Mangapapa Fancy Dress Ball

Anybody taking a peek into the Army Hall on a recent Friday night would have been transported right into "fairyland". A rhapsody of nursery rhymes, from fancy-dressed children cutting comic character capers, overpowered the piano and drumming of dancing feet. Here was Humpty Dumpty before his fall, Little Bo Peep not caring about her sheep, and Mary with the flowers from her garden ringed around her hair. It was the occasion of the Mangapapa School annual fancy-dress ball. For a few hours, some of the colourful personalities from children's story books had come to life.

Each year, there appears to be even more children, with even better fancy dresses, attending the ball. Soon, they'll need a larger hall. We congratulate teachers, parents and children on what must surely be among the most successful annual functions ever organised in Gisborne.