First, I would like to acknowledge the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. On behalf of everyone at CCOBA, we appreciate everything Her Majesty has done for our country and her 70 years of service to the Commonwealth.
Also in our thoughts are the Old Boys and their families affected by the recent flooding in Marlborough.
I would also like to mention the passing of three inspiring Old Boys, Sir Miles Warren, Shailer Weston, and Tim Herrick. We have been honoured to host the funerals for Sir Miles and Shailer. We will also host the Memorial Service for Tim on Wednesday, 5 October. All have been very proud and supportive Old Boys by giving their time, treasure, and talent – underlining their strong commitment to philanthropy and service. Our thoughts are with their families at this sad time.
Community Visits
I have just finished six weeks of Community Visits and YOB events throughout New Zealand and Australia. It has been wonderful to meet so many of you and thank you for your support. From some of our most recent YOBs to Michael Gordon and 100-year-old Commander Richard Harding, it has been wonderful to see you. We still have a few more events being held this year, so please check out our upcoming Old Boy Events on the College website to see what is happening in your area.
Upcoming Old Boys Events
It is not too late to register for our 65, 66 and 75, 76 Years On Reunion and the Gentlemen’s Lunch. We also have a handful of spots available at our annual CCOBA Golf Tournament at the Christchurch Golf Club. Once again, Abraham Insurance is generously giving away a Land Rover Defender to a lucky Old Boy if he gets a ‘Hole in One’. Tickets are now also available to our very popular Christchurch Long Lunch. As always, seats are limited – so get in quick to avoid disappointment.
For the first time in three years, we are also hosting a London event on 10 January 2023 at The Gherkin. Whether you are on holiday in Britain or live in London or the wider area, we would love to see you there. Please register here.
College facilities for hire
If you wish to host a wedding, funeral, or an event at College, we now offer external hire of our Dining Hall, Chapel, Chapman Room, and multiple meeting rooms during the 16 weeks of the school holidays.
To find out more, please contact Advancement and Events Co-ordinator Gill Blackler at gill.blackler@christscollege.com or phone 03 364 6868 or 027 262 9881.
LinkedIn
We now have 895 Old Boys who are members of our private CCOBA LinkedIn community. If you would like to join, please click here.
I hope to see many of you over the next few months as the busy lead-up to Christmas gathers pace. I also hope that you enjoy our latest issue of The Quadrangle.
The entire College community is in mourning as we remember this significant Old Boy, who has not only carved an architectural career of excellence throughout New Zealand, but whose tangible contributions to College are evident everywhere on site.
Old Boy Michael Donaldson (13848) has won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Sound Editing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Programme at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles for his work on Peter Jackson’s documentary, "The Beatles: Get Back".
Old Boys Hugh (11556) and Ben (11867) Dampier-Crossley have flown across the globe to line up in the world’s longest and toughest horse race – the Mongol Derby.
A former Housemaster in Flower’s House, Dave Scott is undertaking a 3000-kilometre, fundraising, cycle journey in memory of his mother to support Lung Foundation NZ.
Old Boy Tim Fulton’s (11109) latest book, "The Clarence: People and Places of Waiau Toa", captures the contemporary story of rural life in New Zealand while also honouring the powerful traditions of the heartland.
Photographic artist, published author, and poet Tony Bridge (7931) (Te Rarawa, Te Rapuwai, Waitaha) has always remembered something one of his teachers told him in his first year at Christ’s College in 1967.
Reunion Weekend 2022–2023
10 Years On (2013–2017), 20 Years On (2003–2007), 30 Years On (1993–1997), 40 Years On (1983–1987), 50 Years On (1973–1977), 60 Years On (1963–1967), 70 Years On (1953–1957) and 80 Years On (1943–1947) Also, Old Boys from the postponed 2022 Reunion Weekend: 11 Years On (2012–2016), 21 Years On (2002–2006), 31 Years On (1992–1996), 41 Years On (1982–1986), 51 Years On (1972–1976), 61 Years On (1962–1966), 71 Years On (1952–1956) and 81 Years On (1942–1946) Register now
After navigating the ups and downs of Covid-19 restrictions, we have finally caught up with many Old Boys – including our younger members – and our wider community during recent social events in Auckland, Wellington, Hawke’s Bay, and Melbourne.
It has been wonderful to see so many of you, and enjoy the entertaining conversations and obvious delight as you greet old friends and make a few new ones across the generations of College Old Boys living in the North Island and Victoria, Australia.
See how many faces are familiar as we share just a sample of the many images from our recent Old Boys and community events.
Look out for updates in The Quadrangle on our upcoming events.
A highly regarded Chartered Accountant in public practice and the supervisor of the largest legal trust account department in Christchurch, Tim Herrick was also Chairman of Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools for 20 years.
When Christ’s College officially obtained a portion of the Government Domain in 1857i, the first changes to the land were buildings. Buildings that would house classrooms and accommodation for boarders and staff. There appears to have been little immediate concern about out-of-classroom activities as there were Raven’s Paddock and Hagley Park nearby for these to take place. Christ’s College was indeed the school in the country.
AC Barker photograph Lyttelton Album CCPAL42/33/2. 19 May 1863, Christ’s College Archives
In 1862, Silas James Stedman (130), a member of the Games Committee, proposed: “That the town surveyor be respectfully requested to come & look over the ground, & see what would be the best plan of setting to work on it.” This motion lapsed for want of a seconder.
