UPCOMING EVENTS

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Reunion Weekend

Old Boys aged 33–93 years enjoyed a variety of events at this year’s Reunion Weekend. It’s fantastic to see consistently strong numbers. We were particularly thrilled to welcome so many 20 Years On Old Boys.

Click here for the Cocktail Party photos
Click here for the Reunion Lunch photos
Click here for the Year Group photos

Jeremy Turnbull Memorial Trophy

We enjoyed a wonderful day of sailing in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds, with crews vying for the Jeremy Turnbull Memorial Trophy in the 6th annual CCOBA Yacht Race. Congratulations to Peter Carpenter for taking out top honours with Freaky, followed by Alastair Shanks on Skara Brae. Thank you to all the officials who have ensured a day of smooth sailing.

Joe Studholme Memorial Vintage and Car Classic Day

The Joe Studholme Memorial Run is a very relaxed day out, with Old Boys, partners, and parents of Old Boys, and current students all welcome. We stopped for morning tea in Coalgate at Rowallan, the home of Phil and Joss Deans, followed by lunch at Terrace Station in Hororata.

North Canterbury Community Visit

Black Estate, owned by Old Boy Nicholas Brown (10822), turned on a beautiful evening for our North Canterbury event. Stunning food and a magical setting.

Southern Lakes Community Visit

This event was held for the first time at Millbrook Resort. Southern Lakes is our second-largest boarding community, and we always enjoy catching up with so many of our Old Boys, together with current and prospective parents.

Waimakariri Community Visit

Another great event, again hosted at Fools of Desire in Rangiora.

Wanaka A&P Show

What a great two days in an absolutely stunning location. Thank you to the steady stream of Old Boys of all ages who dropped in to say hello. We took the opportunity to display the Old Boys poster of the late Sir Tim Wallis, a leading aviation entrepreneur and businessman who lived in Wanaka.

Obituaries

William Wilson Harris (7955)

Bill Harris lived a life akin to a war correspondent before settling for a quieter life as an academic at the University of Otago. Passionate about the Middle East after his years living there, Bill was rated by students as the most interesting lecturer in the Politics Department at the time.

Kenneth Percival Fyans Neill (4413)

Kenneth Neill was a pilot during World War 2, serving in a variety of countries before eventually returning to New Zealand. He farmed in New Zealand, had a keen interest in dog trials, and after retiring, took up cabinet-making.

Peter George McAlister Imrie (5493)

Peter was a geothermal specialist whose work took him frequently to Asia where he shared his expertise. In retirement, he used his considerable computing knowledge to assist a variety of organisations.

Read full obituaries here

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.

More digitisation

The summer holidays are always a good time for photographs to leave the archives and travel to New Zealand Micrographic Services for digitisation. The oldest photos were three of the cricket teams of 1883, 1884, and 1885. Clearly, they needed to be digitised as they showed evidence of fading because of the fixing process used in the 19th century when they were produced. The 1885 photo also shows evidence of foxing, which is either because of fungal growth or imperfections in the photographic paper.

The most interesting part of the collage is the reverse, where the photographs of 1884 and 1885 can be seen to be examples of cabinet cards. These were introduced in the 1860s and lingered until World War I.

In 1884 and 1885, the cricket team visited the studio of Niels Peter Schourup in Colombo Street between Lichfield Street and Cashel Street. Schourup had arrived in Christchurch with his wife, Sophia Louisa, on the S.S. Omeo in January 1875. He originated from Denmark and had spent the previous 12 years in Adelaide and Melbourne, working as a photographer.ⁱ

The reverse of the card was a source of advertising and Schourup certainly made use of it, announcing the Gold Medal that he was awarded at the Christchurch International Exhibition in Hagley Park in 1882 for both plain and coloured photography.ⁱⁱ

What do we know about these teams? For an answer, we are indebted to the first years of the Christ’s College Sports Register.

ⁱⁱⁱIn a heading, ‘The Cricket Season 1883–84’, there is a pithy summary: “Good steady bowling, very fair fielding, and weak batting were its characteristics.”

Despite that, the team won against Christchurch Boys’ High School, with Annesley Frederick George Harman (582) top scoring with 31 runs. Other games were played against a Midland XI, the United 2nd XI, Geraldine, the Midland 2nd XI, and the Lancaster Park 2nd XI.

The report of the 1884–85 season was written by an Old Boy. He describes it as “not disgraceful by any means; still not quite the sort of one which a Christ’s College Eleven should sit down content”, but later comments “taken as a whole the Eleven and its doings have given its friends no cause to be ashamed and good reason to hope for a still greater measure of success next year”.

Beauchamp Ranald Macdonald (1082) took the prize for the best batting throughout the season over 17 innings (144 runs with an average of nine). Arthur Cecil Perry (867) (medium round) was awarded the prize of the best bowling (758 balls, 28 maidens, 285 runs, 39 wickets with an average of 7.3).

What do these photographs tell us about the development of the College uniform? The variety of ties is not surprising as various versions of black and white stripes lingered until 1911. What is particularly interesting is the appearance of boaters in both the 1884 and 1885 images. The black and white ribbons were introduced in 1883, and the prefects were photographed wearing them that year. More intriguing is the 1st XI cap balanced on the knee of Arthur Gladstone Cox (887) in 1885. This proves that the cap was in existence prior to the cricket blazer first worn in 1886. That Cox is in the photograph is itself worthy of comment. He had played in the team continuously since 1881 and captained it in 1883 and 1884. He returned as a teacher from 1885–1887.

ⁱ Early New Zealand Photographers and their successors https://canterburyphotography.blogspot.com/
ⁱⁱ New Zealand International Exhibition 1882 https://canterburystories.nz/collections/publications/ccl-cs-18811
ⁱⁱⁱ Christ’s College Sports Register May 1884, February and September 1885