School turns 100

2015 – a year of commemoration for all New Zealanders with memories of the Anzacs in 1915, while here in Tokoroa we also have an important milestone to celebrate. This year marks the centennial of East School – 100 years since the school was created. Reunion planning is already well under way and it is hoped the local community as well as former pupils and staff members will support the event on September 12.

Planning is going ahead for the school itself to host part of the celebrations and already there is growing interest from former Tokoroa residents and pupils.

Photographs will be displayed at the event and some of the history of the school’s foundation will also be presented, while currently work is well under way to prepare for this important event in our history. Registration forms can be picked up at Footes Furnishers.

C Winship, Tokoroa. practised for 10 years now:

In Belgium euthanasia is more often granted to people suffering from mental illnesses like chronic depression, etc. The law requires that a patient’s free decision has to be established before medical doctors can give the lethal injections.

My mother suffered from chronic depression. In April 2012 she was euthanased at the hospital. The doctor who gave her the injection never contacted me or our family. I am still trying to understand how it is possible for euthanasia to be performed on physically healthy people without even contacting their children. The percentage of assisted deaths in Belgium without patient’s request was more than 31 per cent. The worst occurs in Northern Belgium in Flanders, where 47 per cent of the people ‘‘put down’’ went unreported.

Prof Benoit Beuselinck, a respected researcher and oncologist, described a surreal realisation he’s had when a woman requested euthanasia, but also wanted her dog put down with her. He realised ending her life would be uncontroversial, but that animal rights activists would probably prevent him putting the dog down.

Denis Shuker, Cambridge