Stalwarts return to school for centenary

Pakaraka School marked its 100th anniversary on Saturday with a reunion of past pupils - with one who first enrolled at the country school in the 1920s - and the opening of a new playground.

The school, which has about 70 pupils, is at the junction of State Highways 1 and 10 northwest of Kawakawa. It was built in 1911 on land donated by the Vesey family.

Three generations of Veseys turned out for the celebrations, from 84-year-old Kelly Vesey of Whangarei to 4-year-old Luke Vesey of Pakaraka. Another descendant, Jeff Vesey, came from Christchurch.

The school's current crop of children opened the celebrations with waiata and kapa haka; after speeches, photos, cake-cutting and lunch at the Pakaraka Hall, festivities wound up with dinner at the Copthorne in Waitangi.

Two of the oldest ex-pupils, Frank Taylor of Taupo (who started school in 1927) and May Saunders of Kamo (1930), were given the honour of opening the new $65,000 playground. Half the money came from community and lottery grants, with the rest from fundraising.

Principal Vee Singh praised the Board of Trustees whose total of 297 hours of sausage sizzling had kept the costs of the reunion down for attendees.

He also paid tribute to the women of the Mid North, "the visionaries and the backbone of our society". It was thanks to mothers and grandmothers that the children of Pakaraka School turned up each day with smiling faces, lunches and carefully packed bags.