Ex-pupils dig up vintage snaps as rural Canterbury school ticks over 125 years
From reporter Tatiana Gibbs:
What first started out as sharing a 1st XI rugby photo from the 80s, has turned into a project that’s documented a rural Canterbury school’s 127-year history.
It’s been three decades since Verdon Kelliher was a pupil at Amuri Area School in Culverden, and he has now created an alumni Facebook page for ex-pupils and teachers of the school to take a walk down memory lane.
In the six months since the page's creation, it’s collected more than 800 members and shared 8000 images of class photos and copies of annual school magazines and newsletters.
Kelliher, 54, who now lives in Auckland, said the page came about by accident, after sharing an old rugby photo to social media that jogged a few memories.
“There was a bunch of banter and chat about how awesome we were back in the day, and it brought people together, and I started chatting away to people I hadn't talked to in years,” he said.
The page was initially going to be “something small”, but after discovering the school was ticking over the 125-year mark, it became a project.
“It’s been really gratifying, not only myself connecting with schoolmates but seeing other people connect … like people that went to school together in the 60s. It’s amazing to watch them rekindle their friendships.”
The result is essentially a library of images that maps out the school's 127-year history. Two school photo businesses, Camera & Digital and Fotographix, gave a “massive effort” by going through old rolls of film and digging up historic images.
The Amuri Area School Alumni group also rummaged up all but three year’s copies of the school’s annual magazine, Amurian, since it started in the 60s.
The rural school caters for primary and secondary ages, and currently has a roll of about 350 students. The roll has almost tripled from when Kelliher was one of 130 students.
It’s an innovative and fitting way to celebrate the school’s tenure after Covid disrupted plans to celebrate the big 125th anniversary two years ago.
Principal Matt Barlow joined the school in the fourth term last year, and said it was a “cool initiative” to help reconnect those who may not have been able to attend an in-person reunion.
“It's great to be a part of a community like this, and it’s an active community. That’s why this group has really taken off [because] people have a real connection to the area and the history in the area,” Barlow said.
“It’s been quite cool to see.”
The page also had a spreadsheet detailing the different jobs alumni have landed all over the world, and Kelliher hoped current and future students were inspired by it.
Skyhawk pilot, trainer driver, tour guide, dairy farmer, librarian, speech-language therapist, are just some of the many roles past pupils have shared.
“I’ve come to really realise that going to Amuri was a big advantage for me, that allowed me to be open to a lot of different things, be diverse, well-rounded,” Kelliher said.
He hoped to continue growing the page for the next generation of pupils to join, and was working with Barlow to organise an in-person reunion later this year.
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Fears motorway toll could leave North Canterbury town worse off
By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter
A community leader fears a toll on the proposed motorway extension could leave a North Canterbury town worse off.
Woodend-Sefton Community Board chairperson Shona Powell said she fears Woodend could face increased traffic without promised safety improvements, if a toll is introduced on the Belfast to Pegasus Motorway extension, which includes the proposed Woodend Bypass.
Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) last month announced consultation for a toll of $4.30 for light vehicles and $8.60 for heavy vehicles (including trucks) on the new 11km Manawatu Gorge Motorway, which will be completed next year.
It means commuters could be stung with paying an extra $43 a week in their travel costs.
The agency said the Belfast to Pegasus Motorway extension will be 9km, including the Woodend Bypass and the realignment and four laning south of Pineacres.
Woodend residents have been waiting for safety improvements since NZTA began consulting with the community eight years ago.
But the safety improvements have been placed on hold, pending the progress of the motorway extension.
‘‘My biggest concern is people will continue using the existing road through Woodend and will go through Kaiapoi or Tuahiwi to avoid paying the toll,’’ Powell said.
‘‘And Woodend may not get the safety improvements, so nothing changes.’’
Powell was also concerned the speed reduction from 100kph to 80kph on State Highway 1 between the Pegasus roundabout and Waikuku could be reversed, following changes to the Setting of Speed Limits rule being announced.
‘‘It was a speed limit requested by the community as a safety improvement.
‘‘To go back to having that fast speed limit for traffic coming from the north, it would just be disastrous.’’
NZTA director regional relationships James Caygill said the Government Policy Statement (GPS) on land transport requires the agency to consider tolling for new roads.
‘‘But it is too soon to discuss any potential tolling options until the scope and cost of this project has been confirmed’’.
Caygill was unable to confirm whether the 80kph speed limit between Pegasus and Waikuku would remain.
He said the agency will identify locations affected by the rule once it is finalised later in the year.
Transport Minister Simeon Brown said Waka Kotahi ‘‘is working at pace’’ to deliver the motorway extension.
‘‘NZTA’s project teams are reviewing the scope, design, cost, and timing of all Roads of National Significance projects to ensure consistency with expectations in the GPS on Land Transport 2024.’’
He said Government ‘‘will support any recommendation from NZTA to toll roads’’.
The Government was also committed to ‘‘reversing Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions’’, Brown said.
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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