Gunnedah Baptist Preschool celebrates special anniversary

Preschool graduates from across the decades gathered in the regional New South Wales community of Gunnedah recently to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gunnedah Baptist Preschool.

 

The Town Hall was filled with the sounds of laughter and reminiscing as attendees poured over photos from the past 50 years while enjoying an ‘afternoon tea feast’. 

 

Gunnedah Mayor Jamie Chaffey spoke before Church Minister and Board chairperson Robert Griffith offered some words about the esteemed history of the preschool.

 

Representatives from the current staff team also shared a few words, before the current cohort of preschoolers performed for the assembled crowd. 

 

Speeches from past staff, board members and church representatives, along with former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, and past student Annabelle Goldrick (now aged seven years) rounded out the program. 

 

Annabelle shared the favourite memories of her and her brother’s time at the preschool, which included learning to spell her name and kicking balls. 

 

One speaker, Ellen Mitchell, has a longstanding connection with the preschool as a former staff member, having joined the team in 1981. On her first day she had to be ushered across the flooded river to get to work, a memorable start to what she termed ‘the most wonderful job in the world.”

 

She shared a fond memory with local paper The Gunnedah Times, of reading a story to her class, and being corrected by one young boy who said “Mrs Mitchell, you’re not reading those words properly.” 

 

“I am not sure where he is today, but I guess he is doing lecture work at some university,” she said.

 

The preschool opened in 1974, in the former hall of the Gunnedah Baptist Church, and from its humble start of just 20 children, has grown to support 118 local students thanks to an extension completed in 1988, and a further significant expansion in 2017. 

 

This story was produced locally by The Gunnedah Times. Find the original story here.