The following 'Roll Call' names were of those who attended the Old Taita School Reunion (1859-1962) in October 1962 and the years they first attended the school
1875-1900 Taita School Roll Call
1901 - 1910
1911-1915 Taita School Roll Call
1916-1920 Taita School Roll Call
1921-1925 Taita School Roll Call
1926-1930 Taita School Roll Call
1931-1936 Taita School Roll Call
1937-1951 Taita School Roll Call

The Roll Call for the TAITA SCHOOL 1901 - 1910:
* Robert ADAMS
* William ADAMS

* Joseph AUGUST (1901-1981)
. married Margaret Hood Mullan in 1928, married Alma Searle (1909-1940) in 1935, buried Christ Church Taita
* Mary Annie AUGUST (1903-1979)
. married James SEARLE (1902-1980) in 1924, buried Levin
* 2 of the 9 children of Robert Maskell August (1857-1942) & Mary Anne Gigger (1860-1930). Alma & James were children of Alfred Searle & Edith Mary Blyth

* Hubert Reynolds 'Reyn' BACH (1904-1995) DSC FICE FNZIE FRSH. Son of Hubert Henry Bach (1877-1961) & Kate Reynolds (1875-1952). Married Edna Godwin Ivil (1907-2001) in 1932. City Engineer, Lower Hutt & President Engineering, NZ (1961-1962). Married Robina Laura McIver (nee Bell 1907-1973) in 1955. Cremated at North Shore

* Oscar James BALLS (1897-1965)
. son of David Balls & Mary Ann White (buried Christ Church Taita). His father was a Market Gardener in Naenae & Taita. He married Jessie Elizabeth GRANT (1894-1972) in 1924. Daughter of Lachlan Grant & Jessie Ure

* Ted (Edward Thomas) BARTOSH (1901-1992)
. married Doris Annie Veronica HODGKINSON

* Attilio BORRA (1904-1983)
. married Lena May CLOUT (1905-1996)

* Rex CHAPMAN-TAYLOR (1902-2001)
. son of James Walter Chapman-Taylor (1878-1958), an architect and builder, & of Dorothy Joan Lucas (1885-1938), Rex worked on the sheep station of J. W. Polson at Mangamahu when he was 15 then moved to Glenburne station in Wairarapa, later on a farm at Litchfield, Waikato and then working on farms in Hawkes Bay including Whakaruru Station and attended the Mormon Agricultural College at Bridge Pa. He later decided to follow his father and take up building and moved to Auckland. He married Constance 'Connie' SIMMONS (1903-1991) in 1924. In 1925 they were living at 512 Pepper Street, where Rex was a carpenter, builder & furniture maker. They returned to Wellington in 1929. During the 1930s/1940s he built houses in partnership with his father. In all, along with his father & later his son Jack, they built 80+ houses around NZ, mostly in the arts and crafts style. photo of Rex & Connie taken 1989

* George COTTLE
* Mary COTTLE
* Victor John COTTLE (1897-?)
- married Elsie McLEAVEY 1920

* Ernest Frederick Murray Russell EMMERSON (1904-1981)
. married Barbara Manson REID (1904-1963) in 1928

* Emily ENGLAND (1887-1959)
. married Charles Frederick PILCHER, son of John George PILCHER & Ellen PECK

* James EVANS
. married May Annie Katherine de LANEY
* Lily EVANS
- daughter of Frederic Henry EVANS & Alice Elizabeth TASKER
Pearl EVANS

* Doris HALL
* Gladys HALL
* Hector HALL
* Helen HALL

* Alexandra Wensley 'Queenie' HOOPER (1902-1977), 15th of 15 children of George HOOPER & Eliza Jane KING, (granddaughter of Reuben King). Queenie married John Leonard COUCHMAN (1903-1979) in 1928, buried Hawera

* Eva HUNT
* May HUNT

* Dorothy GORDON
* Isa GORDON
* Mabel GORDON
* Margaret GORDON

* Elizabeth GORRIE
* Gundy GORRIE

* Agnes MILNE
* Gwen MILNE
* Nelly MILNE

* Edith May PILCHER (1896-?)
. daughter of John Pilcher & Ellen Elliott, granddaughter of Edward ELLIOTT & Mary Ann PECK

