WEEK OF FESTIVITIES IN RANGIORA

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28457, 11 December 1957, Page 11

WEEK OF FESTIVITIES IN RANGIORA

A full and varied programme of entertainment has been arranged for the annual Festivity Week celebrations in Rangiora and the organisers are confident that their efforts will be equal to those of previous years.

The week’s entertainment will open on Friday and conclude the following Friday night with a grand fireworks display in Dudley Park.

Now almost regarded as a tradition in Rangiora Festivity Week was first held in 1932 when members of the Rangiora Borough Council and departmental heads combined with businessmen in the town to sponsor the project. This year’s celebrations have been sponsored by the Rangiora* Businessmen’s Association in conjunction with several other organisations and in the case of the athletic meeting and swimming carnival the clubs concerned will receive the profits. The town will be decorated during the period and arrangements have been made with the Rangiora Borough Council to have lighted festoons in the s’treets.

Festivity Week will officially open with a leaflet “bombing” mission over Dudley Park for the children at 6 o’clock on Friday evening, when 500 tickets for free ice cream will be dropped. The air drop was introduced for the first time last year and proved very popular. Later in the evening a lucky spot competition will be held in the main street.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force has arranged a display of some of its modern service equipment in the showroom of Sandrey Motors on the Friday evening also. The equipment will be in working order and demonstrators will be on duty to answer questions. During the week members of the Rangiora Squadron of the Air Training Corps will operate search lights from two places in the town. Father Christmas will arrive in the town during Friday afternoon and in the course of his drive he will travel along King street past the Rangiora Borough School. He will then go along High street through the shopping area to the Bank of New Zealand corner, where he will turn to retrace his steps to the middle of the town, near Percival street corner. Businessmen’s Ballet At a time when most businessmen of other towns are preparing for the Christmas shopping rush, many of those in Rangiora have been giving some of their evenings and Saturday mornings preparing for a concert, which will be presented in the Town Hall on Monday night. Last year the hall was booked out long before the concert and many requests were made for a repeat performance. Because of the busy time of the year, however, only one night was played and this will be the case this year. A ballet theme has been selected again and “Swan Lake” has been given a considerable amount of light-hearted adaptation for the concert. Athletic Meeting

The first inter-club athletic meeting to be held in Rangiora since about 1950 will take place on Tuesday evening under the flood lights in Dudley Park and athletes from as far as Ashburton will compete. Canterbury’s three Olympic representatives. Valerie Sloper, Peter Wells, and Bill Richards intend competing. Bill Richards will contest the 20mile road race from Christchurch to Rangiora, in which the long-

distance road runners will be matched against five six-man relay teams. Fashion Parade An attraction that should be popular with the women is a fashion parade in the Town Hal] on'Wednesday evening. At this function the latest styles and materials for women’s outerwear, lingerie, and swimwear will be modelled and these will be augmented by a parade of menswear. Although admission is free, because of the limited accommodation, it has been decided to issue tickets, which are obtainable from the retailers concerned in Rangiora. Swimming Carnival A comprehensive programme has been arranged for a swimming carnival at the Rangiora borough pool by the local swimming club. A feature of the carnival will be the appearance of the Kaiapoi Swimming Club’s girls’ aquacade. In addition to standard swimming races some novelty events have been planned and it is expected that some of the leading swimmers from Christchurch will compete. Fireworks Display

The main event and the one that is likely to have almost universal appeal will be the fireworks display in Dudley Park at 9.30 p.m. on the concluding Friday evening. During the year a special order for the fireworks was placed with a prominent English firm of fireworks manufacturers and a most attractive display of set and other pieces is expected. The organisers expect more than 5000 people to be present at the display and subject to the ground conditions being suitable special permission has been obtained for spectators to take their cars into the park. Although not an official part of the festivity programme, the Rangiora Trotting Club will hold its annual meeting at the Rangiora racecourse on Saturday, December 21, at the end of Festivity Week.