Some books from your childhood just stick in your memory. For me one of those books is The Three Robbers - a story of three black-clad robbers plundering the countryside - and on the cover that big red axe! The Three Robbers So, it was sad to hear that the artist behind that image, Tomi Ungerer, had…
Across the wartime waves: Message in a bottle
Though hills and waters divide us, And you I cannot see. Remember that the writer thinks The nicest things of thee. So read the message placed in a bottle by four Christchurch lads off on, what many had thought, would be a great adventure. Dated 21 October 1914 the bottle with the message had been…
The twelve days of Christmas
Join us in a festive celebration of Christchurch photographic heritage as every day we find a new gift in our Christmas basket. On the Twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me... Twelve Festive Cyclists Eleven Maypole dancers Ten Ladies punting Nine Cabbies waiting Eight Maids a-Modelling Seven Surf Lifesavers Six Friends a-Leaping…
100 years ago: Canterbury Hall fire
"One of the biggest and most destructive fires experienced in the city in recent years took place last night, when the big block of buildings known as the Canterbury Hall, comprising His Majesty's Theatre, the Alexandra and Victoria Halls, the offices of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, the offices of the Canterbury Industrial Association…
These Dividing Walls
Far back on the Left Bank, there is a secret quarter. A warren of quiet streets sandwiched between boulevards where little traffic moves. On a corner stands a building with a turquoise door - Number 37 Set over a hot summer in a shabby corner of Paris we are introduced to the residents of Number…
With lashings of ginger beer*
It is difficult not to reveal one’s age when discussing anything you may have read or watched in your childhood but I loved watching the Famous Five on TV. I was an Enid Blyton reader during my childhood but my oeuvre during my younger years had been more along the lines of the Magic Faraway…
Culinary delights from 1917
A look back in time to last century when newspapers featured recipes with mystery ingredients, and suggested reading for more modern cookery
100 years ago today: Sign of the Kiwi opens
In June 1917, the new tea house at the summit of Dyer’s Pass was officially opened. “The new house at Dyer’s Pass, now half an hour’s walk from the tram terminus, appears destined to be known just as the Rest House, although in some quarters it is called the Toll House. It is a tea…
Opening of the Harbour Light Theatre
The queue had started long before the official opening at 8pm and while they waited the crowd was entertained by musical selections from the Lyttelton Marine Band. The Deputy Mayor, J.T. Morton, started the official proceedings, apologising for the absence of the Mayor, Mr Radcliffe, who had been unable to be present due to illness…
100 years ago today: Antarctic explorers remembered
A hundred years ago, on 9 February 1917, two very different Antarctic stories were being celebrated in New Zealand. In Christchurch on 9 February 1917 a statue to honour the Antarctic explorer Robert Scott was unveiled. The Scott Memorial Statue stood on the corner of Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace and had been commissioned by…
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