School 40th Anniversaries

Rose Carnival celebrates 40th anniversary

FORTY years after first hoping to raise funds to create a level football field, Marlow Bottom’s Rose Carnival is still bringing together the community.

The carnival was again held on Saturday with an estimated crowd of over 1,500 proving its popularity.

Organiser Jason Batten said this year’s event was expected to break last year’s record breaking fund raising figure.

In recent years the Rose Carnival organisers have aimed to replace the dilapidated equipment in the Burford School play ground.

Mr Batten said the strong support of the public has helped the school to close in on their target of £60,000.

He feels the carnival’s continued success can be put down to its unique village atmosphere.

Mr Batten said: “The comments we get are it’s a unique event with really friendly stall holders and a friendly village atmosphere.”

The carnival has attractions to care for all family members from sampling Rebellion Beer, to bouncing castles, a classic car display, stalls selling beauty products and fancy dress dog shows.

The day was opened by MP Steve Baker, who crowned Lizzie Keenan as Rose Queen, who was attended by Rose Princess Seren Mason.

Although the 2011 carnival represented its 40th anniversary, a lack of volunteers almost meant it didn’t go ahead.

He is calling for more volunteers to become involved to ensure the Rose Carnival is part of Marlow Bottom’s future.

Mr Batten said: “What we do need, to assure the event, is more volunteers to come forward.

"We did say this year that last year’s would be the last one, but we dug deep because it was the 40th anniversary.”

He believes the Rose Carnival would be greatly missed if it disappeared from the Marlow Bottom social calendar.

Contact Mr Batten via email at jasonb@talk21.com or phone him on 07866423501 if you are interested in volunteering.

Terra Linda Elementary School 40th anniversary celebration ...

The day Terra Linda Elementary School opened 40 years ago, it wasn't quite ready to go.

The desks hadn't arrived. There wasn't any chalk. Students sat on the floor during class.

But it didn't take long for a bustling school to emerge, and staff, parents and grandparents who attended the school's 40th anniversary celebration Friday afternoon said the school fosters an incredible spirit of community.

Special as the school is to the families of current students, the people who remember Terra Linda's first days marveled over its history like proud parents perusing a child's baby things.

As Kent and Beth Busch pored over images from the school's early years, something across the room caught Beth's eye.

"There's the flag!" she said, spotting a blue-and-yellow striped flag bearing the Terra Linda mascot hanging from a bookshelf.

"There's your flag," Kent said.

When Terra Linda was just getting started, it needed a school flag, Beth explained. The students, who were studying flags at the time, selected a design and she, then a second-grade teacher, sewed it.

Beth taught grades one through three at Terra Linda over 10 years. Terra Linda's first year was Beth's first year teaching, too.

She and her husband Kent, who met at the school, reminisced about those first days on the job.

"That first week, we didn't even teach," said Kent, 74, who was the school librarian for 24 years. "We just sent the kids home."

Looking through some 40-year-old school photo albums, Kent asked his wife, "Is that you?"

He pointed to a photo of a dark-haired woman in a blue dress.

"That's me. I recognize the dress," Beth, 69, said, peering at the young woman.

"I took that photo," Kent said.

The photo albums are filled with pictures that Kent took, and the furniture in the library is the same he constructed years ago.

After Beth left Terra Linda to teach at Oak Hills Elementary School , the pair married. They stayed in the neighborhood and now live just a couple of miles from the school.

Living so close, they still run into former students, attend retirement parties for Terra Linda teachers and meet for a monthly lunch with former staffers.

Now, they watch the school grow up from a distance. But in the school's aging face, they still see traces of its younger days.

"We remember when all the trees were planted," Beth said.

Jet

Jet

Oakey State High School 40th Anniversary May 15th, 2004, Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Oakey State High School 1964-2004

The Pennsylvania gazette ..., Weekly magazine of the University of Pennsylvania

Jet