St Peter Chanel, Hamilton

The Northern suburb called Te Rapa is named such by early Army Maps . However even then it was well known that Te Rapa was a Maori Pa Site belonging to Ngati Wairere situated at the south end of Hamilton between near Graham Park which and is presently an Archery Park.

Religious Orders in Parish: Presently None, RNDM (Our Lady of the Mission) Taught at the School 1955-1979

SISTERS WHO TAUGHT AT ST PETER CHANEL'S SCHOOL, TE RAPA

Early Memories

Archival references to quote when writing to auckland catholic archives. Liston "parish papers" box n. 102-107 (1954-1970) delargey "parish papers" box n.59 } 1968-1973 delargey "parish papers" box n.61 }

Gorst from te awamutu spoke of hamilton as kirikiriroa "or" te rapa. When the rail came through they called the little station at pukete "te rapa". The original settlement in the area was called pukete after the maori pa at 'half-wayhill’ on the river.

Laurie Vercoe: Monsignor Buxton rang me up one day and said that the bishop had instructed that we begin a new parish at Te Rapa. He said "You are one of the early settlers and I want you to drive me around. So He came out and I took him up to what we call Bills(??) Hill and at that time there was no buildings whatsoever (about 1953) in the area except Frank Woodhall's(??) The butcher. His house was on the corner. All the land was open but it was housing property. I said to him that he could get a section there, but he said that that was no good because they would give a section for a church but he wanted enough for a school. So we drove around. We turned down Vardon Rd. There was only Frank Woodhall’s (sic) house there and another half way down. "that's the property" he said. Frank had 7 acres. A bit more than we wanted. Ray Corby, assistant coach for waikato rugby, was a land agent. Frank Goodhall wasn't too well disposed to catholics, so ray said he would do a bit of wrangling. Frank said he would sell the property for 7,500 pounds cash. So we got it. Then the minute we got it Frank got it terrible from his friends." O you sold to the catholics, you sold to the catholics." We sold the sections almost straight away on the main road for almost the total cost of the property.

Parishioners: One early parishioner was? Wilde, Father Wilde's father. I remember Fr. Wilde when he was just a toddler. There were hard case boys in the parish and school at that time. I remember one of these boys, he had been sent out for doing something and he and his mates shifted all the cars forward a little and when everybody came out they couldn't move their cars. Those were the sort of boys we had here then. Dr Green was mentioned I can remember the boy Noble flying a kite and cutting off the power for the whole area.

Jim Clee would fix people with his eye in church if they were restless until they were silenced. Mrs. Reed used to do a lot of work for the fair. Then there was Mrs. Sutton who used to play the organ in the church. She had a word with me (Mrs.Hollinger) one day as our children were learning music from Mrs. Dunbar. There was an article in the paper about Mr.parker: there was a big tree to cut down, he was Mrs Reed's father. There was nobody able to do the job but he did. There was a photo of him cutting this big tree down. He was about 80 then. He lived down the bottom of Ridout St.

Vincent O'Brien: I can always remember Mr. Lisignoli, he was a craftsman and painter and he did a great job. We would gather for a working bee to paint the presbytery and Mr. Lisignoli looked us all over and told us what to do and he kept an eye on us and if we weren't doing it properly we were smartly reprimanded. I think we painted the presbytery twice in my time. As far as i know the church was painted by contract. Another thing; I remember Fred Haine, i think he had nine of a family. He had a 1928 model a ford truck and when they went out the whole family got on the back of the truck. That was a sight. He lived in Sandwich Road. Sandwich Road was only barely developed then. Fred Hains had a 2 acre plot. He was a great worker for the parish. He worked his own place so well and after that he would be at the races. He was a great man for the races. But before that he would be working at the school. He was a wonderful man because he was foreman of the council. If there were any pot-holes he would be down to fill them up. I always remember we were supposed to hire the equipment from the council but i don't think the council ever got paid. Other people involved: Rad Campbell, he's still alive, Ray Thompson, Fred Haines, Bernie Dold, Danny O'connell, ? Jones, Vince O'Brien, Morrison, the Fouheys came after. A lot of them have passed on.

