Opening of St. John's School

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 138, 7 May 1885, Page 2

Opening of St. John's School

The tea meeting which took place last evening for the purpose of cele* brating the opening of the new Sunday School building in connection with St. John's Church, passed off with grea eclat. At 6 o'clock the seats,'at two tables placed the whole length of the room were fully occupied, and numbers* of persons had to wait for a second- - sitting, and altogether upwards of 170 patronised the excellent rtjjjast whjcJi had been supplied by the ladies ef the congregation, and teachers, who also waited upon their ..numerous guests. The tables being cleared, the room was made ready for the "after meeting" when the curate, Rev. Joshua Jbnes, , came forward and made a neat ana' brief congratulatory address. He was thankful to see so large an attendance on such an interesting occasion, and^ was sure they must congratulate them-? selves on the success with which their ; . efforts in connection" with the school building in which they were met hacU been crowned. He thought they mights now very fairly consider the openingiof the school an accomplished fact. With. English speaking people everywhere:. it seemed that every auspicious; event <■ must have a repast of some sorfras one of the items in its celebration.; Gentlemen could do nothing of the kind without a dinner, and ladios seemed to think their doings incom-; plete without a tea, as had; been tfeer case on the present occasion; i Thei building of a school room had been a project of long standing, datingback about 3 years when a certain .lady: (named) volun-eered and paid the first: subscription towards it. The real determined work, however, commenced). about 2 years since, and another lady. . (whose name was also given) who lived at a distance, and had nof< immediate connection with the church wrote and asked to be allowed tbflt favor of contributing £20. ~ A certain townsman, now deceased, had also liberallycontributed. Numerous other offerings followed, and- the .'ultimate - result was the erection of the -very suitable building in which they were gathered, and which he had very freat pleasure in declaring duly open. or its purpose, however, it had already been opened, as school had been held in it for two or three Sundays past. It was a pleasing sight to see 85 scholars assembled one Sabbath, but 1 he should not be satisfied till the number was 150, as he estimated that to be a fair contribution of the. Church of England population of the place: : Th* advantages both to the school, and the church would be much greater how they were contiguous to each other, and both on the church ground, than when the school was so far away, and, ha hoped to see both now' doing their" united work with greater efficiency. It was his pleasing duty to thank all who had promoted and assisted the bringing about of the object, , the accomplishment of which they were now met together to celebrate. , .- The remainder of the evening was occupied by some vocal and instrumental musical selections, together with several readings, in which various ladies and gentlemen, took part* and the singing of the National Anthem by the assembly brought to a. close one of the most numerously attended, happy, and successful gatherings of the kind ever held in Feilding.