Christmas pageant held for 16th time

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32486, 22 December 1970, Page 18

Christmas pageant held for 16th time

The lights are on again at 70 Selwyn Street and they are brighter than ever this year for the sixteenth annual Christmas pageant and illuminations at the suburban home of Mr R. H. Stillwell.

Thousands of visitors see the display every year when Mr Stillwell takes time off from his duties as a city councillor, Transport, Hospital and Drainage Boards member, to follow his natural bent of showmanship. In his seventies, Mr Stillwell has lost none of the enthusiasm that marked his departure from the mundane world of mercery into the bright lights of cabarets. His 1970-71 display will do nothing to mar his reputation. If you look for a phantasmagoria, a message for world peace, the true meaning of Christmas, a laugh at the antics of toys of the electronic age, children’s expressive art or just the chance to wish at a well for the opening of a

new decade, Reg Stillwell will have it. While most citizens of Christchurch are tending their gardens with thoughts of fresh home-grown vegetables or flowers for the Christmas dinner table, Mr Stillwell’s mind goes to thoughts of what new he can provide in the way of entertainment in his garden—of good will. The results may be weird or wonderful, depending on the beholder, but they add spice to a Christchurch Christmas. A model train track vies with New Zealand polished gemstones, modern dolls with souvenirs of the two world wars, for some pride of place in what must be Christchurch’s most interesting garage. Its functional purpose ceases at the festive season.

lit becomes a theatrette and Mr Stillwell’s small car is left to the elements to make space for something that will attract someone. There are many new features, but to itemise them would read like an auctioneer’s catalogue or a toymaker’s dream. One, however is a display of children’s art from many countries. Approximately 400 paintings by. children, many of them Japanese or Polish, have been given to Mr Stillwell for the duration of his display by Mr D. A. Mason, a Christchurch man whose hobby is collecting schoolchildren’s art from around the world. Mr Mason is helping Mr Stillwell to man this display and another friend will be in the guise of Father Christmas for several nights this week, and guarantees not to give his visitors the disillusionment he has claimed for himself in a nom-de-plume over years of correspondence to the editor of “The Press.” If Mr Stillwell makes the show, the show also makes Mr Stillwell. It is an outlet for. a perennial youngster whose' enthusiasm for his own creations will nearly outmatch that of his youngest admirers.