A world when everyone is fair
by Don Franks
November 11, 2012
Preparations had been going on for months.
Early signs to uninvolved visitors were donated clothes, toys, tools, CDs, kitchen implements, books, dubious junk and
all the other stuff of modern living piled in foyers in plastic bags.
As the mounds of offerings grew, bright hand drawn posters heralded their coming across town:
MIRAMAR NORTH SCHOOL FAIR , SUNDAY 11 NOVEMBER.
The posters made me a bit nervous every time I passed them. My school guitar class students were committed to perform at
the function. Would they get the right notes and the right chords on the day? And remember their words?
We had rehearsed this programe:
1/ "Country Roads"
2/ "Someone like you"
3/ "Pokarekareana"
4/ "Sail Away Ladies:"
5/ "Shortnin bread"
6/ "Banana boat song"
7/ "I Wanna marry you"
On the day all our guitarists rose to the occasion and played a good strong set.
I was happy about that. In the great scheme of things though, our "busking corner" was just one small cog in a pretty
big wheel. Completing the fair took a vast and unquantifiable amount of physical and mental work. As well as out little
guitar contribution there was a book stall, clothes stall, face painting, lucky dips, records, photo with the antique
car, cup cakes , sweets, pre loved clothes, bric a brac, ice cream, old fashioned lemonade, pipe band, curry, white bait
fritters, toffee apples, sausage barbeque, hot dogs, curry, wontons, fudge, lucky dip and I have surely missed a whole
lot of other stuff I am sure because the event was way bigger than that.
To achieve all this several hundred people turned up, which is as one might expect except that at the start cold grey
rain was pissing down all over everything.
Not heavily, but steadily, businesslike.
The people at the fair were more staunch than the rain.
The kids gave everyone the attitude.
At the very start of the fair the Kappa haka group came out into a wet paddock which was the playground and did a solid
set in their matching T shirts. It was like they shrugged off the rain, they made it irrelevant.
The rest of the fair gave that initial welcome a huge hand and went on after that with the business, smiling, as if it
was a sunny day.
After an hour or so the rain got ashamed with itself, gave up and slunk away.
Students, parents and teachers of Miramar North School did an inspirational thing today. Hundreds of hard working
individual adults and children took a precious weekend day off to work for the good of the collective, after discounting
many other full, half and quarter days to work up what was required for the event.
They must have raised lots of money for the school, I hope it was enough.
I was so proud to be a part of this inspirational team effort.
To me, the spirit and dedication of the Miramar North school fair is a convincing sign that, if we want to, working
people can run everything like a school fair.
I know it is far removed from where society is now, but my dream is a complete not for profit country and world where,
every day, we all work hard together, look after one another and are very happy.
ENDS