The High School Jubilee

Warm sunlight and late summer showers alternated when hundreds of old pupils of Gisborne High School assembled early last month to celebrate the school's jubilee.

Old friendships were renewed and nostalgic memories of schooldays were recalled, as pupils from the school's earliest days mingled with later generations.

Throughout the three days of celebration, the committee's splendid organisation kept events moving with a happy mixture of formality and informality.

The only flaw was the weather. It was almost too hot for Friday's assembly at the school, and for the ball that night. Saturday morning's proceedings at the school, when thousands were present for the get-together and photographs, were interrupted by occasional rain coming in from the north-east. When it was not raining, the sun shone.

But there was no sun in the afternoon, when with impressive ceremony the new sports pavilion, erected in memory of old pupils who gave their lives in World War II, was opened before a large attendance of next-of-kin and others.

The official party was only just in position when the rain started. As the ceremony progressed, the rain grew heavier. Huddled in overcoats and under umbrellas, the assembly stuck it out as the storm grew worse, There was no deviation from the printed programme. The speakers braved the downpour beating in on the verandah. The choir sang gallantly into the wind. The cadets presented arms dripping with water. The bugler sounded a clear, almost defiant, reveille. The band played Handel's solemn "Largo". To many, the ceremony, far from developing into a "wash-out", took on some of the fortitude of those whose memory it honoured.