* Thomas Joseph 'Tom' REA (1895-1965)
. son of Thomas Rea (1859-1938) & Mary Ann Hayes (1873-1961). He married Annie Ronan King (1918-) in Westport in 1943. Daughter of Michael Percival King & Mary Elizabeth Graham. He is buried Taita Old

* Ida Florence RUDMAN (1905-1987)
. married Clarence Gilbert BIRD 1930
* Roy Clifford RUDMAN (1901-1974)
. married Edna Myrtle JUDD 1926

* Gertrude SANDERS

* Frank SEARLE
* James SEARLE

* Stanley WILSON (1898-1969)
. son of William WILSON & Elizabeth PECK, married Annie FRANKLIN

School News during this time frame ..
Evening Post, 30 April 1909 FORTY YEARS AGO
The Genesis Of A Country School - A Faithful Secretary.
Month in and month out, for nearly two generations, the Taita school committee has met with regularity and, what is more interesting, on each occasion the same familiar figure - that of Mr Wm. Cleland – has occupied the secretary's chair. With the exception of one break on the occasion, of his taking up his residence at Petone for about three years, Mr Cleland has filled the post of secretary, being absent from one meeting only.
It was in the days of the old Provincial Government, in 1864, that the then settlers of the Taita and surrounding districts began to bestir themselves in the matter of securing a public school. Previously, a private school had been conducted by a Mr Robinson, but its benefits were not quite so far-reaching as could have been wished.
A meeting to discuss the project of a permanent school was held at the general rendezvous of that time – the bush hotel – then known by the sign of the Albion and situated on a site now occupied by Gadsby Bros. butchers. On the motion of a Mr W. Whitewood, it was resolved to set up a committee to canvass the district for subscriptions. The settlers, though comparatively small in numbers, responded fairly liberally, with the result that £150 was collected. Even so long ago deputations were the order of the day and the Provincial Government was waited upon by the settlers who had the project in hand. The Government, according to the minute-book of the secretary (Mr Cleland), which is still preserved intact, extended a very courteous reception, offering every encouragement and agreeing to grant a subsidy of pound for pound on all the subscriptions received, including a school site of a half-acre, donated By the late Mr George Buck. This seems to have given considerable impetus to the movement. The next step of importance was the acceptance of the tender of a Mr H. Meager for the erection of a two roomed schoolhouse, with dwelling attached. The fact that they had to pay for the tuition of their children does not appear to have produced any pronounced hesitation on the part of the settlers – many of whom were struggling hard for their existence – in deciding to send them to school. The district served by the school included Stokes Valley and the Nainai and to the credit of the original founders of the school, no less than between one hundred and two hundred children attended for instruction soon after its opening. At the Taita at the time mentioned, each child – through its parents, of course – had to pay £2 per annum for the privilege of receiving instruction; for two children in one family the charge was £3 10s and 30s for every other child. Despite the fees, however, very few children, if any, were debarred from receiving tuition; settlers often, paying for somebody else's children in cases where the parents could not find the money.
The first teacher engaged was Mr Walter Mantel, who continued in his position for some four or five years. The salary he received – £200 and house provided free – while by no means large, compares very favourably with some of the remunerations at present being paid to back-block teachers. Towards the payment of the teacher's salary, a subsidy was each year received from the Provincial Government. Some of the scholars were rough and ready specimens to keep under control, but notwithstanding this, their attendance was more regular than that of the children of to-day. Now and again the school would be plunged into perturbation by rumours of Maori risings, but nothing untoward happened until some years later when the building was destroyed by fire. After that, for an interval of a few months, the classes were housed in the old Wesleyan chapel. Meanwhile there was being built a new structure, which as in use at the present time. Gradually however, the general condition of things had been undergoing a metamorphosis; colleges had sprung up; new educational laws had come into operation and the system governing the school was greatly changed. The new building was erected by the Government, the settlers not being asked to assist financially. All that remains officially, to remind one of the early schooling days is the minute book, in which the business of the first and subsequent meetings of the original committee were recorded.
Incidentally, it may be said that it is noteworthy that the only members of the first committee who are alive today are Messrs W. Cleland, S. Milne and D. Hughey. The former has kept a store at Taita for many years, while Mr Milne is one of the oldest settlers, if not actually the oldest. The other gentleman has been away from the district for a number of years.