Remembering their time at Maharahara West School, Clive Boyden at the school from 1954 to 1957 and Noel Galloway, 1947-1953. Photo / Christine McKay
Cat Stevens hit, (Remember the days of the) Old School Yard, could well be the theme song for former pupils of the Maharahara West School as they look towards their reunion this month.
Two old schoolmates, Clive Boyden and Noel Galloway, are hoping they'll be joined by about 100 other pupils of the school which closed in December 1985.
"It'll be a great chance for a chinwag with some people I haven't seen since for a long time," Mr Galloway told the Dannevirke News.
Mr Galloway was a pupil from 1947 until 1953, while Mr Boyden moved to the school from Ormondville in 1954 and remained there until 1957.
THE CLASS OF 1953: Maharahara West pupils Ian Brunton (back left), John Gayford, Graham Bradley, Noel Galloway, Gordon Bradley, George Johnson, Rex Tobeck, Malcolm Brunton and Ian Galloway; Ivy Bradley (middle left), Celia Bradley, Edith Johnson, Marion Tobeck, Pam MacKay, Margaret Brunton, June Tobeck and Lynette Tobeck; Ted Tobeck (front left), Linda Bradley, Fay Tobeck, Jacqueline Fowler, Margaret Gayford and Maurice Wardle. Photo / Supplied
He still lives in the family home across the road from the site of the old school.
The Maharahara West School opened on January 26, 1892, with 23 scholars, a plaque in the school grounds states.
It closed 93 years later on December 13, 1985, with just nine pupils.
A Miss Caughley was the first teacher and on March 8 the school received its first item of equipment from the education board - an abacus - the remnants of which were still in the school when it closed.
"There was a real sense of family at the school," Mr Boyden said. "Coming from the big, three-teacher Ormondville School I really noticed how everyone looked after each other here. We had an outstanding teacher in Tom Dunn, who taught here for 35 years. He came to do his country service and never left. We were so lucky to have him as our teacher. He was outstanding. He was disciplined, but yet he played rounders with us kids in the lunch breaks, too, and at the end of term he'd shout all the kids ice cream and fruit salad. Ice cream was such a treat in those days."
THE CLASS OF 1955: Maharahara West pupils, Malcolm Brunton (back left), Margaret Brunton, Peggy Boyden, Celia Bradley, Edith Johnson and John Gayford; Ian Brunton (middle left), Clive Boyden, Ivy Bradley, Margaret Gayford, Jacqueline Fowler, Ian Galloway and Des Hewitt; Stephen Hewitt (front left), Linda Bradley, Janet Galloway and Geoff Boyden.
While both men have a host of school-day memories, for Mr Galloway one enduring feature of life at Maharahara West was the notorious wind.
"We'd bike home for lunch battling the wind which blew twice as hard as it does now."
"In fact, the weather played a big part in our lives in those days and it wasn't uncommon for the approaches to the old wooden bridge to be washed out by floods. Planks from an old swing bridge up Coppermine Creek were put across. They didn't meet the approval of the Woodville Borough Council but they remained."
Old records show the school was often interrupted by adverse weather in its early days, and on August 13, 1893, a report states the school didn't open because the teacher was detained in Woodville by heavy rain. On July 9 that year the attendance was very poor because of heavy rain and flooded rivers. In the winter of 1896 the school was closed for 12 days because of the weather.
And in those early days when children were often required to help on their family farms, in 1897, school attendance was low because according to the log, "children were required at home to assist with the grass seeding".
Mr Galloway said he could also remember the last day of a school term as children were required to mop out with hot water and Jeyes fluid. Children also mowed the school lawns, with one at the front of the mower pulling on a rope, while a second child pushed.
"We also worked hard to get wood and tidy up the school grounds," Mr Galloway said.
"We cleared massive macrocarpas and when one giant lawsoniana came down, there were enough tennis balls discovered to keep the Wimbledon tournament going for a long time."
With the school the centre of community life, Mr Boyden said the district was certainly more alive while it was open.
"It was a plus going to a country school," he said. "Night-time eeling with other kids caused great excitement."
And without the restrictions imposed today, life was one big adventure, Mr Galloway said.
"We didn't miss out on anything going to a small, country school," he said. "I can remember a combined school picnic with Papatawa and the kids travelling in Wally Harding's little blue ute. A tarp was put over the sheep crate on the back and all the kids piled into the crate. You couldn't do that today."
In 1979 the school had asked for improvements to its storage facilities and a visit by Charles Bell, the general manager of the education board, resulted in some action. "We wanted a cupboard and they gave us a room," Shirley Boyden said. "We were thrilled because we then had a storage room and a gymnasium and music room."
However, when the school closed in December 1985, the buildings were quickly moved. One went to Flaxmere in Hawke's Bay and the second to Waipukurau. The old school yard remains, as does the carved sign above the old gates, carved by Peter Barrow.
The idea for a school reunion was mooted at the funeral of Mr Dunn in August last year.
"We're going to have a good time remembering our old school days," Mr Boyden said. "We hope about 100 turn up and we know people will be coming from Australia, Auckland, Masterton and the South Island."
The Maharahara West School and District reunion will be held on Sunday October 26.
Those were the days - rules for woman teachers in 1915:
• You will not marry during the terms of your contract.
• You must not keep company with men.
• You must be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am, unless attending a school function.
• You may not loiter in ice-cream stores.
• You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.
• You may not dress in bright colours.
• You must wear at least two petticoats.
Tom Dunn arrived at Maharahara West in 1950 and in January 1952 married Annette. The couple set up house in the school's back room.
The living conditions were primitive but the supervisor of works for the education board assured them improvements would be made during the Christmas holidays, before the couple took up residence.
However, Mr Dunn was later informed it was never the intention to do anything. So for 18 months the couple lived without a sink, hot water, bathroom, flush toilet or laundry. They washed their clothes in an outside copper they had purchased and bathed on the lawn near one of the windows, left open to facilitate speed of entry in case of unexpected guests. And whenever invited out they always accepted the offer of a nice, hot bath.