Hospital chapel

Press, 30 May 1989, Page 16

Hospital chapel

.Sir,—Like many others I thought the controversy over the Christchurch Hospital Nurses’Memorial Chapel had long ago been laid to rest. As Miss Brankin and Mrs Silverston explained in their letter (May 23), all six branches of the Christchurch School of Nursing Association have for some years been involved in fund-raising for a chapel to be located in the heart of the new hospital buildings and to incorporate as much of the interior of the present chapel as can be preserved. Sad as many of us are who have used, loved and appreciated the old chapel, I feel nostalgia should not blind us to the fact that it will cease to fulfil the purpose for which all chapels are built when the hospital’s rebuilding programme leaves it isolated, relatively inaccessible to patients, visitors and staff and a possible target for vandals. Its beautiful stained glass windows and the fine Gurnsey carvings will be much more safely housed in a centrally located chapel and preserve memories of the original, the loss of which is a sacrifice that must be made to serve the needs of future generations of patients, visitors and nurses. — Yours, etc., H. CAMPBELL. May 26, 1989. Sir,—ln 1975 when the North Canterbury Hospital Board suggested demolishing the Nurses’ Memorial Chapel to make way for temporary operating theatres, it also suggested transferring the memorial windows, carving, etc., to a temporary chapel in the nurses’ old home. Many people throughout New Zealand protested most vehemently and we were able to preserve the chapel. However, in : the intervening years there have been many changes, with the redevelopment of Christchurch Hospital, the closing of the School of Nursing based at Christchurch Hospital, and now the formation of the Canterbury Area Health Board. If the chapel is relocated now into the the new hospital

it will be used by staff, patients and relatives and will be cared for and maintained as befitting such a memorial. Leave it on its present site, surrounded by a noisy car-park, adjacent to a raised and widened road, and the vibration from heavy traffic could eventually demolish it, and it will be prone to vandalism. Will future generations of nurses, staff and area health boards be prepared to maintain a chapel with only limited use on such a noisy site? — Yours, etc., (Mrs) HELEN M. MATHER. May 26, 1989. Sir,—The letters of Patricia E. Baker and that signed by Brenda C. Brankin and A. C. Silverson (May 23) explain clearly the position of the nursing graduates and the Hospital Board regarding the relocation of the interior of the Nurses’ Memorial Chapel. At this late hour, those who are showing such indignation, have not acquainted themselves with the honest dialogue between board and graduates. The latter are grateful for the board’s sympathetic attitude, and its decision to Site the chapel so strategically. — Yours, etc., . - JEAN C. WILLIAMS. May 26, 1989. Sir,—As a recently retired nurse who spent many years at Christchurch Hospital, I support Isabel Knapp (May 22), who captured the atmosphere and purpose of the Nurses’ Memorial Chapel. She also states the practical answer to the future needs of patients, relatives and staff. Christchurch Hospital, nurses who died with the sinking of the Marquet during World War I, and the many other nurses commemorated in the chapel, could better be honoured through the regular use of the proposed chapel, sensitively designed to accommodate much of the interior of the present chapel, rather than in a building which will become inaccessible. It would be sad to see the present chapel remain as it is, only to become a virtual sepulchre, rather than develop a living memorial in the heart of the hospital. — Yours, etc., MARGARET M. DARBY. May 26, 1989. Sir,—The hospital chapel certainly is an architectural gem, and it will be sad for us to see it go. But, looking at the subject in a wider context, if it remains in its present situation it will ultimately be isolated in Riccarton Avenue. Locked against vandals, who will lock and unlock, care for, clean, and visit it? It seems to me that a chapel should be a living place, not a dead monument. At the hub of hospital life, a chapel can be a quiet place within the “busy-ness,” where patients, relatives, friends and staff can go, to pray or just to collect their thoughts. But it needs to be accessible, in the middle of things, not shut locked, and off the beaten track.—Yours, etc. M. M. G. MATSON. May 28,1989. Sir,—Christchurch Hospital’s historic Nurses’ Memorial Chapel can stay intact on its present site. The hospital can also have a new chapel for patients and visitors in the heart of its stage three development. A proposal detailing how this can be achieved will soon be presented to the Canterbury Hospital Board. The memorial chapel must not be demolished. Commemorating three nurses whose ship was torpedoed off Greece in 1915, it is this country’s only memorial to New Zealand women killed in war. The chapel also honours many other nurses who devoted their lives to caring for others. It is, therefore, puzzling that some senior nurses are now actively campaigning for the chapel’s destruction. Transferring part of its interior into a new building would be a senseless act of vandalism. — Yours, etc., J. THOMSON. May 27, 1989.