Sheila Hollinger: We didn't come here till 1956. Rex's family went back to this area before the church. The church bought this house from Rex's cousin.

Mrs. Noble. They were very happy days. A lovely church school. There were not so many of us and we all knew each other. I remember the fancy dress dances they used to put on in the little hall. They were lovely days.

Mrs Hollinger: I have a tale about Father O'Sullivan one day Fr. came along to me and said, "Mrs. Hollinger, i want to talk to Rex about two new basketball courts. "So he came around to our house and talked about it, and he got up to go and he said "now you've got that quite clear, Rex, that area such and such on the plan and i want two 'quarts', we must have two quarts'." And after he went. Rex said, "he must be having a working bee there he wants '2 quarts'." I remember Fr. O'Sullivan had the unenviable job of introducing the mass in English, a lot of us being old fashioned and stuck in our ways we Did not like it at all.

Before that i think we read the epistle from the church. Fr. O' sullivan was living here at this time. He had a housekeeper, Miss Butterfield. I remember Fr.O'sullivan saying "O yes she is very good, she knows how to make a good jelly. She used to say, "he's just like a naughty boy..

Other priests: Fr. Pierce followed Fr. O'Sullivan.he was a great scholar. He once preached for about 40 minutes and we were all spell-bound, he was talking about jeremiah, and jeremiah getting a bad Reputation, I remember once the nuns took the children on a bus trip and I turned up to pick up christine and they were late and poor father pierce he was in a state "they had no right to take the children ...." He was so concerned. But the first one we had was when fr. O'sullivan was entitled to his Sabbatical we had Fr.Tait,(sic - H Taite) the children loved him, Fr. Tait put on a maori concert with pois and my daughter had to dress up as a maori. Fr.Tait upset the head nun because he used to wear jeans. She never forgave him for that. I think that was Sister Phoebe. We had Fr. Connolly after Fr. Pierce. (This next is unclear) he had the back room for carving wood. That was fr.connolly. Before Father duggan we had a series of priests. Who was the priest who made the church of match sticks and it got burnt. Was it fr. Connolly?

Fr.Klimmock with big Rosary beads he had made himself, he used to walk up and down the aisle. He had us all to say the rosary every evening after the meal, and my husband tried it with our family (Lisignoli)

Activities. We had mass at 7 and then i think we had another at 8.30. I don't remember Bringing the children out at 7.30 In those days too we had great fund raising out in front of the school And we had quite a few parishioners who came along. We all came with full Pockets and went home with empty ones. It was great fun. There were fancy dress balls. Jim and Margaret Clee(?) Were always involved. There used to be two masses i think but there was no weekday masses because of the school during the week. The baptisms were in the school hall.

Anita Lisignoli. Fr. O'Sullivan used to have catechism classes in a room in our house. Fr. used to come up to our place, this was before the school opened. Fr. used to go around and gather up a few for classes at 3.30. He used to gather the children up from forest lake school. One who used to come was Hugh Vercoe. He would wait till they came out of school And grab them and bring them along. We had only the frame of the house Then it was not furnished. He said that when he was rounding them up he was told to find as many as he could. He said "there are so many catholics, thank goodness they don't all come to mass."

Fr. O'sullivan had a car at that time. The sisters did not have a car they were living at fairfield and they had to be driven and then during the holidays we used to drive them around to visit the families. I remember one time sister got me to take some records back to one of the shops and I didn't get there that day and the records got all twisted in the heat of the day. Another thing we were involved in was in school lunches to raise Money for the church and we would do them in the presbytery.

All the first masses were at Beerescourt Hall. It was used on Saturday night for dances etc and Cyril Beersly and i used to get there On sunday morning with a broom and sweep up and make the place look Reasonable for Sunday morning.then we got plans for the school and then the church. Then all the good old boys pitched in and we had working Bees.

