I will also be contacting those people who arranged games last year against Mangatahi, The ‘Geese’ and Sherwood/ onga to see if they would be prepared to arrange these games again this year.
We have been approached by a new team – Kereru, who would like a game sometime in February and I’ll see if we can arrange something with Dave Price’s area this year. Apart from that, games against the same teams we played last year will be arranged again this year, hopefully at about three weekly intervals but the period from just before Christmas and through January with no games at all.
After discussion with a few of the guys, it would seem you are still quite happy to pay a sub of $10.00 for the year to help us replace our worn gear (you should see what Ping did to one of the boxes!) so we’ll stick to that same system. Any worries or queries, please give me a call. Oh, nearly forgot – the practise net. It’s there, available, but will need a couple of guys to place it in the right position and prop up the side nets.
I hope you enjoy the coming summers entertainment
Tony Simons.

DOG TRAINING
The local dog training classes will recommence on SATURDAY 7TH  DECEMBER at 10.30 am. at   the Sherenden Hall. Last terms class found these lessons very helpful and their dogs improved greatly with them. If your dog needs some bad habits sorted out or just some basic obedience, come along and join in for some abuse from the instructor. Any enquiries – phone Anne Herries 8743 893.

COMMUNITY CHURCH
The next community church service will be held on Sunday 24th November at the Sherenden Hall at 11am. Morning tea will be available at 10.30am. which is a nice way to start the morning together. Rev. David Dell will be attending this service, so bring the children along for some enjoyable singing. A Sunday School is also organised, so it will be a bit more enjoyable for all.

Dear Members of the Community,
Thank you very much for all the fat ewes and dead wool that you donated to us. The fat ewes gave us $596 for our camp to Rotorua and the deal wool hasn’t been taken in yet, but we hope that gets good money too. Thank you again for all your help.
Suzanne Ward, Pupil, Room 3, Waiwhare School.

Congratulations to Jan Herron for winning and Jeanette Weir for becoming runner up of the Intermediate Championships at Crownthorpe Golf Club. Jeanette is on a 20 handicap and Jan managed to get her handicap to slide from 23 to 17 this season. Well done!

Jean Redman, our archery expert entered two competitions in England this winter (summer over there). The first being the ‘Kent and Open Championship’ in which she won the ladies compound section.
Jean teamed up with Josie Flanagan (Ann Prescott’s mother) and together they won the teams event. Jean also won the trophy for highest overall score in this competition and received three medals.
As a result of these achievements [achievements], the Hawkes Bay Sports Foundation nominated Jean and Josie ‘Sports team of the month’ for August.
The second competition was a two day event – the ‘British Championships’, with a total of 208 men and women competing. Even though Jean had trouble with her bow on the first day, she managed a 7th placing in the ladies event and was very pleased with her efforts. A big congratulations, Jean!!!

FIRE!  FIRE!
Was it because Christine Goulding wasn’t merely content with singeing everyone’s fingers with the docking iron, or was it because John always said that the haybarn was in the wrong place?
Whatever the reason, we were all sorry to hear of the haybarn fire at the Goulding’s place earlier this month as it could happen to any of us. The real reason, we’re told, was damp hay that eventually ignited. Racing to the scene were two fire engines from town, the two forestry fire trucks and the Sherenden fire unit also put in an appearance. Unfortunately nothing was saved as the only thing you can do with hay fires is to let them burn themselves out.

