Warkworth Primary Gala

Every two years, the Warkworth Primary School hosts a fundraising gala. This is a large all-day fair with games, raffles, food and all sorts of fun stuff the children love. Although there are school galas in the U.S., the Kiwis have their own style. For example, Xavier successfully tossed a hoop over one of the bagged bottles set up on the lawn, which isn’t too unusual except for the prize – a bottle of white wine. Yes, at a primary school fair, one of the prizes was booze. However, being a responsible school, he needed to fetch one of his parents as he was not allowed to walk away with it. Next, consider the “Crockery Smash”. For $1 you can hurl 6 balls at a huge stack of cups, saucers and plates. If your aim is reasonable, you get to enjoy the sound of porcelain crashing to the pavement. Xavier described this as “therapeutic”.



Mr. Clip was at the gala, demonstrating sheep shearing and describing the hazards of such an occupation: apparently a feisty ram last week kicked the shears into his finger, lopping off a small portion of the end of his middle finger. Finally, no Kiwi gala would do without a bungy jump. Isaac, Annick and Quentin were strapped to a harness and left to bounce/flip/fly for a full five minutes upwards of 25 feet into the air - a trampoline on steroids.




Of course, there were also the more traditional activities. Isaac had his face painted to look like a tiger. Quentin discovered that he was a good target shooter and ended up winning many large, stuffed animals and about a dozen free ice creams. All of this activity made people hungry. Gerard volunteered for an hour of work at the “Sausage Sizzle” and estimates that over 200 sausages wrapped in white bread and lathered with “sauce” were sold between 10:30-11:30am. He could barely keep up with the demand.

More photos:

April08