There were about 37 going to mass at beerescourt hall. A lot of others went to Frankton. Vince O'Brien was one of the supporters. We dug drains, we put in concrete paths and I remember on a blistering February day digging a drain and then the contractor came round and said "you've done a good job but a bit more is needed you have to dig down into the clay." We used to have dances in the school hall,

Buildings: Probably 2 masses we think , the sliding doors were opened, and the room was fairly full. The altar part was closed off and we could open it and there was a little room where father heard confessions. We moved all the desks out of the first room and pushed them back into The second.

Building of the church

I think the building of the church was totally by contract George O'donahue. Mrs Nasey was involved. Alan Mcdonald was architect?? He would have been very young then if that were the case. He had something to do with it. They used to come to mass here. Some wanted the church in another place but archbishop liston was Insistent on it being there and be on the road front. In those days there were no other buildings and the church stood out and he thought it might stir their consciences. Harold stood up and he said he wanted the church down there away from the noise but Archbishop Liston said no. Bishop Liston came down and we had a meeting. I can't remember if there was room to move around behind the Altar in the new church or not. There was nothing behind the altar, just the altar, not like the old cathedrals. I don't think they were allowed to take photos in church in those Days. I can remember the altar rails here.

School:

We had 3 rooms, the top room had the altar and that was closed off and The others were the school rooms. That went on for a time. The school used to put on lots of little concerts and we all turned out to them.

Jennifer Jones and Lorraine Noble were two of the first pupils. June Collingwood was in St. Marys and her children went to school there and continued when they moved to Te Rapa and Fr O'Sullivan saw the S.H. (sacred heart?) Uniform and wanted to know why. The other children came to school here.

Teachers: Mrs. Laurent and Sr Bernadette and Sr Phoebe, she was head. There were 3 teachers, the roll wasn't very big but there seemed to be a lot of parishioners. Genivieve was the red headed nun. Sr. Phoebe was Mary Hassan. Sr. Mary Goretti, Sr Celine came later on.

I remember we used to go on saturday afternoon and get all the desks out and stack them up in the back and get the rooms ready for mass on sunday, then poor sister had to move them all back on monday morning and That was a bone of contention. Sometimes we moved the chairs on friday afternoon. We often sat in Primers chairs.

ZEALANDIA February 24, 1955 --- SPC School

AUCKLAND - A new three-roomed primary school dedicated to St Peter Chanel was blessed and opened on Sunday, February 20, by His Grace Archbishop Liston. Two of the rooms are in use at present for the school, and with the third, containing a sanctuary, will serve as the parish church. Folding doors allow the use of all three rooms together. The solid brick building cost £10,500 furnished. Close on £200 was donated by the two hundred people present at the opening ceremony, who included the member of Parliament for Raglan, Mr Hallyburton Johnstone, and Mrs Hallyburton Johnstone; the Mayor of Hamilton, Mr R A Braithwaite, and Mrs Braithwaite; and representatives of the Hamilton City Council and the Waipa County Council. The parish priest of Te Rapa, the Rev J J O'Sullivan welcomed His Grace Archbishop Liston and the official party. The parish had been formed in January, 1954, he said, when Mass was celebrated in the Beerescourt Road Hall. The site of the present building had already been purchased in 1951 through the foresight of the Right Rev Msgr Buxton of Hamilton.

It consisted of six acres at the corner of the Great South and Vardon Roads, opposite the Te Rapa racecourse. Four and a quarter acres had been retained for the church, school, convent, and presbytery, and the sale of the remaining land had covered the cost of the original purchase, which included a house, now used as the presbytery. Father O'Sullivan said that the new church-school had been commenced in April last and it had been used for Sunday Mass from August. Expressing his gratitude to the architect, Mr White, and the builder, Mr M O'Donoghue, he thanked also friends of other parishes who had made gifts to a total value of some £500 for the church furnishings.

