College – Issue 43 2023

High-flying adventures with King Charles, a Cambridge scholar, running for New Zealand, food for thought from an Old Boy artist – all in the new College magazine.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

SAVE THE DATE

Celebrating Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney’s hugely influential architectural partnership

Maurice & I co-directed and produced by Rick Harvie and Jane Mahoney (Maruice's daughter), is a feature-length documentary celebrating Old Boy Sir Miles Warren and Maurice Mahoney’s hugely influential architectural partnership, and their legacy that was all but lost in the devastating Christchurch earthquakes.

This remarkable partnership, their approach to design and their signature use of materials transformed the face of Christchurch in the 60s and 70s, and influenced their architectural peers throughout New Zealand.

Maurice & I combines rare archival footage alongside exclusive interviews with Sir Miles and Maurice Mahoney, including their final interview together.

Click here to support this film by donating to their crowdfunding campaign.

Football tour just around the corner

This September/October, a group of 28 football (soccer) playing students from Christ’s College will head to US and Canada. Following a very successful tour in 2018, we are venturing back to North America to continue the positive growth and development of our players. The group, largely made up of boys from our 1st XI and development teams, will be playing games against local school teams as well as participating in exchange activities, sightseeing and touring. Washington DC, Richmond, Baltimore, New York, Boston and Toronto are just some of the destinations on the tour.

We know this tour will help to continue building our football programme within College. Together with playing against local schools, the boys will participate in some professional training sessions and visit professional sporting venues as part of their development. We believe this will improve their skills and deepen their understanding of the game.

This tour will also help build connections and relationships for the College with other IBSC (International Boys School Coalition) schools, who we are visiting and playing games against. The fact that we are revisiting four of the schools we connected with on the previous tour, is testament to the strength and support schools within the IBSC organisation can provide each other.

Old Boys may also be located in cities we’re visiting. On our last tour, we were lucky enough to touch base with Chris Parr (6554) who was in Harper House (1959) and Phil Houlding (11597) who was the 1st XI football captain in 1997. We see this as another good opportunity to engage with a growing number of Old Boys who reside in the US or Canada. If there are any Old Boys who would like to catch-up or visit us, or who might be able to connect us with some unique opportunities on the tour, we would love to hear from you.

Alternatively you can follow the tour by checking in with our tour blog: https://christscollegefootballtour2023.com/

Kind regards,
Matt Cortesi – Director of Character & Leadership, and Service
MiC Football

mcortesi@christscollege.com
Mobile: 027 268 9434

Christ’s College Students & Old Boys’ Art Exhibition

A multi-layered exhibition that showcases a stunning array of artworks by Old Boys and students will open at Christ’s College in October.

Featuring a range of vibrant and striking pieces, the Christ’s College Students & Old Boys’ Art Exhibition will be unveiled at a special, invitation-only, opening night in the Assembly Foyer on Friday 13 October from 6–8pm. The exhibition will then be open to the public from Saturday 14 October–Sunday 15 October, from 10am–8pm.

For Old Boy artist and curator Oli Aikawa (15225), the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to “showcase the artistic talent that Christ’s College has helped to nurture and develop”.

“The upcoming exhibition also builds on the past, with Old Boys joining with younger artists and students to exhibit a remarkable range of art in the Assembly Foyer.

“Among the Old Boys and students, there are many talented artists with amazing visual arts skills. All want to share their work with a wider audience.

“I am committed to reinstating the tradition of the College art exhibition, and now feel that this integral element of College life has been restored to its rightful place.”

An award-winning painter, Oli has created his own collection of works – titled Kā Pākihi-whakatekateka-a-Waitaha – for the exhibition. It features his favourite moments in time and much-loved Canterbury landscapes.

Exhibition dates

Saturday 14–Sunday 15 October, 10am–8pm
Exhibition (open to the public)

Monday 16 October, 6pm
Open to those attending the Sedley Wells Music Competition

Wednesday 18 October, 10am–2pm
Open to those Old Boys attending the Gentlemen's Lunch and the 65 & 75 Years On Reunion

Friday 20 October, 11am
Open to those attending The Pink Lunch

Grandparents Day

Grandparents flocked to College for the annual College Grandparents’ Day celebration. Together with their grandsons, hundreds packed the Chapel and the Chapman Room, explored the grounds and the buildings and saw first-hand the school life enjoyed by their grandsons.

Hawke's Bay Community Visit

We were thrilled to catch up with so many Old Boys – young and more senior – in Hawke's Bay last week. At our Community Event, Peter Williams was the lucky winner of the 10 Houses Gin. Thanks to Old Boy Hugo Fitzsimmons for hosting us at Giant Brewing Co.

