FEILDING

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 102, 31 March 1936, Page 4

FEILDING

CHELTENHAM SCHOOL. JUBILEE SERVICE. A feature of the programme of the Cheltenham School’s Jubilee on Saturday ’.yas the procession headed by the Feilding Pipe Band. The procession was actually arranged by the pupils of the school who set up their own committee to deal with the matter. Raynor Shannon was chairman and Jean Anderson the secretary. Prizes were given and were won by the following: —Decorated cycle, Irene Moss; decorated perambulator, Audrey Lawson; decorated pony, Doris Viles; fancy dress, Avis I ft; land. The jubilee commemoration service on Sunday was well attended, about 200 being present. The service was conducted by Rev. J. H. Allen, Rev. L. A. Barnes and Rev. J. F. Mayo (who delivered the address). The texts were taken from Leviticus, ch. 25, verse 11.

The texts, said Mr Mayo, had a connection with the jubilee. Firstly, that day was a time of rejoicing and also of thanksgiving. Fifty years seemed a long time to the young, but did not seem so long to the old. Fifty years was a long period in the history of a country such as New Zealand, but in England the school which the speaker attended had a history of over a 1000 years. In fact, documents in this school refer to the time of Edward the Confessor a.nd the ischool was in existence before then. Jubilee was a

yord strictly sneaking, that had nothing to do with jubilation—it was a i-.jKh' orct meaning a blast of the trumpet. The 25th chapter of Leviticus explained the origin of jubilee customs. People were enjoined to keep the seventh day holy. In the seventh year the land was to lie fallow; slaves had to be set free and debts cancelled. In the jubilee year —SO years —all land had to be returned to the original owners. These laws were a

type of Christ Who was to come to set the captive free and to deliver from guilt and to conquer the last enemy, death. The trumpet was sounded to herald the commencement of a jubilee year; so the trumpet of the Lord would sound at this last day “when the dead in Christ shall rise.” “At this time,” said the speaker, “ we think of the changes that 50 years have brought in our own family circles, in our friends, in our community, and in our country- When we think of these things we can quote the words of the text, ‘I pour out my soul .... in joy and ptaise.’ It is a service of thanksgiving and also one of asking for continued blessing and benefits.”

Mr Mayo expressed disappointment at the absence of general religious instruction in schools, but said that in spite of this God had blessed the s<Jiool in many He had blessed them in the matter of the teachers who had served the school, in the school committee, especially in the calibre of the chairmen who had done so much for the school in so many ways, and of the progress the school had made. It had been blessed because the great majority of the pupils had made good in life. Many had received no other schooling except that at Cheltenham. The roll of honour in the school contained 48 names, and of these, 13 had made the great sacrifice, surely a percentage for the school to be proud I °f‘‘We to-day could pray that in the future scholars from the old school will make good in various spheres of life—scholarship, literature, public service, commercial or fanning life. Let us look into the future and hope that the j good name achieved by the school will ' be upheld; that God will bless the school, the teachers, the Education Board, and the department; that He ! will make the present and future pupils : worthy of their privileges; that they I may leave the record of a good name j and a good examole behind them,” concluded the speaker. i

FARMERS’ UNION. ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of the Feilding branch of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union will be held at the secretary’s office, Feilding, on Friday afternoon at 1.30 o’clock. Members are urged to attend this meeting. NOTES. Dr Elizabeth Gunn, schools medical officer, is at present paying a visit to the Feilding schools and is examining the Lytton Street children this week. PERSONAL. Following a three months’ holiday in Melbourne and Sydney, Miss Joan Pearson has returned to her home in Denbigh Street, Feilding.