Debt of £9000 After Mr J McClintock, the parish secretary, had outlined the debt of £9000 remaining on the parish, and thanked His Grace for the parish priest they had in the person of Father O'Sullivan, the Mayor of Hamilton, Mr R A Braithwaite, congratulated the people on what they had done. Mr Hallyburton Johnstone, MP, also offered his felicitations and said he would not then refer to the question of private schools, except to point out that there was a pleasure in giving for what was worthwhile, and the parents would be happy in the thought that through the school they were making good citizens. Msgr Buxton offered the thanks of all to two men in particular, Messrs Corby and Crookenden, who had made the purchase of the property a reality. His Grace Archbishop Liston said that it was always a joy to see another church and school in the diocese. He congratulated the parishioners, the parish priest and Msgr Buxton on what had been done.

Likening the church-school to the home of Nazareth where Christ had grown up under the care of Mary and Joseph, His Grace said “Thanks to the good Sisters of the Missions and your parish priest, your children will grow up in a like atmosphere, and your thoughts will turn here to the living presence of the same Lord of Nazareth”. The Teacher to whom priest and Sisters would look was the Divine Teacher, His Grace said, and the Crucifix placed in the school as part of the ceremony of blessing would always speak to the children of Him as the Redeemer. Purpose of Education “Sometimes”, said His Grace, “we are asked what is the purpose of education. That depends on the answer given to the question: what is life? Your Member of Parliament gave one answer, but I am sure he did not mean to limit the purpose of education to just that of 'good citizenship’. Many do, however, and that means that they are willing to see the children trained solely to do what the State tells them to do”. “We have seen it in our own day, where the State claimed the children from the parents. Teachers had to teach and children had to learn what the leaders of the State wanted. That system of State control is pernicious, and you know and the people of Europe know today, that there must be freedom of soul and heart. So you do not agree with that system of education where the child is trained for the benefit of the State. You have the right thoughts in knowing that the teachers are taking your place, are delegated by you to do in school what you seek also to do in the home.”

God's Plan “There is another answer to the questions of the purpose of education and the purpose of life. It is that of seeking the greatest pleasure. Education under that system trains a child to stand on its own feet, to get the most out of life' and get the most of happiness and pleasure”. "What a poor substitute it is to proper and right living! “The third answer is that education should fit us to live God's plan of life, to use rightly the things he has given us so that we will reach full happiness in Him who made us. That is the meaning of this school”. His Grace said that the Church had always had that ideal in the school through the early years of the Christian era till today. The State came into the field of education very late. Even in New Zealand, it was the several religious bodies that started the schools. The State took the field only in 1877. “One cannot but admire the tremendous effort of the Church leaders of those days to bring education, Christian education, to everyone”, the Archbishop said.

Our Rights “I am grateful to hear your representative in Parliament say that the State's interest in Christian education has not been lost sight of", His Grace continued “I take it that a good serious man like that will keep it in his heart and conscience too, and remember that we are asking for religious schools only what we ourselves put into the pool by way of taxation”. His Grace said that the sum of approximately 24 million pounds spent on State education today came in part from the parents of the children attending the new school through the taxes on the things that had to be provided for the family. It would be safe to say that eight out of nine people in New Zealand got the benefit of that money. He cannot see why the whole nine should not share. Commenting on a recent statement by Colonel Durant of the South Auckland Education Board, who expressed his satisfaction that secondary schools began the day with a religious exercise by the headmaster. His Grace said that the headmaster was conducting that religious exercise and receiving his salary for doing it. “The Chairman therefore should not have difficulty in supporting salaries for teachers in religious schools who give several hours a day to English, History and the rest”. His Grace declared.

SCHOOL MEMORIES

Project by Rebecca Kornman c1990 - Photocopied Manuscript. Scanned and OCRd 2019 by Fr Laurenson

Interview with Mrs Mooney.

