House of memories for former students

Revisiting happy days at Lupton House are former boarding students Shirley Reid (left), Valerie Mann, Joan Burgess, Judy Berguist, Nola Cochrane, Heather Mapp and Janet Graham. Photo/Michael Cunningham

A visit to Lupton House boarding hostel was a trip down memory lane for six women who met at Whangarei Girls' High School between 1944 and 1949.

Now in their eighties, the six friends have met annually for the past 15 years earlier this month was the first time they have revisited Lupton House together since they lived there around 70 years ago.

The ''old girls'' are Judy Berguist (nee Wordsworth who had gone to the Whangarei boarding school from Te Hapua), her cousin Valerie Mann (nee Wordsworth, from Te Kopuru), Heather Mapp (nee Smith, from Donnelly's Crossing), Shirley Reid (nee Tucker, from Whangarei), Nola Cochrane (from Pakotai) and Joan Burgess (nee Chappell, from Rawene).

The guests of honour were joined at a morning tea with current boarders by another former boarder, Janet Graham, who went to the school from Okaihau in 1949, then later worked as a teacher at Whangarei Girls' and also as night matron at Lupton House.

''This is like home to me,'' she said.

The former boarders were shown around the 2017 version of the hostel on Tuesday by boarding manager Leann Smedley and Year 13 student Hannah Sterling, who is in her fifth year of living at Lupton House.

Ms Smedley said the emphasis was now on encouraging boarders to be independent, confident young women for whom Lupton House was a home away from home, whereas the Old Girls' stories reflected a stricter ethos.

Students in the common room or large lounge are still expected to have ''heads down'' and be quiet during an evening's two hours of study, although the noise levels do sometimes get quite high, Ms Smedley said.

''Never!'' the Old Girls said.

Today's students have ''luxuries'', like hot showers. In the 1940s, girls were woken at 5am on some mornings for piano practice, and every day did PE before having a cold shower, breakfast and then crossing the yard to school.

With various uniforms, they had to change their clothes several times a day, including putting on their ''tea frocks'' - black, usually with a white collar - for dinner.

Fun included midnight feasts and pillow fights. When some were caught one night pelting each other with pillows, the matron decided it was healthy exercise, but the girls had to repair any damage to the pillows.

Heather Mapp said when she arrived at Lupton House from Donnellys Crossing she was so homesick for the first few weeks she cried and cried.
''Then I cried and cried again when I left.''

The boot room where the girls cleaned their footwear is now a storeroom with some gym equipment in.

Shirley Reid remembered the time she and another boarder were hiding in there talking about a teacher when the teacher walked in and caught them.
The girls had to pick up rubbish outside the school for days.

The dormitory cubicles are now more private and the mattresses ''look twice as thick''.

In the 1940s Lupton House's dormitories were home to up to 100 girls; today there are 61 residents, with capacity for 80.

Year 13 boarders live in a flatting arrangement in the former maids' cottage.
They have a food budget, do a weekly shop, prepare most of their meals and do their own laundry.

Life at Lupton House is fun and homely. Seventy years ago, it wasn't quite so relaxed but the general consensus among the Old Girls was: ''We loved it here. It's still a wonderful place.''