UPCOMING EVENTS

SAVE THE DATE

A message to all Medbury Old Boys, and the Medbury family ...

In 2023, Medbury celebrates 100 years, and the school will hold multiple events to acknowledge the occasion.

Medbury starts its celebrations on its actual birthday – 9 February. This special occasion will be recognised with a Founders' Day service at Medbury, followed by an evening cocktail party for the opening of the refurbished Ballantyne House and a separate black-tie Centenary Gala Dinner.

The school will recognise all the sport, art, and culture of Medbury with specific tournaments and productions during the school terms.

You can catch up with old friends at Medbury’s decade reunions – hosted off-site at various Christchurch venues – throughout the year.

Medbury welcomes all Old Boys, and members of the wider Medbury family to join in these celebrations and reconnect and reminisce.

For more information, see here – Medbury Centenary Events. You can also learn more via the Medbury Old Boys Facebook page – Medbury Old Boys Facebook.

Joe Studholme Memorial Car Rally

We invite you to join us for the Joe Studholme Memorial Car Rally to two North Canterbury properties on Sunday 26 February 2023.

In the morning, we will visit Old Boy Andy Fox’s Waikari Valley farm, Foxdown, where you can view a collection of fascinating historical items, including vintage and classic cars.

In the afternoon, we will visit Old Boy Richard and Anita Todd’s property, Saddlewood, near Hawarden. Their lovely farmhouse sits in a beautiful garden setting, with expansive views.

Remember to bring your picnic lunch, and assemble in the College Quad ready for our 9.30am departure. Further details will be sent via email. Please book your rally spot here and contact Martin Vincent mvincent587@gmail.com or Rod Buchanan oberau@xtra.co.nz if you have any queries.

CCOBA Yacht Race

The annual Christ’s College Old Boys’ Yacht Race is planned for Saturday 4 March. We would love you to join us.

This is going to be so much more than just a yacht race. It will be a chance to compete for the Jeremy Turnbull Memorial Trophy.

Skippers are to arrange their own crews and the race will start from the Waikawa Yacht Club at 1pm on Saturday 4 March, following a briefing at 12pm. Afterwards, there will be post-race celebrations and presentations at Kumutoto Bay. Please bring finger food.

For any queries please contact:

• Zac Ensor 03 572 4882 or ensor.d@xtra.co.nz
• Nigel Taylor 03 572 8969 or mill.stream@xtra.co.nz

We look forward to seeing you for a day of fast, competitive racing.

Christchurch Long Lunch

Our annual Long Lunch at The Christchurch Club again brought together our Old Boys on Friday 18 November. We were all entertained by an excellent guest speaker and College Old Boy, former New Zealand cricket captain John Wright. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch-up with friends, make new connections and just enjoy the company of others.

Christchurch YOBs

On Thursday 24 November at Kong Bar, we held our Christchurch YOBs event with their counterparts from St Margaret’s College.

Save the date for the next YOBs event – 29 November 2023 at The Bog.

London Community Visit

'The Gherkin' was a great place to hold our CCOBA event in London. For those unfamiliar with it, The Gherkin is an eye-catching commercial skyscraper in the city’s financial district. It was fantastic to welcome Old Boys of all ages, from those who had just headed off on their OE through to those who had called London home for decades.

Obituaries

Sir Allan Frederick Wright, KBE (5263)

An agricultural leader and successful businessman, Sir Allan Wright also played a major role at Lincoln University as the first Chancellor.

Read full obituaries here

Deaths

November 2022–January 2023

We have learnt of the following deaths in our community. Our sympathy is extended to their family and friends.