RESOURCE NO:1

Mrs Mooney I understand you were a day one pupil of Saint Peter Chanel school when it opened in 1955. 1. Did you have any first impressions when you started Saint Peter Chanel ?

Well at first I was a 5 year old. I was J1 at the opening of the school and not only that, I was a first day at sched so I suppose you have the normal fears about what it's going to be like, Although I'd been really keen to start school, really looking forward to it. What I do remember is that by the first day of school I had a group of friends which I was feeling pretty happy about and wanted to walk home with them. And also for the older students it was their first day, so everyone was in the same boat really. There was a pretty big excitement about it all

2. What did the uniform consist of?

We had, in winter It was a grey gym tunic , red girdle, red tie, white shirt and long grey socks, black shoes and the bottle green blazer And in summer, let me think I was a green and white check I think I've got to go back in memory , But I always remember the winter uniform was the one I was really proud of.

3. Who was the principal while you were there?

The first principal was sister , that I can remember was sister Germaine, then sster Genieve. And the one who was there for most o my senior years, was sister Mary, Sister Mary Hassn, at Saint Peter Chanel, she was Sister Pheobe in those days and she was there for most of my senior years.

4 Who taught you ? We had only 2 teachers in the school.one for the Junior class and I for seniors.

5. were the nuns the only teachers ? Yes only nuns there for my whole time at the school.

6 NO Male teachers at all ? NO, no male teachers

7. Whent subjects were taught ? I think they were the traditional subjects, English, Maths, and social studies We had them every day and spelling and tables. H was much i more formal than it is today. We did a lot of drama and plays. Often the set days schooling, we would have a theme and everything would be related to it,

I've heard from others that you were a Star pupil. 8. Did people expect a lot from you? I don't know what other people expected of me but I know I expected a lot from myself. I was pretty competitive at school, I only liked to get the best marks. But I wasn't a sporting Star by any means. I used to do speech and drama. Sister Pheobe and I used to get on fairly well together.

9. Can you tell me what an ordinary school day was like for you?or was it no different than it is today? I could really only tell you more as I went into the senior school, because in the juniors, you pretty much did as you were told. But when we went into the top room We would be responsible in the morning for getting the milk in and getting the morning tea and getting the urn on for them. Going out and bringing the mail in and because there were only 2 teachers and eventually 3 it was pretty hard for them with all the duties, so senor students used to do a lot of things. I do remember being able to get in and out of class to do lots of errands, and things going to the shop to buy crepe paper and things getting anything the nuns needed and delivering messages for father. And that brings another point to mind when you said were there any male teachers. We did have father come and take religious studies at least once a week. Everyday we often had a very set routine in the morning which started with handwriting and spelling and reading, and maths used to be either after break or after lunch. But after lunch was normally social Studies, making things, doing things and sometimes going outside, , so I think it was a very true routine, although some days because of the theme you didn't do the same things everyday.

10. What was the school set up like , for example the school situation? The school could be divided into 3 parts, only 2 were used to start with But they had large folding doors, like wooden folding doors today, Except they were blackboards, They used to concetena (sic) backwards and forth so if the 2 classes wanted to have a singing lesson together they would just fold a part so the 2. classes.could be together. And of course it was the church so the blackboards were opened to make church rooms. Their (sic) were the 3 classrooms and a long corridor outside for coats and bags, there were also Stairways at either end of the corridor.

11. Was it disruptive having the 3 classes in the same hall? I can't actually really remember hearing the other classes, You've got to remember the discipline was quite Strict in those days, so it was heads down and get on with your work or your likely to be kept in after school or really made to feel quite bad. it really was a much quieter environment to what school is today.