Obituaries

Richard Crawford Studholme (5893)

Richard Studholme was a well-respected teacher of French and German. After studying and working overseas, he returned to Christ’s College as a tutor and later Housemaster.

Read full obituaries here

Deaths

June–August 2023

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

Charles Robert JEPSON (7696)
Victoria, 5 June 2023

John Allen RICHARDS (6450)
London, 28 June 2022

David Lester GOODE (6284)
Canterbury, 23 July 2023

Derek Boyd HUGHEY (5206)
Christchurch, 26 July 2023

Angus David MACDONALD (5399)
Southland, 31 July 2023

Nigel James WARDEN (5986)
Wellington, 31 July 2023

Hugh Charles BRIDGE (5282)
East Coast, 1 August 2023

Bruce Neill Goodenough ALEXANDER (5464)
Christchurch, 3 August 2023

Myles Reece HUSTON (11598)
Canterbury, 5 August 2023

Gordon Eric Garnett BREMNER (6257)
Bay of Plenty, 11 August 2023

Michael Frank DINWIDDIE (5399)
Bay of Plenty, 18 August 2023

Peter Hugh Radclyffe ROBERTS (6453)
East Coast, 20 August 2023

James Pembroke Hughes CLOUSTON (10828)
Marlborough, 22 August 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 mystery half-solved

Inside the front door of School House is an item of furniture. There is a rumour that it is an altar that arrived in Canterbury on one of the first four ships. A search of the ledgers for the Canterbury Association – held in the Christchurch Anglican Diocesan Archives – has no mention of an altar on the first four ships or on any of the Canterbury Association ships.

A plaque on the item of furniture reads:

These versions of
Holy Scripture
were presented to
The Rev’d Samuel Charles Wilks MA
By the
British & Foreign Bible Society.
This cabinet was presented by
the Congregation of Hampstead Chapel, Middlesex AD 1834

So, let us work our way through the clues:

• It is a cabinet created to hold Bibles
• The Bibles were presented by the British & Foreign Bible Society
• The recipient of the Bibles and the cabinet was Samuel Charles Wilks
• The cabinet was presented by the Congregation of Hampstead Chapel.

The centrepiece in the story is obviously Samuel Charles Wilks (1789–1872). He has proved to be a little elusive but, in summary, Samuel Wilks:

• Matriculated at St Edmund’s Hall, Oxford in 1810 and completed a BA in 1814, followed by an MA in 1816
• Was ordained a deacon in 1813 and a priest 1816 by Richard Beadon, Bishop of Bath and Wells
• Was appointed to curacies in Somerset and Devon
• Was the editor of the Christian Observer 1816–1849
• Retired to Nursling in 1847 near Southampton, where he ministered until his death.

There are two important clues in this summary – St Edmund’s Hall and the Christian Observer.

The Christian Observer – an evangelical periodical that appeared from 1802–1874 – was associated with the Clapham Sect or Clapham Saints. The most well-known member was William Wilberforce, who lived in Clapham, then a village in south-west London. This group was concerned with the abolition of the slave trade, the reform of the penal system, and missionary activity at home and abroad. Many of these reformers were associated with St Edmund’s Hall. It was Wilberforce who suggested that Samuel Marsden cut short his studies at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Marsden was then appointed assistant chaplain in the newly established convict settlement of New South Wales. By 1800, he was chaplain and magistrate and remained in contact with the Clapham Sect.ⁱ

Now to turn to the British & Foreign Bible Society. It was founded in 1804 in London, as a non-denominational society to “encourage the wider circulation of the Holy Scripture without note or comment”.ⁱⁱ In New Zealand, and more widely, the society helped established missions increase their publication of translations. Indeed, after an apprenticeship with a Cornish printer and working with the society’s printer, Richard Watts and Co, William Colenso was sent to New Zealand in 1854.

Then there is the question of the Hampstead Chapel. Research indicates that there are two choices, based on the name on the plaque. It was either a nonconformist chapel, or a chapel of ease for the parish church. What is known is that Hampstead had a Bible Society that was an auxiliary of the British & Foreign Bible Society.ⁱⁱⁱ

So that is as far as the research has been able to go. It would be good to write an update on this story. However, more information is needed. It was a large piece of furniture to bring to New Zealand, so how did it get here? How and when did School House acquire it? What is the connection with Samuel Wilks and the British & Foreign Bible Society? Any help in untangling the other half of the mystery would be appreciated.

ⁱ Newman, K. 2010. Bible and Treaty. Penguin Books p26
ⁱⁱ Lineham, P. J. 1996. Bible and Society. The Bible Society in New Zealand Daphne Brasell Associates Press p1
ⁱⁱⁱ https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol9/pp81-91#fnn235H