By Derek Schlennstedt
On Sunday 23 April Warburton Preschool celebrated its 50th birthday with past and present students and teachers coming together to mark the significant milestone.
The preschool was opened in 1967 by Lady Delacombe, and the celebrations aligned perfectly with the opening 50 years ago.
Past and present students and teachers attended the event with some past teachers even travelling interstate from New South Wales to be there.
Jennifer Trott, Warburton Preschool 50th birthday committee member, helped organise the event, and said it was fantastic to have so many people attend who had such a close connection to the preschool.
“It was a really great day; we had a lot of people from the kinder, both past and present and a few of the original teachers and assistants came.
“Altogether, it was a really lovely atmosphere and a nice weaving together of the communities between past and present,” she said.
It was estimated that around 400 people came to the celebrations which had plenty of entertainment and food for families.
There was face painting for the kids; West African drumming workshops, and Woody’s World band from Warburton brought some Aussie musical bush tales into town.
For those that missed the celebrations, there is still the chance to see a variety of memorabilia which the Warburton Preschool 50th birthday committee has put together.
The exhibition is currently on show at the Waterwheel Art Gallery in Warburton until 7 May.
When it was opened in 1967, the Warburton Preschool was community funded and before they acquired a teacher, mums helped to run the school.
There are photos, newspaper clippings and plenty of paraphernalia showing the construction of the preschool 50 years ago.
As part of the celebration on Sunday, a raffle was held with over $600 worth of prizes donated from the local community- each item was added to a wheelbarrow that collected all the prizes.
Jennifer said the celebration could not have been achieved without the help of the local community coming together, and thanked everyone for donating and helping with the celebrations.
“There great support from the local community and everyone pulled together, a big thankyou goes to all the people and businesses that helped make it possible,” she said.
