For the jubilee, the original Pongakawa School minute book dated 1891, the very first school cash book and enrolment books dating back to the school's opening in 1892 were restored.
''Three of us, me, Ngaire Rowe and Fran Patete, also gathered a lot of memorabilia,'' says trustee Joanne Black, who had started the book restoration process when she was the school's board of trustees chairwoman.
''We spent quite a bit of money getting them restored and we got quite a bit of stuff together and [at the jubilee] the whole hall was full of displays of this stuff. We set up an old schoolroom on the stage and it looked pretty good and we were pretty pleased with it.''
Once the event was over, thoughts turned to what to do with everything that had been collected.
''The school really hasn't got room to store all that stuff so some of it is in containers and other things are dotted around, so we started to talk - wouldn't it be great to have a dedicated building.''
There was no suitable existing building, so the trust started looking for one.
''We had some meetings and then ran out of steam for a little while. Then Fran happened to hear that this one was being demolished on Lower Maniatutu Rd by the Wilkins family.
It was offered to us and so suddenly it was happening.''
The trust has decided that getting the building to the school is the first stage of the process.
''At least we can take a breath now and consider what's required and where we can get the money from. Obviously it's going to be a long project and cost quite a bit of money.
We got pledges of donations to cover getting it from there to here and getting it watertight.''
The next step is to decide on a permanent place for the building - preferably somewhere it can be seen from Old Coach Rd.
Exactly what the building will look like when the project is completed is still up in the air, but it will be a place people can learn about and experience the history of the school and the area.
''People will be able to come in and see some of these old things we've got instead of them being packed away until the next jubilee in 25 years,'' says Joanne. ''It means they will be properly looked after as well.''
The project may also expand into recording the histories of the families in the Pongakawa area.
• Mends House has been gifted to the Pongakawa Heritage Charitable Trust.
• The cottage is largely in its original condition.
• It was built by successful flax miller George (Bonny) Mends, who was the co-owner of a flax mill on Wharere Rd. The mill was destroyed by fires that, in 1908, swept through the Pongakawa swamp.
• Later the house was used as a farm cottage.
