HEATHCOTE VALLEY SCHOOL CENTENNIAL NEXT YEAR

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28895, 15 May 1959, Page 8

HEATHCOTE VALLEY SCHOOL CENTENNIAL NEXT YEAR

Tentative arrangements for the Heathcote Valley School centennial celebrations in August, 1960. were made at the second annual meeting of the school’s committee. The member of Parliament for Lyttelton (Mr N. E. Kirk) attended.

Celebrations will begin on Wednesday, August 24, when a sports day for the school children will be held; followed on the Thursday by a children’s party and in the evening a young people’s dance.

The main celebration will take place on the Friday evening with a ball for all old pupils and others connected with the school. It will be held in a building which will be lent by a local malting company because of the lack of any alternative suitable building in the valley. Roll calls of old and new pupils will be made on the Saturday afternoon and photographs will be taken. In the evening there will be a celebration dinner and social gathering. After a church service in the school on the Sunday, August 28, a wreath will be laid on the local war memorial to the memory of former pupils who lost their lives overseas. This will be the concluding ceremony. Classes were first held at Heathcote in a hut lent by a Captain Morgan to help educate the numerous children of the men

working on the Lyttelton tunnel at that time. By 1864 this had to be replaced to cope with the increasing numbers in the district and a wooden classroom was opened but was not completed for some time. The first chairman of the school committee was the engineer in charge of the tunnel construction, Mr G. Holmes. When in 1867 the tunnel was opened, the school roll, which had been standing at about 60 dropped as the men began to leave the district for new employment. The roll gradually increased in later years. By Christmas. 1873, the building had been completed with accommodation for a school master, who at that time was Mr A. C. Newton. It was 1911 before any further additions were made to ■ the school. Then a brick portion I was added. In 1958 a prefabricated building was added tothe school's facilities for its 171 pupils. There is now a staff of five. Before government subsidised education, early settlers in the district paid for education by private subscription or paid “weekly pence.” Benevolent subscriptions also helped to swell school funds. The school is anxious to hear from any former pupils interested in attending the centenary celebrations. So far 250 invitations have been sent out.