Waitangi Day a special date for school

CORE: The foundation staff of Makora College - later renamed Makoura College. Back row, Juliet Turner (left), Rachel Blundell, Russell Grifford, Ann Buckley and Irene Bearsley. Front row, Jill Davidson (left), Noel Preston, Noel Scott (principal), Pat Irving, John Carter and Enid Fordyce.

Waitangi Day this year got retired Masterton school principal Noel Preston to thinking about its significance - not just for what it is as our national day but for a group of people he had a lot of dealing with many years back.

Mr Preston was the foundation deputy principal at Makora College (now Makoura College) which opened its doors for the first time on February 6, 1968.

"Makora opened its doors and held its very first assembly.

"In those days Waitangi Day wasn't a public holiday and this was just the first day of the school year.

"Unlike the sham summer we are having this year, 1968 was hotter and drier than usual so the 139 pupils - who were of course all third formers - together with 11 staff and a few board members all sweltered in the heat.

"We were all crowded into the geography room that acted as the assembly room as the college assembly hall had not been completed," Mr Preston said.

He said adding to that everyone was fairly nervous, being the first day, and staff had the extra burden of having to wear their academic gowns over formal dress. Mr Preston said what was interesting was that on Waitangi Day this year - 46 years since the college opening - was that he had run into an ex-foundation pupil "at a well known local meeting place".

"He told me he had just had his 60th birthday.

"After congratulating him on his youthful appearance I suddenly realised the majority of first-day pupils would be reaching that milestone this year and while it isn't as important as it was when 60-year-olds received national superannuation, it is still a significant milestone."

Mr Preston said he wanted, in print, to wish all foundation pupils a happy 60th birthday. He said the foundation pupils and staff rightly regarded themselves as having a special place in the school's history, as they were trailblazers. "Makoura College has had its difficult times over the years but it is very pleasing to see it on the rise once again.

"For me personally 1968 was the very best year I had in over 40 years in the teaching service."