Passing of an Old School Building

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 276, 22 November 1935, Page 8

Passing of an Old School Building

EARLY MEMORIES OP STANWAY With the completion of the new Stanway School, work on which has already commenced, will come the knell of the old school building. But with the demolition of tho old building, old memories will be revived rather than destroyed In 1883 during the early settlement of the Stanway district, after much agitation on tho part of the settlers, means of education for their children were provided by the building of a school, the present building, or rather the main room of it, and the school was opened with an attendance of between ■lO and 50 pupils under the charge of Mr. A. Rule.

A room was built on to the back of the school, and for three years it served as a teacher’s residence, after which the existing residence was built. This room was later enlarged owing to the influx of pupils who then numbered upwards of 80, and the porch was built on. Fifty-two years have left their mark on the old building, but its ago considered, it is in fairly good order, ami there is probably much building material left in it. If the old walls could only speak they would have some interesting secrets to tell of the 640 odd pupils who have been educated in their shelter, a large number of whom are settlers in the district and its immediate neighbourhood. One hears of the older boys attending in iong trousers, and having to shave before going to school. Boys, they were called, but really young men, any of whom was capable of taking his place on the farm and doing a man’s work. One of the early pupils had the mail contract, and used to leave at 1.1 a.m. for liaicombe on his pushbike, whence he collected the mail and set out for his 40-mile daily delivery r.cle. Later, the mailman would bring the mail to school, sort it, and leave it in the pigeon holes, and private mailboxes which were housed in the school, for the pupils to collect. The walls could also tell tales of punishments when it was difficult to say who was the most punished, pupil or teacher. It is most interesting to recall anecdotes which deal with three stages in tho development of means of travel. First when the boys, out of kindness of heart would, on Friday afternoons, harness tho teacher’s horse to his gig, and how on one occasion they harnessed tho horse to the gig with the horse on one side of a fence and tho gig on the other. Then of a later teacher’s motor car with an oil pump on the dashboard which so aroused the mechanical interest of the boys that they one day manipulated the pump to such an extent that tho oil tank was emptied and the engine flooded with oil. And finally the lady assistant who arrived per motor cycle wffiiek was eagerly awaited for at the gate by the boys who proudly pushed the machine to tho shed, and how wheeling it grew to one sitting in the saddle and being pushed, then to starting the engine, and finally to one’s careering round , tho grounds, and into the shed, where, the unfortunate rider being unable to stop tho machine, it finally stopped of its own accord against the back of tho shed, or half way through it.

These are only a few of hundreds of incidents wffiiek will be brought to life again with the commencement of tho new building, and, when the old structure is pulled down—what secrets will bo revealed—those straps, etc., which mysteriously disappeared and have lain for decades concealed between the linings and the outer walls, or between tho partitions. A new up-to-date building will certainly look well, and be an asset to the district, but one can appreciate the tugging at the heart strings when the old walls disappear, and when, at the diamond jubilee, old pupils from afar come to find that tho dear old building has passed, just as have many of its original pupils.