Reporter’s diary

Press, 28 April 1981, Page 2

Reporter’s diary

Memorabilia A SCHOOL is much more than just the pupils who attend. It also comprises the thousands of practical items used by’ them. It is this huge “reservoir” of articles from the past that organisers of the Christchurch Boys’ High School centennial are hoping to tap. Old straw; boaters gethering dust and any other items from sports gear to cups and medals, photographs and school magazines are being sought on loan to the school. All will help to give' substance to the years of long dim memories that more than 3000 ex-pupils will share next week. Treasured gift

ONE FORMER pupil, Mr William Deans, aged 90. of Darfield, has loaned a bible given to him by his house master in 1907/ Mr Deans

carried the bible with him right through the First World War, including the time he was injured on Gallipoli. Nomadic gnome CEDRIC is a gnome. His normal home is the front lawn of a Christchurch flat occupied by some members of a local football club. Late last season Cedric disappeared. Soon after colour photographs began to arrive from Australia. All showed Cedric outside well-known vistas across the Tasman. Cedric beamed out his jolly grin from the steps of the Sydney Opera House, the Kings’Cross Fountain, Bondi Beach etc. A few days ago Cedric returned. There he stood on the front lawn again. His face was painted brown and he wore sunglasses — evidence it appears of the last few months in the sunshine of Australia.

New sounds CAMBODIAN language is rarely heard on radio in New Zealand, but a new effort by a Wellington radio station, 2YD. in its “Access Radio” programme is helping this small group of Asian refugees to hear something of their own language and customs. Plans are being discussed about the possibility of providing a similar service on a regular basis for Vietnamese people. With more than 500 Vietnamese in the South Island there is likely to be a strong demand for a regular service here. Security pruning AUSTRALIAN police want to top some of Melbourne's finest old ornamental trees, because they are on the route being used for 30 minutes by 500 Commonwealth ministers and officials during the Commonwealth Conference in

September. Plans to prune the trees to make way for $750,000 worth of police television security monitors have drawn the ire of city planners who believe that pruning the 80-year-old elm trees could kill them. One of the planners has told the police that if they are so concerned about the V.I.P.s “they should put them in.armoured vans.” Photographs A VICTORIAN photograph album bought by a Riccarton resident at a local antique shop has been found to contain many family photographs taken about 1887 and 1888. Only two, however, are identified. They are a young baby, Ethel May Vivian, and a boy, Lionel George James Slade. Possible descendants of these people could phone 43-301 to claim the photographs.