Seven Little Girls
In 1992 dance teacher Gaye Hemsley moved to Waiheke Island and started a dance school. Four years later Gaye suggested to parents that some of the older children attend a Summer Dance Seminar in Tauranga.
“It will be wonderful experience for the children, attending classes in various dance styles,” she explained at a parents’ meeting. Seven parents signed up on behalf of their daughters.
The big day arrived. Seven children, two adults and one budgie, got themselves into Gaye’s ten-seater van. Gaye realized she would have to make rules right from the start. The children ranging in age from eight years to eleven were allotted seats and informed they were their seats for the whole trip.
The boat from Waiheke to Half Moon Bay in Auckland in those days took just over one hour. Once they were driving off the boat ramp and heading towards the southern motorway Gaye’s helper and friend Alice could sense the excitement building up in the children. Alice had insisted on bringing her budgie Leo, and there he sat in his cage on Alice’s lap.
As the group progressed towards their destination the children quietened down, some even had a little nap. For Gaye, Tauranga had only been a passing-through place. There was a vague recollection in her mind about climbing Mount Maunganui with the tramping club she belonged to in her teenage years. What she did remember was a rather nice evening she spent in a motel with the man that was to be her second husband; they were on their way to Gisborne to meet his parents.
Anyway, back to the dance group. They eventually found their motel which was nothing flash, but quite suitable. The children were given bunk rooms, four in one and the three older children in the other. Gaye, Alice and Leo claimed the room with their own on-suite. There was a community kitchen for eating and preparing meals. After settling in the group went off to the nearest supermarket to stock up.
Day one arrived. The children were woken at seven to have showers, breakfast and get ready for dance classes. Alice and Gaye attacked seven heads of hair with clips and hairspray. The youngest girl (who was rather spoilt) strongly objected, and stated she was just going to take it out when she got the dance studio. First problem!
Gaye just said, “You better not.”
Once at the dance studio, which was not far from their motel in Mount Maunganui, Gaye introduced Alice to teachers she already knew. The children were directed to their allotted classes, and the first day began.
At four o’clock seven very tired but happy children got into the van. On arrival back at the motel Gaye decided to pay a visit to the children’s bunk rooms for an inspection and as she thought: big mess!
She got all the children together and said, “I’ve decided we are going to have a competition between the two rooms, as to how tidy they are kept. There’ll be a prize for the children who have the best kept room.” Believe it or not, this worked.
On the second and subsequent days an inspection was made after breakfast. Clothes were hung up, beds tidily made, towels hanging neatly and even flowers on the drawer units - it was going to be hard to choose a winner. Their teacher was so pleased she told them to pack their swimsuits, because after classes they would go swimming at the local pools.
And so the week continued. There was no more fighting getting groomed in the mornings. As a treat one afternoon the group went to the local shopping mall, Bayfair, which was then very small, only a few shops on one level. However it was a lot grander than anything on Waiheke Island. A couple of the children were prone to losing items; there seemed to be this constant statement – “I’ve lost one of my sneakers” or “I’ve lost my diary,” etc., etc. Both Gaye and Alice had been bought up Catholics and had the solution for lost items.
“You’ll have to ask St Anthony,” explained Gaye. “You say three times out loud ‘Please St. Anthony find this or that’ but when you find it you must say ‘Thank you.’ three times as well.”
The children gave the adults funny looks and had a bit of a giggle. The next morning after breakfast one of the girls quietly approached Alice and asked, “Who is that bloke you ask to find things?”
On the fourth night of the trip a storm hit the Bay of Plenty. The aftermath was a wild beach at the Mount with enormous waves. When the children had finished their classes that day Gaye piled them into the van and said we’re going for an invigorating walk along the beach. She parked the van and all the children except one jumped out and started to run down the dunes to the windswept beach.
One young lady had decided she didn’t want to go for a walk along a silly beach; she’d rather stay in the car and listen to her transistor radio. Gaye told her she couldn’t stay in the van by herself. The child said she would have preferred to go to the shopping mall again. On reflection, I suppose for a child living on an island surrounded by beaches going to another is not as exciting as visiting a shopping mall. That girl still lives on Waiheke Island and now has a little girl of her own. I do hope the child enjoys the beauty that surrounds her and I do hope her mother remembers her time in Tauranga.
