Former pupil tracing old girls

Press, 20 February 1987, Page 5

Former pupil tracing old girls

Organisers of the Rangi Ruru Girls’ School centennial celebrations in March, 1989, have a resourceful ally in Mrs Helen Kitson, an old girl of the school.

Since the school's ninetieth anniversary celebrations in 1979 Mrs Kitson has been compiling a list of all the school’s former pupils including their addresses where possible. “I sat on that stage in the hall in 1979 and thought that the names of many of the old girls attending the anniversary celebrations would be lost, possibly for ever, if someone didn’t start to compile a full list,” she said.

“Most of the school rolls between 1889 and 1920 have been destroyed or lost, and often I have had to go by tips from old girls I speak to. For years I have visited elderly women trying to find out who they sat by in their classroom and any possible addresses.

"I think I am the only person to have compiled such a complete list for Rangi Ruru. It is possibly a fuller list than many other Christchurch schools have.”

Using Mrs Kitson’s list the centennial committee will try to invite every former pupil — about 6000 of them — to the celebrations. They will begin in March with a revue at the James Hay Theatre and end on Sunday, March 12, with an opening ceremony for centennial buildings and an informal lunch.

Mrs Kitson’s “hobby” took the interest of other members of her family, who have helped her with the research.

"We have looked through a. lot of school magazines and old girls’ notes and spoken to the mothers and even greatgrandmothers of some of the present pupils.” she said.

Mrs Kitson plans to spend more time during the winter on the research, which is complicated by former pupils’ being scattered throughout the world.