WAIWHARE WALLY OF THE WEEK
This time it is hard deciding who deserves this much sought-after title. We thought at first that it should go to the previous winner who, on reading the article in last month’s issue, remarked that “someone else had the same problem”, but we didn’t want to pick on the poor guy again, so it is now a toss-up between the two neighbours.
The one who, after a late, hard night came home to load sheep – he arrived at the same time as the truck, sailed past his neighbour who was trying to tell him the sheep were already in the shed, got on his four-wheeler, opened the gate, rode right down the end of his paddock looking for his sheep (witnessed) and finally realised the paddock was empty. Back he went, neighbour eventually caught up with him, explained that he had got them in, so the first Wally got a ride with his neighbour down to the shed, where the sheep were promptly loaded.
Neighbour and family were shearing at the time. Finally it was smoko time but neighbour’s wife had forgotten the jug cord so neighbour races out the door to go home and get it. Seconds later he is back in the shed looking rather perplexed. Did he bring the 4-wheeler down this morning or not? Of course he did – he had to muster the sheep, didn’t he? Off he walked, looking for his wheels, eventually finding them at Wally’s gate.
Finally realisation dawned – our Wally, still in a befuddled state, had walked out of the woolshed, got onto his neighbour’s 4-wheeler, driven home and gone to bed. A fine way to show gratitude!
Now, as I said before, it is a toss-up between the two neighbours as to who is this week’s Wally. For quite a while there was no doubt about it – until the neighbour went visiting and didn’t realise the gate that was always open had been shut. The strainer post didn’t suffer but the vehicle did. So did the Wally.

GARDEN SAFARI   Saturday 9th November   Visit five beautiful gardens in the Otamauri and Crownthorpe area. Tickets available from Fernhill Store & Matapiro Station.
Adults $5.00   children free

GARDEN OPEN   Doug and Robin Nowell-Usticke’s garden will be open from Labour weekend until December 21st. Please ring before coming – preferably the day before.
8742 863

SQUASH
The club champs are over for another squash season and congratulations go to our new club champs Mark Harris, and maybe not so new, Pam Gunson. All the finals games were excellent showing a great standard of play and sportsmanship (apart from the odd bruise or two).
We now look forward to our A.G.M. and prizegiving at the Squash Club on Sunday November 3rd. starting with Presidents vs. Club Captains Squash competition, volleyball, golf, pool and darts. Barbeque (the yearly drought breaker) in the usual format of bring your own meat, salad, dessert to share. We look forward to seeing you at yet another convivial day.
Jill Simons

Oh dear, what can the matter be, I’ve locked my keys in the car, you see. So have I!
Oh what a great pair we’d be.
Can you all guess who we are?

HAWKES BAY BALLET & DANCE INC.
INVITE YOU TO ATTEND
COMBINED DANCE FESTIVAL 1991
NAPIER MUNICIPAL THEATRE
SATURDAY, 9 NOVEMBER AT 2 P.M.
SUNDAY, 10 NOVEMBER AT 6 P.M.
FEATURING
SPECIAL GUEST ARTIST
STUDENTS FROM NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL OF DANCE
KARAMU HIGH SCHOOL
SUZUKI MUSIC GROUP
AND 10 DANCE STUDIOS
FROM NAPIER, TARADALE AND HASTINGS
TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM 1ST NOVEMBER
AT
DUCKWORTHS, EMERSON ST. NAPIER
BALLET SCENE, HERETAUNGA ST. HASTINGS
PRICES: ADULTS $8.00
CHILDREN $4.00
SENIOR CITIZENS $4.00
FAMILY TICKET (2 ADULTS, 3 CHILDREN) $22.00
(All Prices include GST)
DOOR SALES
Local girls Suzanne Ward and Tina Clarke will be performing in this Dance Festival.

CRAFT GROUP
Nineteen people turned up to our Hardanger workshop. It was quite a success and everyone enthusiastic to more of this. Amazing how simple it is when you know how.
Karen Tough recently ventured up this way again, to teach us all how to make brooch cushions – very simple but extremely effective.
Plans are under way at present to run a ‘Christmas Wreaths’ workshop. Craft Group contacts are Jill 8742 825 or Carol 8742 710.
WATCH OUT FOR OUR DISPLAY AT THE FLOWER SHOW

