Fifth-generation pupil arrives at Drummond School
When young Nate Allison showed up for his first day at Drummond School yesterday, he had a few of the school’s old boys tag along with him.
His dad Richard, granddad Bruce, and great-granddad Graeme were right there proudly beside him.
Add to the list his great-greatgranddad Arthur, and Nate is the school’s fifth-generation Allison.
He was enrolled before he was born, mum Briar said, and had been raring to go since he was three.
For his part, Nate stood ready to smilingly confirm that he was, indeed, now big enough to start school.
In fact, he’d arrived with some homework already done – and he’d nailed it; correctly circling the word “Mum” wherever it appeared on his worksheet.
The Allisons, from good local farming stock, have a 104-year history at the school.
Graeme, when it was his turn, had arrived in style.
“I think I got a ride, doubled on my father’s bike,’’ he said.
He had to walk home, though. “I look around now and think how different the place is. I wouldn’t recognise anything from those days, really.’’
Certainly not the tennis courts or bright playground equipment.
Bruce’s memories tend less towards the classrooms than the playground, such as it was. Come to think of it, “the fence wasn’t as high”, he decided. He had no trouble placing where one building used to be - the dental clinic, known to generations, vividly if not strictly accurately, as the Murder House.
And Richard was there when the school merged with Oreti. “That’s when it went from two classrooms to three, and the playground doubled in size.’’
The school, founded in 1887, has remained a focal point for Drummond, as the passage of time saw the loss of the Central Southland community’s church, hall and shop, and an increased number of dairy farms brought with it a more transient workforce.
Graeme Allison “I look around now and think how different the place is. I wouldn’t recognise anything from those days, really.”