Last night, the Hutt City Council and Hutt Sister City Foundation co-hosted a function at The Dowse in Lower Hutt to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the signing of the sister city agreement between Lower Hutt and Tempe.
About 100 people attended the event - a lot of those were past and present students, parents and teachers as well as our guests from Tempe - David Carrera and David Birdsell and his daughter Kelly.
It was very special to have the first three students to visit Tempe in 1985 there. A poignant moment was seeing them show a photo album of their trip to the 2016/17 students.
Mayor Ray Wallace kicked off proceedings by going through the history of our relationship with our sister city, Tempe. Marie-Louise Blockley was a guest speaker who explained how she was involved in getting Tempe to agree to become a sister city.
Paul Duffin, President of the HSCF spoke and revealed a new logo for the Hutt Sister City Foundation with the help of David Carrera, Tempe/Lower Hutt Student Co-ordinator.
After speeches and presentation of gifts to the Tempe guests, a cake was cut and supper was served. Kiralee Cooke, a 2016/17 student delegate along with fellow dancers from Step by Step gave a dance performance in the Atrium.
It was a fun evening for all those who attended - reliving memories and celebrating the strong connection that our two cities have had for 35 years.