Six Hundred Girls Invade Gisborne

By bus and by train they came, team after team, until Gisborne's invasion by 600 girls was complete. Far from dismayed by the onslaught, Gisborne opened welcoming arms. Flags fluttered, bagpipes skirled, crowds cheered, and the N.Z. basketball championships of 1956 became a gala occasion for the city.

Local citizens had reason to be proud, because the entry of 44 teams was a record for any New Zealand basketball tournament. Only one of the 45 eligible associations failed to send a team and many of the girls travelled hundreds of miles, over land and sea, to be here.

Weather which was mostly kind and organisation which ticked with clock-like precision capped a tournament that was voted a thorough success.

Pipe band leads 44 teams in march through Gladstone Road to civic reception.

The referees, in smart, black blazers are behind the pipe band, followed by the Poverty Bay team.

Mr Barker spoke in glowing terms of the manner in which the Poverty Bay Association had set about the mammoth task of organising the tourney.

The procession swings into Peel Street, on its way to the Army Hall for the civic reception.

Basketball officials are pictured on the dais with the Mayor, Mr H. H. Barker, as he welcomed the girls to Gisborne.

Three Gisborne women, Mrs A. McLeod, Miss P. Fry, and Miss B. Toye, are pictured in the front rank of the group of referees in the parade ground of the Army Hall.

The microphone is Mrs R. Lane, president of the N.Z. Basketball Assn.

Girls arrive at city railway station.

Thames Valley girls go for a stroll in Gladstone Road

One of the most distinguished characters at the tournament was Hoki Poki, a West Coaster with a grin like Mortimer Snerd's. Hoki, pictured below, was the mascot of the Hokitika girls, whose names are sewn on to the white spots on his costume.

M. Thomas, Waikato captain, and B. Dodd, vice-captain, with their mascot, specially made for them by Hamilton's famed Mooloo Club. Waikato needed no. banner to identify them.

Top players of the tournament — the North & South teams.

The smooth running of the tournament was a tribute to the organising ability of the tournament committee.
The members are:-Back row, Miss Elaine Murray, Mrs N. Glover, Peter Robinson, Miss Noeline Hansen, Miss Mary Quinn, Miss M. Bagley; front row, Mrs E. Carmichael, Mrs J. Smale (secretary), Mrs C. E. Williamson (hostess), Mrs H. McLeod (organiser), and Mrs A. M. Beale (treasurer).
Kandid