Our School Taonga: The 1929 Handmade School Magazine

During the decade of the 1920s, a magazine was formed by the students of our school. With the help of their principal it is now a special archive that still remains here today. In the making of the magazine the decoration on the front cover was hand drawn by Alex Page. With the help of: Leslie Tweedie, Roger Shearer, Desmond Pocock, K. Sage, O. Young, J. Maiden, R. Wroblenski, Z. Norrel, Neville Newbold, and E. Sercombe, the school magazine now brings joy to the fellow pupils at our school today. Here are a few poems that we picked out from the school magazine.

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BasketBall is a jolly game.

Especially since Miss Newton came.

Up the ball goes in the air

Where it is caught by a athletic pair

Then its thrown from girl to girl

Coming down in a terrible whirl

Then the goaler pops a goal

If it misses it goes for a roll

To each other's hands its thrown

Till at last the whistles blown.

Farewell old school of honoured fame

Forgotten ne'er shall be your name

As long as tide and time will flow

Our thoughts to you will often go

Here we have learned your motto bright

To value time and do what's right.

Taught by the very best that can

Be produced in all the land

And as another year draws nigh

Standard 6 B. must say goodbye

To teachers, scholars, old and new

We bid you all dear friends Adieu

By Lucy and Faye

(Editor's note: The original magazine is in our School Archives but a facsimile copy is available for people to look at.)

A short biography of Leslie Tweedie

Leslie Tweedie was a pupil at Grey Lynn School, along with his brother Alan. At first the two boys went to Waltham School. Leslie moved to Grey Lynn School in 1926. He made his name well known in his Std 6B year (year 8). While winning best of the class (Dux) he had also been planning with fellow pupils a school magazine in 1929. It was hugely popular and was filled with poems, short stories, comic strips and more. I don't think he would have known that people today would be treasuring it. Leslie left school that year and moved to Kowhai Intermediate. When World War II came around Leslie and Alan both went to war. Fortunately they both came back, but I'm sure things would not be the same again. By Faye

(Information from the school enrolment registers and the World War 2 Memorial boards. The enrolment registers for Grey Lynn School are now lodged with Archives New Zealand at Mangere.)