Enfield School's bell will ring out again during the weekend of November 9-11, summoning former pupils, teachers and staff to events for a reunion.
The school closed in 2003 after 127 years and its bell was sent to a tower at the New Zealand Historic Places Trust's Totara Estate, south of Oamaru. There was an agreement that if the school ever reopened, the bell would be returned.
Next week, it will be taken down from its tower and returned to Enfield for the reunion. It will be put into a small tower to be transported around and rung at major reunion events before being returned to Totara.
People are coming from all over New Zealand, with the oldest aged 97, gathering not to celebrate a major anniversary of the school but just to get together again.
Reunion committee chairman Bill Kingan is not surprised by the number registered for the reunion, which starts with an informal get-together at the Enfield Tavern on Friday night.
At 12.30pm on the Saturday, they will gather at the school for a roll call and photographs. The reunion dinner at night will be at the Oamaru Club.
A service at the Enfield Church, starting at 10.30am, will be followed by a barbecue at the domain to end the weekend.
Enfield School, originally known as Teaneraki School, opened in 1876. It changed its name to Enfield about 1960.
Under the closure agreement, the Ministry of Education retained ownership of the school in case it was needed in the future because of population growth through changes in farming and the possible construction of a cement plant in the Waiareka Valley. It is leased as a private school.
