300-400 attend ball

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 22, 1 November 1983, Page 8

300-400 attend ball

Rangataua relived, briefly, a scene reminiscent of it's former hey-days when more than 300 formally-attired guests recently attended the 1983 Rangataua Ball and danced the night away to the music of the Phoenix band from Wellington. Last year, over Labour Weekend, the inaugural Rangataua Ball — to celebrate that township's growing popularity and to exorcise it's image as, a 'ghost town' — was hailed as such asuccess that it was decided to . make this an annual event. , And so, on Saturday evening, 8 October 1983 the second annual Rangataua Ball was held. It was a glittering affair with the old Rangataua Hall specially decorated for the occasion, festooned with coloured streamers, tinsel and balloons. Three projectors threw huge photographic images on the walls whilst another, directed at a revolving mirrored globe in thecentre of the ceiling, cast fleeting coloured lights over the dancers and revellers below. The several hundred guests dressed in formal evening attire seldom seen in the Waimarino these days fille.d the Rangataua Hall to capacity and completed the sparkling scene. Not since those by-gone 'good-old-days' when Rangataua was a thriving little timber town staging its local

dances has the old hall witnessed such scenes as these. Most of the guests were Wellingtonians who had houses or friends in Rangataua but several local people — permanent residents of the Waimarino — were also invited. Others came from as far away as Christchurch and Auckland. The success of these two balls bears testimony to the revival of Rangataua's popularity both for the

seasonal holiday home owner and the permanent resident. The annual Rangataua Ball is organised by a small team of Wellington people who have bought or built houses in Rangataua. By attracting so man^ people to Rangataua for^B function like this they wur ensure that its popularity continues to grow and spread far beyond the Waimarino.