Iona College students (left to right) Laura Hitchcock, Maia Ihimaera , Lucy Bowen, Leslie Bolton and Olivia Spencer get stuck into the work during the Iona Centenary celebrations. Photo/Glenn Taylor
Iona College students (left to right) Laura Hitchcock, Maia Ihimaera , Lucy Bowen, Leslie Bolton and Olivia Spencer get stuck into the work during the Iona Centenary celebrations. Photo/Glenn Taylor
Iona College's centenary celebration was boosted with the announcement of a $7 million gift to its performing arts centre.
The announcement was made on Saturday night at the centennial dinner by Iona College council chairman Angus Mabin, who told those attending the dinner the money was bequeathed to the schoolby the late Margaret Blyth, a former old girl of the school. The money will go towards the Blyth Performing Arts centre, which could be viewed by the public at the weekend.
The dinner and the viewing of the new facility was one of a number of events included in the school's 100th birthday festivities, which began on Friday afternoon and ended yesterday.
Mr Mabin was very pleased with the three-day event, saying "It was an exceptional three days, a real celebration of the school."
Proceedings began on Friday with the unveiling of a 3m sculpture by New Zealand scultpor Paul Dibble, donated to the school by the Iona Foundation. A total of 700 people attended a cocktail event on Friday night.
On Saturday, the school was open to the general public and two new buildings could be inspected - a new information centre, scheduled to open in July, and a library complete with computer suites and three new English classrooms.
Yesterday morning a chapel service was attended by Presbyterian Church for New Zealand moderator reverend Ray Coster. "Hundreds of people" attended, said Mabin. A centennial cake was cut after the service.
Iona College is the only school out of the three major Havelock North private schools to have started there originally. In 100 years, Iona College has survived two world wars, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake and the Great Depression to thrive as an integrated boarding and day school for girls with a roll of 250.
