Judy said it was strange to have a reunion without a physical school to go back to.
“Even driving past that site is frightening because there’s a new building going up now for the Mātai medical facility. But before that, it just looked abandoned — like we had all just walked off and the grass grew about a metre high.”
They started school in 1957 and left in 1969 with many of the group having already celebrated, or about to celebrate 70 times around the sun.
“We feel we are quite unique to have been at school together for all those years and to have stayed in touch with each other over the decades,” says Judy.
“This was when St Mary’s was a girls-only school from the age of 5 - 17 and Campion College was a boys-only school.”
Another old girl Louise Milne said the music at St Mary’s was the greatest part of her education.
“We sang, we performed and we sat exams.
“Some of us learned the piano and the instruction or teaching was very good.”
“The style of schooling was very different then and many of the nuns were not trained teachers.
“It could be a very harsh environment and if you didn’t learn to read and write easily, your time at school would’ve been very challenging.
“Some staff were cruel, while others were the most wonderful women, from whom I think we learned to be strong, independent and quite feisty.”
When Judy started at St Mary’s School, it was on Childers Road by the old convent which is now operating as the Flying Nun Backpackers Hotel.
“We have no school to visit as the old St Mary’s site is no longer.”
One block of classrooms was moved from the old St Mary’s site to Campion College and is positioned close to the river and used as a music room.
It was the only part of the old school they recognised, although the Campion College library has the old St Mary’s crest and a few other pieces of memorabilia on the walls.
The group brought their own memorabilia to the reunion, and have produced a book of photos from all the years at school and all of the smaller reunions they have held since leaving in 1969.
Class photos were traditionally taken outside the old convent.
“That was where the nuns lived. We never went in there unless we were going to the chapel,” says Judy.
“There was a small chapel there and sometimes we went for singing and some of the nuns taught piano.”
In 1957 everybody started school at St Mary’s at the age of five with boys and girls together.
Then at Standard 2 or Year 4, the boys moved to Campion College on Campion Road.
Campion College was a boys-only school until 1974 when the girls who were at secondary school at St Mary’s moved up to Campion.
“But in all our time at St Mary’s we went right through from new entrants to when we left school at 17,” says Judy.
“I think that was the reason we’ve all been so close over the decades, because we started school and finished together — 13 years later.”
The reunion celebration took place over two days last week (Tuesday and Wednesday) beginning with a visit to Campion College where they were welcomed by principal Paul McGuinness and had a tour of the college.
They then crossed the road to St Mary’s School which has a little bit of memorabilia from the original school buildings.
“They found the cross from the 1926 building and gave it to St Mary’s. There is also an old gate and the bell,” Judy says.
“There were a few girls who never got to ring the bell at school — so some of them decided to give it a try.
“It was very entertaining with about 10 of us ringing the bell vigorously while the children ate their lunch.”
“There’s still memorabilia there — different bits and pieces around both Campion College and St Mary’s School. That was nice because we felt we had no school, but now we have an affinity with the two new ones.”
As one of the old girls who still lives in Gisborne, Judy would often help organise small reunions whenever old girls came home for Christmas or to see family.
“We’d just have small reunions of between seven to 15 of us just every now and again, if somebody was back in town.”
Louise was part of the reunion organising committee and said it was about the friendship and a sincere desire to meet up again with everyone, not to compare life success stories.
The reunion was arranged by an informal committee using Zoom meetings and via a social media Messenger group.
“The events were just right,” says Louise.
A few of the former students had attended maths classes at Campion College.
“It provoked a lot of memories as we compared our experiences with what the students have available today.
“There was certainly a lot of laughter and shared memories, and maybe one or two stories told that were not strictly accurate.
“A total of 31 girls attended over the two-and-a-half days — this was quite remarkable.”
Dr Louise Milne: Senior lecturer, Division of Education, at University of Waikato
“The 1950s/60s were very different times and it’s interesting to reflect on the values people had, maybe the prejudices and the beliefs they had of the world particularly within Catholic education.
“People with mostly limited personal experiences and living within a strict environment, but with a great commitment to the faith were the same people educating the children. There were naturally advantages and disadvantages in this.”
