Maungaturoto Matters
Mrs Perry Retires from Otamatea High School
In 1965 the young Miss Elizabeth Bell, now Mrs
Elizabeth Perry, faced her first class, at a girls’ secondary
school in Derby, England. On 12 December this year, more
than 18,500 km across the world, she retires from her posi-
tion of Assistant Principal at Otamatea High School in
Maungaturoto, where she has taught for the past nine
years.
Mrs Perry has mixed feelings approaching the end
of her teaching career, “I’ve loved teaching and I’ll miss the
excitement and the challenges of the classroom, but I won’t
miss having to do all the late night marking, report writing
and documentation that we have to do … but I also want
to build a new life for myself … and I’m quite excited about
that … but I will go with regrets and I will miss the students
and my colleagues very, very much indeed,” she said.
In 1974, Mrs Perry successfully applied for a one-
year exchange position with a New Zealand teacher that
brought her to Grants Braes Primary School in Dunedin.
She enjoyed the experience and decided to come back
again, shortly after returning to England – as required at
the end of the exchange.
Back in New Zealand Mrs Perry was promoted to
higher positions, including Head of English at Northern
Southland College and Assistant Principal at Dannevirke
High, before being invited to take up an appointment as
lecturer in Communications Studies, at Manukau Institute
of Technology (MIT).
After her stint at MIT, Mrs Perry decided to return
to secondary teaching and gained her present appointment
to Otamatea High School, where she has relished the op-
portunity to develop NCEA drama in addition to teaching
English and working as a member of the senior manage-
ment team.
Never one to rest on her laurels, Mrs Perry has
continued to improve her professional qualifications
throughout her teaching career, completing a Higher Di-
ploma of Teaching, a Cambridge Certificate in English Lan-
guage Teaching to Adults and a Master’s Degree in Educa-
tion with First Class Honours, since coming to New Zea-
land.
Outside the classroom, Mrs Perry has welcomed
opportunities to become involved in amateur and profes-
sional drama. In New Zealand she has written scripts for
the television children’s series “Play School”, acted in and
directed productions in professional and amateur theatre,
and directed more than 25 school productions including
“Feathers to Fly”, a play she wrote herself, based on a
Dannevirke Maori legend.
More recently, Mrs Perry accepted an invitation to
join the Rotary Club of Maungaturoto and Districts.
Mrs Perry will be remembered by many students in
England and New Zealand as a teacher who insisted on
high standards but was also kind and understanding.
Page 41
Never Mind Mother Goose
At the opening night of Otamatea Repertory Theatre's lat-
est pantomime, 'Never Mind, Mother Goose' a thief stole
the much-coveted raffle prize.
It only took a minute but that was all the opportunist
needed to run off with the huge basket of goods, many of
which were donated by members.
But even the actions of the thief couldn't dampen the en-
thusiasm of the cast and crew.
'Never Mind, Mother Goose', written and directed by Helen
Morton-Jones, is pure entertainment from start to finish.
The show features a chorus of cute children, talented teens
and dependable doyens, working as a team to create a
memorable tale of good triumphing over evil.
The stellar cast is headed by the inimitable dame, Mother
Goose, played by the very talented Nathan Roberts, who
had the audience in hysterics with his sparkling perform-
ance.
His mother, Coralie Roberts, makes a wonderful solo debut
for ORT as the Christmas Angel of Hope. The show fea-
tures two other members of the Roberts family - Rachel
who is in the chorus and Bruce who is helping in the back-
stage crew.
Suzanne Lappin gives a stunning performance as the hap-
less goose, in a role which is entirely mimed.
ORT stalwarts, Maura and Peter Flower play the villains
Madame Chlorophyll and Sir Sly, delighting in their malevo-
lence and evoking many boos and hisses from the appre-
ciative audience. They are aided and abetted by their fiend-
ish side-kicks, Vomit and Grommet, ably portrayed, by
new-comers Danielle Jamieson and Ngaio Heron-Fraser,
respectively.
Mother Goose's children, Andy and Mandy, (Paige Carter
and Myra Van Den Bergen) and their friends, Neeva and
Sophia (Chris Dent and Jesse Lovie) were convincing in
their roles as the heroes and heroines of the piece.
Watch out for some stunning choreography in the sewer
scheme, and some toe-tapping sequences by the chorus.
The black-light scene, as with every ORT pantomime, is a
highlight.
The show also featured wonderful costuming and make-
up, with creative lighting effects and some great cameo
performances throughout.
From the team at ORT
Page 42 Maungaturoto Matters
Maungaturoto Matters Page 43

Maungaturoto Welcomes Vipin and Mina Patel new owners of the

Maungaturoto Four Square
Story from the Kaipara Lifestyler

Vipin and Mina Patel are the proud new owners of Maungaturoto’s Four Square and they are keen to give
their customers the best possible service.
Vipin has already extended the hours for shoppers who will now find the supermarket open from 7.30am
Monday to Friday and from 8.00am on Saturdays and 9.00am on Sundays. Closing time all week is 6.30pm.
But he’s not stopping there.
"If people need something that we don’t have in stock," he says, "they only need to tell us and we will do our
best to get it in for them. I will also be extending product lines and manager’s specials."
Family is very important to Vipin and Mina who have moved to Maungaturoto so that they will be closer to
their daughter who lives in Auckland.
For the last eight years they have run the Four Square in Kaeo. However when the chance came up to move
south they jumped at it. Vipin enjoyed his time in Kaeo.
"We had a great relationship with our customers up there and I hope we can do the same thing here," he
says. "At the end of the day if my customers are happy then so am I." Vipin also said that he was very im-
pressed with the staff and will be retaining them.
 Page 44 Maungaturoto Matters

Merry Christmas and a

Happy New Year

To a great community

THANKS FOR YOUR

SUPPORT

FROM ALL OF US HERE

AT
THE MAUNGIE MATTERS
NOTES

Wishing you all

Merry Christmas
From the team
At
Ray White Bogue Real Estate Ltd
MREINZ

Phone 09 431 8820