12. So the connection between the church and the school was that the classroom was actually the church! Yes, the only building was the church and school so every Friday after school the seniors would have to stack all the desks back down into the 3rd classicom and turn the other 2 into the church by putting out all the seats so they weren't pews, they were rattty old seats. We were also very much responsible for cleaning all the altar brass and looking ofter the chapel and get the flowers on. Behind the senior room was th chapel, it was hidden again by doors, You actually got into the confessional from the Senior classroom. We used to play nuns and priests and confess and race in and have the great time of confessing to each other until we actually got caught and groweld that we were making fun of the Sacred thing of the church . But it was great fun to do that, and att the back of the chapel, was a little room, the sacristy and we girls used to be responsible for keeping the vestments and cloths cleaned and ironed etc. So on Friday We would convert it to a church and on monday morning we'd have to convert it back to a classroom. But of course if there was a funeral during the week school would have to stop SO that we could turn the school into a church for the funeral, and we would all sing at the funeral,

13. Did you Often miss days of school because of things like that? it wouldn't be a day but we would perhaps miss a couple of hours in the morning for a funeral or around lunchtime. And we just accepted that and I think that was part of the special character that the school was really the parsh and the parish was the School. It was very integrated,

14 Did you like attending a private catholic School? Well I didn't know any different. But in those days we used to have the wonderful rhymes, Protty dogs Stink like frogs" and I think we thought we were special just like the protestants probably thought they were. So walking down vardon Road in that paddock that connects Cunningham Rd and Vardon Road used to be quite the field spot on the way home from school of who was better and why we were better. I think I felt proud to belong to the school. We actually won quite a few competitions for our uniform and there was a pride in wearing the uniform, everyone used to say now nice we looked and of course the nuns expected our manners to match the niceness of the uniform,

15. What was the parent support like at the school? It was excellent, the parents were often up at the school helping. We used to have craft days and sister Pheobe was really into entering speech and drama competitions and you know the Waikato winter show craft activities and we would all make things. i can remember making a cardboard dolls Pram for one of my entries, because everything had to be in cardboard Mothers were sent in to help with things like that. Sports days of course the parents had to help with only 2 then 3 teachers at the school. And they seemed pretty welcome. It was a small close knit community.

16. What sort of things remain vivid in your memory, “as the times not to be forgotten" about being a new student at a new school in the 1950’s? I don't remember probably the 1950's as well as the 60's. Because the 1950's I was in the junior classes, but I do always remember the feast days at the school, they were special days . We usually had a sports day, fun days, 3 legged races that sort of thing and always a Lollie scramble , In my mind lollie Scramble seemed to emerge as something that went with feast days. And preparing for feast days was a lot of fun, we used to make banners. And we always had “may day” as well but it used to be “Our Lady the Month of May”, and as we got up into the senior school, the girls become the children of mary and wore beautiful satin Blue capes and veils and we used to throw rose petals and those sort of things do Stand out in my memory. Also first communion days, We did a long preparation for that, it was always made to be something extremely special, I always remember that and confirmation day which was made when we were younger. So it was all done through the school? yes . none of the parent training like there is today. It was totally done by the Nuns training us. The parents were responsible for the banquet or the feast afterwards and all the mothers and fathers came , A lot of people who I have talked to seem to remember having to drink milk at lunchtimes, as one of the times not to be forgotten"

17. Was milk drunk at Saint Peter Chanel during the years you attended the school? Yes it was . The driveway at the moment where you drive in past the presbytry used to have a large sort of letterbox that the milk was Stashed in. Which if you realise, that place gets morning sun, so often by the time we get the milk it was fairly warm. I still drink milk. I do know some of my friends that don't like milk as a result of that.

And so was it true to say that the milk was as disliked as much as everyone says ? NO, I don't think so. I think there was some that disliked it but it's a bit like the lengend "on gross that milk". in winter it was Inot so bad, I was cold. on the whole I think most of us drank it and quite happily drank it.

