College group to visit South Island

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 45, 22 April 1986, Page 10

College group to visit South Island

Kuapehu College s cultural group is practising hard and raising funds for their trip to the South Island later this year. Organiser of the trip, teacher Merrilyn George, said that the group of fifty from throughout the school, will be performing and playing sport with several high schools on their travels. She said they would enjoy exper- ' iences which many would never have had before. "Some have never been to the South Island, never been on a ferry, never stayed on a marae and some may never 1 have experienced Maori cul- , ture," she said. Pupilsof Chinese, Malaysian, Maori and European descent will be going on the trip. At present they are practising every Wednesday afternoon during club time, and often at lunchtimes and I in their own time. The trip will cost about $8000, and the first fundraising activity will be a sponsored run from Raetihi to Ohakune this Sunday, 27 April. Next term senior citizens will benefit from a spon--sored work day. The trip will give pupils a chance to see a range of South Island landscapes.

The first night will be at Picton where they will perform at a concert and play sport against the Picton high school. Next-day they will travel to Christchurch to stay two nights on a marae and visit Christchurch secondary schools. It's the West Coast for two nights in Greymouth billeted with local pupils. They will visit gold and coal mines and perform at the local school. They will return via Nelson and the night ferry. In their concerts, the pupils will perform a selection of dances and songs depicting the migration from Hawaiki to New Zealand. Mrs George believes the wide range of ages in the group will create a family atmosphere on the trip. "It will be more akin to the family-style of working together and they will grow' to understand each other a lot," she said. Mrs George is hoping that people wil be generous in their sponsorship of this Sunday's run.