Twelve Years

Te Ao Hou, March 1963, Page 5

Twelve Years Bill Kerekere and the Waihirere Maori Club have been one and indivisible ever since the Club was formed over 12 years ago. It was formed at Waihirere, a small kaianga of the Aitangaamahaki tribe, about eight miles from Gisborne, and originally it was merely the nucleus for a haka group to represent Wai hirere in the newly formed Gisborne Annual Maori Competitions. Since then the Club has gone a long way, gained a lot of experience and some measure of reputation, culminating in its recent honour of representing Maoridom in the entertainment of Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Waitangi. The Club moved its headquarters from Waihirere to Gisborne in the first year or two of its existence. Since then it has been open to any Maori (or any pakeha for that matter), and over the years the membership has included people from almost every tribe in New Zealand. While it did not set up specifically as a youth club, most of its members have been young Maori people who have come to live in Gisborne from the country. The Club has not had an easy time. Until recently it met in whatever rooms were available and during periods when the Club was practising for competitions or for concerts, or for some Maori function, it has had to fall back on the homes of its members. Yet it managed to keep going, winter and summer year after year. Occasionally like all clubs, it had periods of doldrums when interest flagged and it was kept going only by its core of older and regular members. There were times when the response was disappointing. You could only get a scattering of people, a handful, and the older members wondered if it was worth the trouble, the time and the worry. At other times, when there was a trip in the offing, there was a rush of old and new members. Looking back over the years it has been well worth it. There must be scores of young people, scattered over the

country, who have at one time been grateful to the Waihirere Maori Club for providing a place where they could foregather with young people of their own age and keep alive their interest in Maori cultural activities. Many of these young people have married and returned to Gisborne. Today they are bringing their own youngsters along. In fact the primary and junior sections are almost entirely children who have, you could almost say, been born into the Club. There has been, since its foundation, a small core of members whose enthusiasm has never faded. It would be invidious to mention names, but they would be the first to agree that the source of inspiration and encouragement was their President Bill Kerekere, ably supported and encouraged by his wife Mihi and a few stalwart enthusiasts notable among whom are two other foundation members, Bub Wehi, the Chairman of the Club, and Bub's wife Nen.