YOUNG COMMITTEE HAS A SUCCESSFUL YEAR AT GALATEA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 82, 4 May 1949, Page 5

YOUNG COMMITTEE HAS A SUCCESSFUL YEAR AT GALATEA

At a recent meeting of the Galatea School Committee, the secretary, with the approval of the committee presented a report on the work done during the preceeding year. The present committee is composed of comparatively newcomers to the district, none of whom have had any previous experience in this work and the secretary considered it might be interesting to see exactly what had been accomplished for the first year of office.

When the committee first came into being, Mr S. Jansen was the chairman, but owing to pressure of personal interest was forced to resign. Mr A. J. Webb was elected to the chair and his vacancy was filled by Mr A. Judd who, however, later left the committee. This was then filled by Mr D. Crawford. Mrs C. Allen, who had expressed her willingness to join the committee, was also elected. The remaining members are still as originally elected, viz., Mesdames F. H. Wooller and A. J. Webb and Mr J. Simpson.

The committee’s finances were in a good state considering the fact that the year’s expenditure had been not inconsiderable. Record Calf Days Since taking over duties the committee had to run two school picnic days and one calf club day—all quite successfully. In the case of the former events the first picnic had to be arranged at very short notice, just after the committee came into being. The second picnic was a success, too, but it was hoped that the next one would be held away from the school as the previous ones had had to be held there owing to inclement weather, despite plans to have them elsewhere. The calf club day in November was, another big day—a record number of calves being taken—2s in all. This committee had arranged for the presentation of felts for the first time and had been lucky enough to secure two new trophies The first one, a plaque, presented by Mr and Mrs F. Walsh, Galatea, was for one year only and was for the best pre-school child’s calf. The second one was a cup to be competed for yearly competition and donated by Messrs Cutler Bros., Whakatane, for the best dairy type calf. Mr L. Brown of the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Co. Ltd., acted as judge for this occasion. The New Year was welcomed in by a dance run by the committee to raise funds for the school and was very profitable. School Baths—Not Yet Strong efforts had been made to get the school baths built but the committee was at last forced to accept the fact that this could not be done for some time yet. After much correspondence with the Building Controller at Hamilton on the com-j mittee’s part, Mr W. Sullivan, M.P., 1 Whakatane, had taken the matter up with the Ministry of Works but the final decision was that even though the necesary supplies could be obtained it would not be fair to grant a permit when other schools were refused owing to lack of materials. The question of the baths, therefore, had to be deferred until the supply position improved. After strong representation, and again with Mr Sullivan’s help, the committee had at last received assurance that the school would be extended in the very near future. At the moment there are 61 children on the school roll and still only the one class room. It is hoped that the additional room will be put up during the next year as the roll is expected to be up to 100 within the next two or three years. More Teachers Wanted So far it had been impossible to secure an assistant teacher from the Education Board and if it were not for the very able help of Mrs Taylor, Mr Lane would still be teaching the 61 children on his own. This is another matter that the committee hopes will be clarified at a very early date. In the interests of the children’s health the committee had installed a liquid soap dispenser and paper towel rack in the cloakroom and, after the first novelty had worn off, the children were using these facilities with due respect. Two new games at the school were proving very popular—tennis quoits and table tennis. The former is incorporated as part of school sports equipment but the latter is in the form of a club for the older children and is very ably run by Mr Lane every Friday night. : A School Group of the N.Z. Forest and Bird Society has also been started but there was as yet nothing to report on this point as it was of very recent origin. The committee also helped to swell school funds by running the catering for the local stock sales every second month and showed a considerable profit from this undertaking.