Reporter’s Diary

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33815, 11 April 1975, Page 3

Reporter’s Diary

Vetr gallery TWO Christchurch women plan to open a new art gallerv in Christchurch early" next month. Mrs Barbara Brooke and Mrs Judy MacFarlane have obtained premises upstairs in Manchester Street near High Street, and intend to exhibit the woik of contemporary Christchurch painters — “those who work with a degree of professionalism.” They ■will also show the work of artists from other parts of the country, and a feature of their gallery (to be called the Brooke Gifford Gallery) will be a large stockroom where people can see representative selections of work by particular artists. Their aim is to offer advice to buyers of paintings, as -well as to promote the best local work. Mrs MacFarlane is the wife of a painter. Quentin MacFarlane. Mrs Brooke was secretary of the CanterburySociety of Arts for a number of years, and was coeditor of “New Zealand Arts Journal." She and her husband had a gallery in Cashel Street, known as Gallerv 91. back in 1959.

Aof guilty ONE incurable pipesmoker had a narrow escape this week. He has been known to drop glowing embers on the carpet, and was the number-one suspect when his wife found a nasty burn on the dining table. Fortunately an elementary knowledge of schoolboy science enabled him to clear himself of ah. charges. On the table was a glass bowl which he was able to show had acted as a lens and focussed the rays of the afternoon sun exactly where the french polish was scorched. .1/ oneybags RANGI RURU Girls’ School will be the envy of its contemporaries. Its recent school fair raised, not hundreds of dollars as is customary with these events, but the enormous sum of §9500. “I put it down to the calibre of our parents,” said the headmistress. Mrs Raywyn Adam. "They held lots of working bees. sewing clothes and baking cakes. And of course the countrypeople gave a lot of meat. Our white elephant stall made a great deal.” The secret, apparently, was sheer bulk of goods for sale — plus the novelty of

the event. Rangi Ruru has not held a fair for six years. They money, which had to be counted by a security firm, will be used to help pay for a new gymnasium. Secondary job TED HEATH, the former British Prime Minister, seems poised for a new part-time profession as an orchestra conductor, says the “Sunday Express”. He will go to Cologne and Bonn in West Germany this week with the London Symphony Orchestra and "will raise his baton for money for the first time.” Mr Heath is well known in Britain for his prowess on the organ, and has conducted choirs and orchestras before. The orchestra's managers would not say how much he would be paid, but the newspaper says fees for orchestra conductors range from £450 to £2OOO ($BOO to $3350). Spooked "IT’S THE Holy Ghost.” declared the chairwoman when a disembodied male voice mysteriously and unexpectedly spoke forth through the sound system at the Catholic Women's League’s diocesan conference in Christchurch this week. But no, it was only a taxi-driver communicating with his radio dispatcher.

Gets the message MR TOM HAY, former chairman of the Canterbury branch of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, gets a calendar every year from the Forest Service. Usually, he told this week’s branch meeting, the calendar pictured exotic pines. This year it showed native beech trees —- but it was bordered with funeral black, which indicated what, sort of fate was planned for them. “They send me the calendar,” said Mr Hay. “to show me how many chopping days till Christmas.” .I ppeal MR AND MRS A. R. JOYCE lost all their possessions when their flat in Quinns Road was destroyed by fire late on Tuesday evening — but the social club at the place where he works has started an appeal for the family. The couple have two children, and a third is expected at any time. The New Zealand Freighters’ social club had raised $55 for the family by noon yesterday, and was seeking more contributions. Both cash and furniture were needed, and the club asked for offers or contributions to be sent to P.O. Box 7069, or for givers to telephone 67-759. None of the family’s possessions were insured.