FAIR AT COLLEGE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 51, 24 November 1941, Page 10

FAIR AT COLLEGE

Opened By Mrs. H. G. R. Mason “I always get a thrill when 1 hear a pipe band,” said Mrs. H. G. R. Mason, wife of the Minister of Education, when opening the fair held at Wellington Girls’ College on Saturday afternoon. It was the first occasion on which the Boys’ College Pipe Baud bad played at a girls’ school. Pipers and drummers made a spectacular entrance when they marched through the main hall into the assembly hall and formed a guard of honour for the official party.

The president of the parents’ association, Mr. Blake, explained that the wide variety of goods displayed for sale was the result of the efforts of the ladies’ auxiliary. Wellington Girls’ Girls’ College was “blessed” with a fine band of parents, he said. They took an active interest in assisting the college with those amenities which the board of .governors was unable to provide. They had donated £2O toward the college prizes and had made possible the installation of a radio gramophone, but their main objective was to raise funds to provide the new college wi.th an assembly hall.

Mrs. Mason expressed pleasure at being invited to declare the fair open, not only because her. husband was Minister of Education but also because of family connexions. Mrs. Mason stressed the iniportanee of raising the cultural standards of boys and girls of this generation. She had known several hundreds of young people during her 13 years’ teaching experience and she appreciated the importance of parent co-operation. Hitler’s chief weapon in this war was education, said Mrs. Mason. Every Nazi left school with militarism firmly planted in his mind. If Hitler could do that along his lines, surely we could teach boys and girls to learn the lessons of brotherhood. Parents and children learning to live together and work together provided the basis of Empire unity. Mrs. Mason was presented with a spray of pansies and roses. The official party comprised Miss E. M. North, principal of the college, Mrs. Berry, president of the ladies’ auxiliary, Mrs. Ridge, secretary of the ladies’ auxiliary, Mrs. Brown, president and Mrs. Olliver, deputy-presi-dent. of the Rongotai College Ladies’ Auxiliary. Cakes, toys, plants, produce, fresh eggs, vegetables and cut flowers, darts and lucky dips were featured at the various stalls which did brisk business throughout the afternoon. Despite intermittent showers, senior students competed in the outdoor tennis tournments. Stalls and stallholders were as follows: Cakes, Mesdames Matthews, Anderson and Roberts; sweets, Mesdames Brake. Hills and Poole; produce, Mesdames Noble, Clark, and Rose; ice-cream and drinks, Mesdames Anderson and Ball; assorted, Mesdames Rush, Norton and Yates. 'Those responsible for afternoon tea were Mesdames Sehwimmer, Hooper, Robinson, McKenzie, and Poole. A miscellaneous stall, laden with attractive goods’, including a wide array of flower posies, was convened by college prefects. The fair was followed by a tea dance from 5 to 8.