Wild Ferment- We are Family

I’m back living in Marlborough after 30 years away, but so many people still look vaguely familiar. And they’re friendly, so I smile back and remind myself I’m not on the London Underground – it’s OK to smile at someone who may be a complete stranger.

There were plenty of smiles at Tua Marina School recently when old girls and boys – as well as their parents, grandparents and friends – gathered for the official opening of two new classrooms and an administration block.

This is where I went to school, and a few things are still familiar: the wooden shelter shed where we took refuge on rainy days, the swimming pool changing sheds where we blocked the spy-holes with gobs of blotting paper and… hmm… that seems to be about it – until I gather among faces that I really do recognise: the Barnetts, Parkes, Woolleys, Collins, O’Sullivans and Drakes. These are established families in our community, and a few of the children sitting earnestly in front of us are the fourth generation to come through these school gates.

In my day (back in the 1970s), there was a roll of 38, two teachers and a spare classroom for folk dancing. Today, we are celebrating a school of 106 pupils, five teachers and principal Cheryl Wadworth – all radiating teamwork, confidence and pride.

It also feels like I’m celebrating several decades of cultural change. The national anthem is sung in both Maori and English (the kids, unlike their parents, sing just as robustly in both languages) and the new buildings are blessed by local kaumatua as well as Reverend Judith Parkes, who used to teach me at Sunday school and reward us with her home-baked pink wobbly cake.

As I leave, I’m protected from the rain by a big canvas sail shading the benches and play area. Health and safety has come a long way – that was where we sat shivering at morning playtime during the winter months waiting for our cocoa. The big kids (aged 10) were let out early to go to the staffroom, turn on the Zip and fill a huge enamel jug with cocoa, sugar and boiling water before lugging it around to pour into our outstretched mugs.

Now the pupils get hot cocoa all year round in the form of carpeted classrooms and teachers who encourage, inspire and provide chocolaty comfort with their care. And they’re part of a wider community that supports them all.

For me, it’s a good time to be living in Marlborough. The economic meltdown means even less smiling on the London Underground, but back home I feel like a local surrounded by friends… even the ones I don’t know.