When I last talked to you , you wrote done (sic) a list of things which you remembered about Saint Peter Chanel School and which you though gave it special character. They were all very interesting pants and made me want to know more about them, You wrote down the words " children of Mary' which you talked a bit about before, 18 could you tell me a bit about what this stands for and what it had to do with you as a student at the school ? The adult women used to belong to what we call the Legion of Mary and I was very much a prayer group to Mary and because it was only for adult women they decided to form and it was NZ wide, a group that young girls could belong to. Mary was probably very much more on a pedestal in the church than she is today, And we used to have first Sunday's of the month where we would have a special Benediction service on Sunday evenings and we would have our prayers and then a bit of a social time, once a month. And then on feast days of our lady We would do processions and throw rose petals at statues and that continued at Sacred heart we used to go over to the grotto "the Children of Mary, So it was half social, half religious in a way,

You also talked about Saint Patricks day and how it was a once a year special occassion, which was always enjoyed. 19. What sort of things did you do on this day? Father O'Sullivan was a real Irish priest, so the parish very much had to celebrate Saint Patrick's day and that was a day where we would all wear green ribbon's and we would go to mass and we would sing “How (sic) Glorious Saint Patrick . Dear Saint of our Isle”. We had to practise that for weeks before hand so it was going to be very good. And again we would would have sports days and the Parents would have a social that night. So it would be a parish special day. And one year when the founders theatre was very new the school put on a Saint Patrick's concert in the Founders Theater and we actually acted out “Saint Patricks Play”, so very strong, There were other feast days like Saint Peter Chanel day who was equally as important

20. my next question is what did the school do on other feast days? were they not as highly celebrated as Saint Patrick's day? Saint Patrick’s and Saint Peter Chanel were probably the 2 key ones. But each year after first communiçn Sunday there would be a special day at the school celebrating the fact that students had made communion and that was always on the feast of Christ our king, Feasts of our lady were always celebrated, our lady help of Christians and our lady Queen of the Rosary, in fact in October the parish would often have a Statue which would travel around, and May, different homes. And groups would go and say the rosary and we were almost on a merit System the students who got their parents involved in that. There was quite a lot of subtle pressure to get involved.

21. You mentioned before how Saint Peter Chanel was a very close knit community Did the school have a lot to do with the church and the parish priest? Father O'sullivan was like a friend to we children. He was always over at the school. That was his family and think because the school actually was the church it was probably more than most other parishes, The closeness between the church and school, in fact I don't even think of them as seperate , well I never really did think of them as separate. I always think of them as the one thing

22 You wrote down now you used to go swimming with father o'sullivan, Can you talk a bit about that? father O'Sullivan very much treated the parishioners as family, He'd obviously come from Ireland and being perhaps the first priest of the new parish that was something special. And he loved being with children. He was rather shy and so in adult company he was often at loss for words. But with us children, he used to come over every day and be in the playground with us and he was very comfortable. And he loved Ragian and love swimming. He'd ring up on a Saturday night and say looks like it's going to be a fine day tomorrow, how about we go swimming. But he hated us calling him father and he used to say don't call me that. But what else and you call a priest in those days, we used to have song Why do I tip my hat to a priest. So it was very difficult not to call him father. (It would be hard, because you still call priests father today so it would have been extremely hard.)

23. Did you have much to do with the nuns, other than school time? Sister Bernadette who is on the proprietors a Sacred Heart now. She was the Junior teacher for a long time and Sister Pheobe. They used to visit home, at my mum and dad's place and Sister Pheobe used to get me to go out shopping with her and do things. She and I were very close , in fact I thought I was going to be a nun I was so swayed by her, they sent my name away. I really did admire her, she seemed so energetic, so committed and so happy in her faith ;

24. So it's not at all true how the nuns were Strict! There were some . I can remember my brother being put in the corner for not doing his homework and having dunce hat on and treated in that old way. And ne was so miserable about that, that I really lost my cool at the teacher. Another time he had to go to vardon school to the dentist and he hated the clental Clinic and ran away and I had to go and find him. The nun was just so hard on him, he was just virtually a stupid little boy etc. And if you didn't do your work you got put in the corner and certainly rapped over the hands of you talked or didn't do Something right. But then I don't know if that was any different to the strict sort of schooling anywhere else. I have nothing to compare it by and I was just wandering whether the nuns were in fact strict or not. Sister Pheobe, infact treated us like we were her family of 60 children. She just loved us and she was always at the netball courts on Saturdays, We had quite a lot of interchanges between other catholic schools for sporting days and my memories from Saint Peter Chanel were really really good, although I do perhaps think I was a little spoilt.

