NEWS Of The Area would like to take you on a trip down memory lane with a Tea Gardens local for whom history is a way of life.

Eighty-year-old Jan Winn’s family first came to the area back in the 1880s.

Five generations of Jan’s family, including herself and her children, also went through the local primary school.

“The Primary School actually started in Hawks Nest in 1877 on Moira Parade on the banks of the river,” Jan said.

“At one time they had a big boat they called the schooler and they used to row over from Hawks Nest and pick up the kids from Tea Gardens and take them back.”

“Of course when it was bad weather they couldn’t go to school.”

140 years on and Tea Gardens Primary is about to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of its annual Easter Art and Craft Expo.

Jan tells the story of how it started through the efforts of the Principal at the time, Evette Barwick.

“Evette Barwick was transferred from Junee to Tea Gardens in 1977,’’ Jan said.

“She had the horse float behind the car full of gear and she came to the top of the big hill up there and she said, “Oh my God they’ve sent me to heaven,” Jan recalled.

The two women immediately became lifelong friends through their love of art and craft and their passion to raise money for the school.

“At the very last minute, when we were trying to get the catalogues together, it was frantic,” Jan said.

“You’d be using an ordinary old typewriter and roneoing it all off, it was hard work.”

Jan Winn’s passion for art has never waned.

She still holds a weekly china painting group at her home.

Jan is also hoping to make it to the School Art and Craft Show starting on Thursday 13 April.

“I’ve only missed two,” she said.

The Tea Gardens Primary Art and Craft Expo is on every day over the Easter long weekend.

For more information or to find an entry form for your art or craft creation go to

http://www.teagardens-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/paint-thetown-read.

 

By Margie TIERNEY