Hundreds celebrate centenary

Nearly 900 former students returned to Ha¯ wera High School over the weekend to celebrate its centenary.

They came from all around New Zealand and as far away as Britain, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Chile for two days of events.

But despite the jam-packed itinerary, there was plenty of time for socialising and reminiscing, organising committee spokesman Peter Mihaljevich said.

‘‘There were a lot of old stories coming out.

‘‘Especially when you went into the decade rooms and you got to see all of the photos and records from different eras.’’

About 880 people registered for the centenary, with about 50 of those being students from the new millennium.

The biggest event of the weekend was a meet and greet at Hub in Ha¯ wera on Friday night with about 750 people in attendance.

The weekend’s festivities began on Friday with an hourlong powhiri attended by current students and staff.

Afternoon tea followed, then some of the people attending headed out to play a game of cricket against a current HHS team, and then later to catch up with old friends at the meet and greet.

Saturday’s activities began with school tours and decade photos, with several former students who attended school between 1919 and 1929 fronting up for the first photo.

Mihaljevich said the biggest photo was from the 60s decade with about 300 people.

Former students then relived their time visiting the displays of memorabilia from their decades, set up in 10 classrooms for the event.

A formal dedication was held in the afternoon where Noel Johnson, the oldest ex student at 97, cut the centennial cake.

Yesterday began with a memorial service before some former students climbed aboard buses outside the school to take trips down memory lane following some of their old routes.

An official luncheon followed then the closing ceremony wrapped up the weekend.

The weekend was the culmination of planning by a committee of 21 people who started working on the project in 2016, Mihaljevich said.

‘‘It went really good. It was very successful.

‘‘A lot of people came through and the weather was great.’’

PHOTOS: JOHN VELVIN/STUFF Some of the over 90s at the cutting of the cake.

A large turnout of former pupils and teachers came for the celebrations.

Jill Myers, rear, and Mellissa Culpan put the finishing touches to the celebration cake, a model of the old office block and school gates.

Makere Edwards, Tahu Rawiri and Te Rawanake Coles were part of the powhiri welcoming hundreds of former students to the Ha¯wera High School centennial celebrations.