WHAKATANE COMMUNITY CENTRE SHOULD BENEFIT FROM EXPERIENCE OF ESTABLISHED FEILDING SCHEME

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 19, 7 August 1950, Page 5

WHAKATANE COMMUNITY CENTRE SHOULD BENEFIT FROM EXPERIENCE OF ESTABLISHED FEILDING SCHEME

Community centres do not always follow the same pattern. They can be made different „to suit different localities and their very bases can be different. For instance Feilding, perhaps one of the best known in New Zealand, had the building provided by the Government -and the salaries of the director and his assistant are paid by |he Government. In Dargaville the centre has been established without any Government assistance whatever. Government Assistance At Feilding the inspiration evidently came from Mr L. J. Wild, Principal of the Feilding High School. This gentleman in addition

to being a gifted teacher is obviously a very public-spirited citizen. He it was who first secured the cooperation of his own Board of Managers and in turn the Government, which financed the scheme, at least in part. The sponsors of the centre were fortunate also in securing both a Carnegie Art and a Carnegie .Music set, both very valuable pieces of equipment. Perhaps their most fortunate acquisition was to secure the services of Mr and Mrs H. C. 33. Somerset, a combination which

has made history in the world .of education and civics. " f The Feilding buildings are not ■ lavish. They consist of an old school and a shed at the rear. The top storey of the school was shaken off by the Napier earthquake and it appears that it was for that reason it was not again used as a school but was reconstructed in one storey for a community centre. The shed at the back has been converted into a fully equipped little theatre. The students of the drama and decorative .art classes did most of the' work, The Feilding Community centre does not forget the country people,

particularly the country mothers. On Tuesdays and Fridays they have a nursing class and play centre for children 2 to 5 years. The children learn to play in the company of ' other children, to adjust themselves to new surroundings and to get along with a new grown-up. ’ The first effort of “leaving mother” as a great adventure and the children go back home with a feeling of added security and content. Modern play material is provided and the children are supervised by trained assistants and by senior pupils from the Feilding Agricultural High

School. ' Film Evenings The family films are favourites with young people. They deal with science, industry, world affairs, travel etc. The projector gives full size pictures of excellent quality, many in technicolour. The Family File: Club encourages parents and children to attend together, so that they may have a common topic of conversation. For a season of 18 showings the charge is 10/- for a full family ticket. These screenings from 7.30 'p.m. to 8.30 p.m. Friday evenings satisfy the craving that many young children have for pictures. During a week the centre is used by the following organisations and groups: Keep fit classes for women, Community Centre Cultural Club Choral Club, Nursery Play Centre Council, Child Study Group, Drama Clubs. (The Centre has about 17 productions per year), British Music Society, Young Farmers’ Club, Open Forum on Current Affairs, Home Decoration Course, Food and Health Group; Appreciation of Art, Gardening Circle, New Education Fellowship, Rotary Club, Women’s Institute Groups, Patriotic Committees, Women’s Section R.S.A., Family Film Club, Harriers Club, Lessons in Contract Bridge, Home Decoration, Marriage Planning, Physiology arid Hygiene for Women. It is estimated that over 1000 people use the centre each week. A recent visitor to the Feilding centre writes: “I came away from Feilding feeling that this was a good place to live in and that the centre had done much to make it so.”

(The following report on Community Centre was prepared by the Whakatane Citizens’ Assn). IShould we have a War Memorial and if we do what form should it take? Are we to have a statue in marble or a memorial gate somewhere? Were the citizens of Whakatane wise in their decision when, in 1946, they decided that the War Memorial should take the form of a Community Centre?