A photo of children at Poroutawhao School in Horowhenua from 1924, the year it opened.
A photo of children at Poroutawhao School in Horowhenua from 1924, the year it opened.
An old black-and-white school photograph has brought memories flooding back for former Poroutawhao School pupil Jean Parkin ahead of the school’s centenary celebrations this month.
“See if you can pick which one is me,” she said.
Scanning the 61 tiny faces for a match isn’t easy. After a short while Parkin, now aged 97, comes clean. She’s the girl in the second row, fourth from the left.
“The one with the big fur jacket,” she said. Her twin sister Rene and brother Peter Arcus are also in the 1932 photograph. Interestingly, she and her sister shared different birthdays as they arrived on either side of midnight.
The Horowhenua school officially opened in March 1924 with 11 children, so by the time Parkin and her sister began attending a few years later the roll had grown quickly.
Parkin has fond memories of her time at the school and her memory is still sharp.
“I can name most of them in there,” she said. And that’s the way it was with country schools. You could spend your entire early school life in the same class with the same children, many of whom were from families who had generations attend the same school.
Jean Parkin is pictured in the second row, fourth from the left, in a fur-trimmed coat.
And that was the way it was at Poroutawhao, whose catchment took in children of the nearby Ngati Huia Māori community, surrounding farming families, and from Waitarere Beach village settlement.
“Everybody knew everybody. Everybody worked together,” she said.
“The community spirit is alive and still there and the school is in the middle of it. You can feel it.” She remembers her father and a group of volunteers building the school hall, hand-planing the wooden floors.
Former pupil Jean Parkin, 97, and her husband Bob will attend the Poroutawhao School Centennial this King's Birthday weekend.
Parkin was one of seven brothers and sisters. Peter was the oldest. They would all walk to school from their farm that neighboured the Manawatū River to the north. There was a school bus, but it only picked up children who were more than 1km away from the school.
Her house was just under 1km away, but what wasn’t factored into the equation was the long hike to the front gate. But it made sure everybody kept fit.
“We used to run everywhere,” she said.
There were days when she would ride to school on her horse, Chrissy, who was born on Christmas Day. Chrissy was a bit of a handful and they often made it back home from school in short time, cantering along a road that is now State Highway 1.
All the horses would spend the day together in the same paddock next to the school. Farming blocks were smaller in those days and many pupils rode horses.
There were just two classrooms in those early days when Parkin started at the school. The infants’ classroom had a chip heater with a pot of soup on the top. The other classroom was in the shed with a tarpaulin across the front door. If you were cold, you ran around to get warm.
As the roll continued to grow, more classrooms arrived.
Fast forward many decades and Parkin will be attending the reunion this month with her husband of nearly 73 years, Bob, representing a chance to take a trip down memory lane and share these stories and more.
The Parkins were married in 1951 and had their wedding reception at the Poroutawhao School Hall, where most 21st birthdays and wedding receptions were also held.
A Poroutawhao School Centennial Association of ex-teachers, pupils and parents has been formed and is working to organise and promote the event, extending an invitation to anyone associated with the school, past and present, to attend celebrations starting May 31.
The planning group had personally visited the Parkins to make sure they knew of the planned celebration and were coming along.
Jean Parkin is expected to have the honour of cutting the centennial cake along with the school’s youngest pupil, as is custom. The same thing happened at the school’s 75th Jubilee in 1999, where the late Colyn Rolston and then junior pupil Leigh Hirini shared the honour.
The Poroutawhao School Centennial will be held at the school from Friday, May 31, to Sunday, June 2. Festivities include an opening ceremony, evening social, open day, district bus tour, dine and dance and closing ceremony.
Anyone wanting to register can visit the school website, email poroutawhao100@gmail.com or phone Neil Hirini on 027 361 2049.