Meanwhile, it appears that the Headmaster, Reginald Broughton, had built a shed and pigsty in the area, because on 29 December 1864, he asked the Board for permission to remove them prior to his leaving College.
Five years later, in 1869, the Games Committee agreed that a portion of the land that had been used to tether horses was levelled and sown with grass seed for a football ground.ii In 1870, a further portion behind the schoolroom was levelled, and it was proposed to borrow £50 for the job. Throughout 1871–1879, there is the occasional mention of grass and gorse being cut, as well as a record that a 5/- penalty would be paid for any horse loose on the paddock.iii
Searching for clear evidence for when the paddock was first used for school events is not easily forthcoming. The programme for the Annual Sports held on Michaelmas Day (29 September) 1868 indicates that after the main races had been held at the United Cricket Club Ground in the morning, the fives matches, round swing jump, high jump and long jump were held at the College in the afternoon. The complete Athletic Sports in October 1871 were definitely held at College.iv
Exactly when footballv matches were first played on the paddock is also not clear. The Chairmen who wrote up the minutes of the Games Committee were not expecting the future to need this information. There is the added complication that there was also a “College Ground” in Hagley Park.
A search of the newspapers mentions the “Old College Ground” in 1872 in respect to a game of cricket, so there was clearly a known differentiation by this date.vi
The first definitive description of the College ground, as it is today, was in the Lyttelton Times in June 1876.
“The College ground, though rather small, is well adapted for football, as it is perfectly level and of a sandy formation. There is consequently no mud, but the inconvenience of wet grass cannot be avoided, and it was felt in the present occasion.”vii
The present occasion was the loss by the Christchurch Football Club in its black and red colours to College’s black and white by 5–0.
The often-repeated involvement of Herbert Brown and the whole College in 1877 with their shovels and wheelbarrows levelling the ground and planting willow sticks on the bank does not appear until the 1921 4th Edition of the School List.viii However, a photograph of the high jump in the 1877 sports shows that at least a portion of the ground had been cleared.
CCPAL43/22/1 Christ’s College Archives
The photograph below from 1878ix coincides with a decision of the Games Committee to accept Napier’s tender of £13.10.0 to “lay down the ground at the top of the paddock”,x as well as a unanimous decision “not to play on the Square”xi and a negative response to the Christchurch Football Club request to be allowed to practice on the College ground after 4pm.xii
CCPAL43/24/1 Christ’s College Archives
More definite clues about the use of the ground appear in 1880, for on 2 April it was agreed not only that football would start on 5 April, but also that a new set of goal posts would be ordered. On this same date there is the first mention of the Upper Football Club. The Committee decided to get five footballs, two small ones for the Lower Club and three large ones for the Upper Club.xiii
That did not yet signal a change of name. On 6 April 1881, 40 loads of earth at 1/6 per load were ordered for the paddock.xiv In 1883 and 1884, further references were made to having the grass on the paddock cutxv and, as late as April 1936, there is a photograph of cricket on “the Paddock”.xvi
The first use of the terms Upper and Lower may date back further than football. In 1862, the Lower Cricket Club played the Caledonian Clubxvii and again in 1873 when they played a team from Charles Turrell’s school.xviii Surprisingly, there is no written record of an Upper Club.xix By 1869, the terms were applied to divisions within Mathematics and then regularly used to split large classes at the same level.
Can there be a definitive date when the “Paddock” became Upper? Not really. In the same way the ground was colloquially known as the “Paddock”, so it gradually became known colloquially as “Upper”.
i See http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/cca192819gv1928n1435.pdf and https://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Digitised/Ordinances/Ordinances_238-246.pdf ii Games Committee minutes 15 June 1869 and July 16 1869 iii Games Committee Minutes 4 April 1873, 30 March 1874, 25 Feb 1879, 3 February 1880 iv Annual Sports Programme for 1868, Webb Scrapbook, page 13; Annual Sports Programme for 1871 Games Committee Minute Book opposite entry 134 v The term football is used in this article to refer to both the Christ’s College Game and to the game that evolved into rugby. vi Press 27 January 1872 vii Lyttelton Times 12 June 1876. The College Team are not all named in the Lyttelton Times account that provided few initials, so it has been extrapolated that the team included Henry Duncan Crawford (454), William Varnham Millton (362), Frank Nelson Robinson (484), Richard Malone Hamilton (365), Arthur Edgar Gravenor Rhodes (341), John Mortimer Davie (364), FitzGerald George Westenra (404), James Strickland Field (415), John Dothie Millton (363), Herbert Brown (413) viii The School List of the Christ’s College Grammar School from 1850–1921 4th edition p331 ix The date because the building that would ultimately become Selwyn is under construction. x Games Committee Minutes April 16 and April 19 1879. xi Games Committee Minutes June 14, 1878 xii Games Committee Minutes July 8 1878. xiii The Games Committee used the terms Upper and Lower club to refer to cricket teams in the previous meeting 23 February 1880 xiv Games Committee Minutes 6 April 1881 xv Games Committee Minutes 5 February 1883, 22 April 1884 xvi Christ’s College Register April 1936 opp page 240 xvii Cricket Scorebook CCSB/1/1 xviii Lyttelton Times 18 February 1873 xix The term Upper Club was used at Eton to refer to the 1st XI
