Dancing was probably the first social activity enjoyed by all settlers. We know that dances were held in Forster-Pratt's original woolshed which had been near to the road to Aokautere, where the Pacific International College site now is.
Hurricane lamps were used for illumination and the walls were hidden by great leaves of nikau palms and ferns. Forms for seating were placed around the sides.
The programme included quadrilles, lancers, de alberts, Berlin polka, waltz cotillions, and square dances. The ladies would wear long crinoline gowns with bustles while the men wore stiff shirts, white gloves, and proper patent leather dancing slippers.
Music was supplied by a band usually consisting of a piano, violin and cornet, or sometimes a piano accordion. A Master of Ceremonies would call the figures for square dances and see to the carrying out of the night's programme. The children would accompany their parents, joining in wherever possible, otherwise watching their parents enjoying themselves. Then home they would go in the old spring cart or trap. Only the large landowners would be rich enough to own a 4-wheeled buggy or a phaeton. Through the dense bush, they would go, bumping over the narrow rutted cart tracks until they arrived at their own home set in a small clearing in the bush.
These dances, usually preceded by a concert, were so renowned that busloads attended from Palmerston North.
Once the hall was built, the Forster-Pratt woolshed was no longer used for these functions.
The following was a typical advertisement from the Manawatu Evening Standard: