The image above shows the cover of the St Saviour’s Orphanage Monthly News for March 1923. The orphanage had a large presence here in Richmond where, from 1910, the St. Saviour’s Home for Girls was located at 73 Stapletons Rd (the site later became Churchill Courts). However the photo on the cover of this issue shows the Boys’ Home which was located in Morgans Road, Timaru. The full 8-page document is available for download below.

The regular bulletin included news from the orphanages and acknowledgements of donations of goods and cash to the orphanages. Both homes relied completely on donations and represented a huge voluntary effort on the part of many people to function. To give an idea of the scale of the operations, the Timaru Home was built in 1918, not long after a new building had been added on the Richmond site. The combined cost of the two projects was £30,000 — equivalent to over $3 million * today(!?) and all from donations. This probably explains the emphasis on the money side of things in this and other orphanage publications.

* Calculated using the Reserve Bank inflation calculator (www.rbnz.govt.nz/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator)

​In August David Grantham donated a set of nineteen Richmond School class photos, taken between 1956 and 1974, the period when David's father, Tom Grantham, was a teacher at the school. As well as ten formal class photos there are three staff groups and several other photos of sports and cultural groups, as well as a few informal photos taken on school outings. I have scanned these photos and combined them in a PDF document which is available below for viewing and/or downloading.

I have recorded pupils’ names underneath each scanned photo. I have transcribed these names as best I can; some of the handwriting is difficult to decipher. If people can help correct any spelling errors, add their own memories or other information about the photos, we would love to hear from you — please contact Avebury House: ([email protected]).
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Our thanks to David Grantham for his generous gift. The photos are now stored with the Richmond History Group collection in the Richmond Room at Avebury House, along with a wide range other material recording Richmond's history.

This short history (40 pages) of Holy Trinity Church, Avonside, was written for the parish's centenary in 1955 by the vicar of the time, Archdeacon W. T. Williams. I came across a copy in a bookshop some time ago and have scanned it for others to enjoy.

The booklet makes interesting reading...if you're into that kind of thing. We learn, for example, on p21, that the building now known as Chrystal Palace at 12 Chrystal St, was originally St Aidan’s Mission House, an outpost of Holy Trinity Avonside, established after 1912 when Rev. O. Fitzgerald became vicar.

Although the stone church at Avonside was demolished after the 2011 earthquake, the churchyard and cemetery are still well worth a visit. Richard Greenaway has compiled a guide to the cemetery and the many people who are buried there, available on the Christchurch City Libraries website: http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Cemeteries/Avonside/AvonsideParishCemetery.pdf

​David Hollander

Some years ago, it was proposed to have Avebury House registered as a historic place. The Canterbury earthquakes and their aftermath caused some delay, but the process has now been completed and Avebury House has recently been classed as a Category 2 historic place (#9075) by Heritage New Zealand. 

The report below was prepared by Robyn Burgess of Heritage New Zealand as part of their investigations. While there are some overlaps with the two CCC Avebury House documents posted on this site recently, this report offers a different perspective and brings the official record of Avebury up-to-date.
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List Entry Type: Historic Place Category 2
List Number: 9075
Date Entered: 16th May 2019
Date of Effect: 5th June 2019