Tauranga Boys' College old boys Rob Leslie and Shane Cortese. Photo / Andrew Warner
Tauranga Boys' College old boys Rob Leslie and Shane Cortese. Photo / Andrew Warner
Tauranga Boys' and Girls' colleges celebrated 60 years of education with dancing, inspirational speakers and a bit of sport this long weekend.
Originally formed as Tauranga College in 1946, the two schools recognised the significant anniversary since splitting into single-sex schools in 1958.
Past and present pupils of Tauranga Girls' College reminisced in one-night only celebration night on Friday, while Tauranga Boys' College will wrap-up its celebrations today.Familiar faces returned to their old school grounds on Saturday as a little more than 20 old boys of Tauranga Boys' College reunited for a game of cricket on Nicholson Field.
Old boy Rob Leslie said the game of cricket was a chance to "tell a few stories about the days gone by, reunite one or two rivalries, but mostly having fun".
Leslie started teaching at Tauranga Boys' College in 1979 and was a coach for the first XI "right through the 80s".
He said he had played "a lot of cricket" with the college and still associates with the mates he made at school.
The thing Cortese remembers the most from his time at the college was a life lesson he now takes on to the dance floor, into auditions and the auction room.
"I was told I couldn't bat," he said. He was told to tuck in his trousers, straighten his cap and stroll out to bat with purpose.
"If you believe it, you can do it," he said.
Cortese said he is proud to have seen how far the performing arts had come at the college.
"I get to see a lot of arts around the country and this arts suite is right up there as one of the best in the country," he said.
Current principal Tara Kanji with former principals Pauline Cowens, Melba Scott and Carolyn Solomon. Photo/Supplied
Meanwhile, about 150 past and present pupils reunited in the school hall on Friday evening.
Event manager Ewan McLeod said the reunion was a "resounding success".
McLeod said the reunion was celebrated by a "diverse range" of alumni, with the youngest being 23 years old.
A photograph was taken of the students from the class of 1958. "It was good to acknowledge them," he said.
Attendees were taken on a tour of the Jubilee Rose Garden, school library and historical rooms and one of the latest additions on the school campus – the environmental classroom.
They heard from guest speakers, including lifelong feminist and Auckland's National Council of Women president Carol Beaumont.
Helen Tomson and Lyndsay Cameron cutting the celebratory cake. Photo/Supplied
A celebratory cake was cut by a student from 1957 and a foundation student from 1958.
McLeod said the principal Tara Kanji invited everyone to the dance floor when the song Dancing Queen played through the speakers.
"Everyone got up and danced, it was so impromptu and spontaneous," he said. "There were lots of laughs."