Simon Reid ARCHIBALD (6108)
Auckland, 13 November 2022

Stanlea Jack LAWN (5216)
Nelson, 17 November 2022

Kenneth Morgan PILBROW (5518)
Bay of Plenty, 18 November 2022

Angus Jeremy PARK (5880)
Hawke's Bay, 22 November 2022

Sir Allan Frederick WRIGHT, KBE (5263)
Christchurch, 27 November 2022

Robin Arnold EMMETT (5575)
Canterbury, 30 November 2022

Jeremy Charles Upham AGAR (6360)
Christchurch, 8 December 2022

Charles Fortnom COX (7010)
Bay of Plenty, 16 December 2022

Derek John HARGREAVES (6403)
Christchurch, 20 December 2022

David Rutherford BRUCE (5919)
Marlborough, 27 December 2022

Christopher Reid ARNESEN (6365)
Christchurch, 31 December 2022

Michael Richard FOSTER (10567)
Auckland, 2022

Colin Ernest Walter AVERILL (5733)
Christchurch, 3 January 2023

Timothy Edward RICHARDSON (5965)
Auckland, 6 January 2023

William Francis WATSON (5454)
Christchurch, 12 January 2023

Contributions welcome

If you would like to contribute an obituary to The Chronicle, please email Lizzie Dyer at ccoba@ccoba.com.

As a guideline, we suggest a 500-word submission. However, we are happy to accept longer or shorter options.

*Please note that this office may edit obituaries.

A week of it …

Life in the archives is full of surprises. You never know what question you are going to be asked by the public or Old Boys or which piece of College history the staff want researched.

In one week recently, there were three surprise additions to the College collections.

The first was a photograph of North Town. North Town – so named because the boys allocated to that House lived north of Gloucester Street – is now Julius House. In 1923, 93 boys were the responsibility of one Housemaster, James Monteath. The backstory to the photograph was that the donor found it used as a backing board when a piece of art – that had been in the family in Auckland for many years – was taken apart for reframing.

This means we now have photographs of both North Town and South Town in the collection, taken in the same year by Steffano Webb’s studio.

The second surprise was a teaspoon. Why was this a surprise? Because I had never seen one before with ‘Christ’s College’ engraved on its handle. It was found by the donor while cleaning out a drawer at a family farm property in Waikato. The reverse has a clear ‘W&H’ inside a pennant, which indicates it has been made by Walker and Hall of Sheffield and is silver-plated. However, the other marking, ‘ORUBA’, has all those who make comments on such things on the internet somewhat mystified. The donor believed it could be dated to the 1950s.

Can any Old Boy add to this information?

Surprise number three came from Thomas (Tom) Webb Tothill (5712). The 1st XV cap worn in 1915–1917 belonged to his father, Thomas Webb Compton Tothill (2357).

The Christ’s College Registers for these years describe Tothill’s contributions to the game. He was initially described as a “light” forward and weighing 9st 12lb in the 1915 game against CBHS in a team that was regrouping. By 1916, he weighed 12st against CBHS and was involved in “fine forward play”.

In 1917, he was named captain of the 1st XV and, along with his other College duties, Head Prefect, Lieutenant of the No 1 Platoon, a member of the Games Committee, 1st Cricket XI, the Debating Committee, the Entertainment Committee and one of the editors of the Register. He must have had a very busy year.

However, that was not all. At the Athletic Sports, he was 1st in putting the weight, and the scratch half-mile open, and 2nd in the mile open. At the end of the year, he was awarded prizes for English, French, Divinity, and Mathematics, in addition to 2nd in the Tancred History and 3rd in the Tancred Literature essays.

In 1923, after completing a Bachelor of Science, TWC Tothill returned to College and taught Science until 1960.

Prefects – 1917:
Back row (from left): Adrian Frederick Hindmarsh (2805), Francis Wentworth Maslin Cowlishaw (2437), Lionel Esmond Cooke (2435), and Francis Edward George Batley (2628).
Front row (from left): James Busby Williams (2828), Philip Pinckney Boulnois (2707), Thomas Webb Compton Tothill (2357), Roger Charles Blunt (2706), and John Henry McLean Edmond (2857).