Harakeke Weaving School by Miria Simpson ‘He kakano i ruia mai …’ The seed was sown … four years ago, following my chance meeting and continued association with craftswomen who were in the throes of forming a New Zealand Chapter of the World Craft Council; craftswomen well established in their own work—Nan Berkeley, ceramics and pottery; Dorothea Turner, spinning and weaving; Jenny Pain, whose specialty is the designing and screen printing of fabrics. I wish you could see their work. These women—and others in their groups—had long been aware of the absence from their midst of Maori crafts and crafts-people. Then, as I said, by chance we met and I became the bridge between their work and ours. Each of these women is also involved in teaching her craft to any one who is keen and enthusiastic; and they convinced me that I too should take up the torch and light the way to Harakeke Weaving School. Miss Cath Brown, left, instructs Margaret Holroyd Circulars went out in February to spread the idea and sound out interest within Arts and Crafts circles; other people heard of my plans and telephoned for further information, until eventually over a hundred notices were posted. By July 31, my file held 25 definite enrolments for August 1968, plus 12 starters for a May 1969 school if one could be arranged. An article on the school published in the ‘Dominion’, brought in further enquiries, to bring the 1969 waiting list up to 24. There was also a letter asking if a school could be arranged at Waipukurau. The enrolments came from a wide range of people and places: Commercial teachers at Wellington Polytech; a retired doctor from Rotorua, fabric weavers, a Wellington City Councillor, a young Rarotongan woman who will one day soon return to teach in the Cook Islands; a Pakeha Welfare Officer with the Department of Maori Affairs; secretaries, home-makers for busy professional men, a Continental woman whose line is fine embroidery; darling, elderly Miss Elizabeth Matheson, a potter of long standing, who had waited more than fifty years for this opportunity to learn flax weaving; and the baby of the class was 17-year-old Lesley Dalley who hopes to enter Teachers' Training College next year. Who knows, but our Harakeke School may point the way for her to specialise in Arts and Crafts, thus following in the steps of our tutor. By good fortune, Cath Brown of Christ-church was ready, willing and free to come in August to teach us. We first met at the Dominion Conference of the Maori Women's Welfare League held at Dunedin in 1963, when she gave a most impressive demonstration of Maori Arts and Crafts. Originally from Taumutu, on the shores of