Emotional reunions at Ngamatea

THEN AND NOW: Oldest of the old boys, Barry Greaves, cuts the birthday cake with current student Taylor Richards.NGAMATEA-REUNION4

Ngamatea School's 100th birthday celebrations saw some emotional reunions for old school friends.

Organiser Ginnie Kinder - herself a former pupil of Ngamatea - said about 100 people attended the gathering on Saturday afternoon at the remote country school east of Waiouru.

The reunion included speeches, afternoon tea, cake cutting, digging up a time capsule, and lots of catching up among former classmates.

Ms Kinder said the oldest former pupils at the reunion were in their 90s and had attended the school in the 1930s.

"They're actually two cousins - one still lives at Ngamatea, the other lives at Napier. They both thought each other was dead, so that was a lovely surprise for them."

There was also a delightful reunion for two former classmates, Sue Balcomb and Jack Kennedy, who had not seen each other since they left the school as youngsters in 1964. "There was a lot of talking and telling stories," Ms Kinder said.

The school currently has eight pupils but has had as many as 32, which was quite a stretch for its single-room.

People came from as far away as Auckland for the centenary.

Ms Kinder said there was a small glitch when no one could remember the exact location of the time capsule, which was put down in 1985. "We knew it was in the school grounds in front of the school building but we couldn't remember where, so that amused everyone for a while."

When the time capsule was eventually found it included letters from pupils at the time - and even a copy of the Wanganui Chronicle from 1985.