SCHOOL NEWS
It is with great sadness that I tell you that our school will be downgraded from GII status to GI next year. This means that we will be losing one teaching position. This has come as a surprise to us. The Government, because of Budget cuts, has decided to change the rules which determine levels of staffing for schools. What this means is that we are to lose a teacher some time in 1992.
THE NEW RULE – In the past the number of children needed to retain a three teacher school was 50. A roll number was taken on July 1st and this determined the grading on the school and staffing levels for the next year. On July 1st our roll was 53 (five year old children count as 1¼. This year the government will use a predicted roll number which is set on July 1st next year (1992). Our predicted roll on that day will be 47, below the 50 children needed to retain a third teacher.
The government, in its generosity, will look at the roll again on March 1st, 1992. To stay 3 teacher we will need 51 children on that day. At present predicted rolls indicate we will have 48.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW – According to employment contracts and awards, we will need to advertise the teaching position internally and the two scale A teachers will be invited to apply for the position. The B.O.T. will have to appoint a teacher (something they are reluctant to do and fair enough, too).  The teacher who misses out then becomes a supernumerary. She may remain at this school or any other school of her choice for one year or until she finds another position. If, by the end of the year, she has not found another job she becomes unemployed.
During this time the B.O.T. are compelled to help that teacher find another position by paying for teacher development courses and helping him/her attend job interviews.
THE BOARD’S FEELING – Naturally the B.O.T. are angry about the government’s action and they are also very upset over having to go through the process of losing a teacher. Both teachers involved have given the school excellent service over the years and they are also part of our community. The Board members, part of the community too, are reluctant to decide the future of other community members. At present the Board is seeking professional advice on this matter. We hope this advice will be helpful.

Pet Day
The school’s Pet Day, held on October 11th, was most enjoyable. I was really amazed at the large numbers of pets that arrived. It was also pleasing to see the effort that some pupils went to in bringing many unusual specimens along. There were chooks and goats, lambs and centipedes, worms and canaries, goldfish – you name it, it was there. Thank goodness Christine Goulding decided to leave her pet camel at home. The children really got into the atmosphere of the day and it was great having Stuart Weir judge the animals for us. The large turnout of parents was most encouraging.

Cross-Country
A great sigh of relief went out from most of the pupils as the schools’ cross-country programme has finally come to an end. The final meeting was held at Pukehamoamoa on October 17th. The kids did really well too and it was neat seeing many children achieve excellent results after training so hard. It was especially pleasing to see pupils who are not so well inclined to running finish the rather demanding course set, particularly on such a hot day. All the pupils who ran did really well. Well done, kids!
Did I say cross-country was over? Not quite! The form one and two pupils have indicated that they would like to run in the intermediate section of the police teams’ cross-country race, which will be held at Park Island. Tamatea on October 31st. Good luck!

SPRING CLEANING
Girls available for those tiresome jobs!
Get in before the Fly Man comes.
We also do gardening, lawns, windows, outside walls, etc. Call us now! Julie 8743 821

WANTED
An old sturdy tea trolley.
Also one full length mirror.
For Playcentre.
Phone Leonie 8742 804.

FOR SALE
Aluminium ranch slider door. Bronze. Excellent condition.
8742 818.

FOUND
One metallic grey, plastic hub cap. River Road, last month.
Contact 8742 407

FOR SALE: TWO TOY FOXY BITCH PUPS.
Really gorgeous.
$75.00
Christine Goulding 8742 871

FOR SALE: Two brindle/white pure bred
STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIERS
One bitch, one dog.
$200.00
Six weeks old.
Phone Anne 876 2123

FREE TO GOOD HOME
One female tabby kitten.
Available mid December.
A lovely Xmas present. ph. 8742 850

FREE TO GOOD HOMES
KITTENS. Available December.
Two black & white,
Two tabby and one ginger.
Christine Goulding 8742 871

WANTED
Old musical instruments in good order.
For Playcentre.
Phone Leonie 8742 804

FOR SALE
5½ metres curtain fabric suitable for boys room.
‘Tiger Moths against blue background.
$10.00 Phone Linda Ward
8742 419

ACE
ERADICATORS
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 8TH
Ace Eradicators will be in the district to spray homes for flies etc.
The price is around the same as last year.
If interested please ring Jill 825 before Friday.