25. What were lent mass charts ? we had a, I suppose you'd call it propaganda . We had charts on the wall and we got a star for each time we went to early morning mass during Lent. The person with the most stars got a gift at the end of lent So I'm not sure if the motivation was quite right. But it certainly did get quite a large number of children on a regular basis going to early morning mass, 6-30 that was.

26. You talked about inter catholic days for sport. Were their inter catholic days for any other activities or was it just for sport? It was mainly sporting days, where we played netball and Rugby. In fact I can't really think of any other things that we shared.

27 Did Girls Play rugby too? No, no it was definately(sic) girls in the netball, boys in the rugby. The field was where the church is today and if they boys were out there playing contact sport, the girls were not allowed on the field.

28. Did Saint Peter Chanel mix with other schools, for activities or anything else or was it just catholic? I think just towards the end of my time at St Peter Chanel we were beginning to make a bit of movement with Varden school. But on the whole no; we did tend to be seperate.

29 You talked about how you made the classrooms into a church every friday Did you have reconciliation every friday for the 8 years you were at the School ? Yes. Well from once you made it. Once you made your first reconciliation, It was friday and father came about 10 and you didn't get to go out to break until you had been to reconciliation. It has actually created some strong resignations (sic-resentments?) for me. Once your forced to do something you get into a pattern of doing it yourself. I also think the forcing if it has created quite a lot of scar tissue for quite a lot of us. It was usually called confession then.

30 What were the speech competitions like? They were usually at Cambridge or Te Awamutu Just like the may holiday ones today, what they used to do was send a group, what we called a choral section and lots of schools entered and we had to say a poem. And I can remember 2 “when the fox went out on a chilly night” and “Do you remember” and we did quite a few like that. And every year we won the best uniform and neatest looking and smartest Students. And we did win the competition actually quite a few times, under sister Pheobe.

31. Did the school participate in anything other than funeral services for the parish? Easter Liturgies and palm Sunday. We would do all the singing before hand and be trained to lead the processions and like I said before church life was part of school life and school life was part of church life. It was very integrated, far more than it is today.

32. What did the school do to celebrate christmas every year? We would do a lot of craft work in class beforehand. And I think that just about every year I can remember we put on a nativity play. One of my last years there, we actually had a real baby for Jesus, who howled in the middle of the play, and it was a red head, a brilliant red head, I’ve always remembered that . We did a nativity play or some nativity drama every year and the year that - “Euphrasia Barbier" It must have been something to do with their founding I can't actually quite remember what, 100 years or what it was. But we put a huge play on about the founding nun of the mission order and every country she'd gone to , so we had to have those from every country of the world and it was quite a major event.

33. So did the school do a lot to support the missions ? Yes, we were always getting letters and correspondence with the mission. We had a mission day at school where we would sell bits and pieces and the money would go to the missions.

34 Did you enjoy your time at saint Peter Chanel ? Yes I did. They were probably some of my favourite years of Saint Peter Chane In fact they really spoilt me for Sacred heart because you were made to feel so important there and then you go to Sacred Heart and St Mary's seem to be the people in the know. We had to leave early on the bus from Sacred Heart and we seemed to be frowned on so my best school days, my memories of best school days were at Saint Peter Chanel.

35 Is there anything that you particuarly (sic) liked about the school? I suppose the smallness. I mean you know everybody and I was lucky, I really got on well with the nuns and I do remember a couple of friends, I suppose when you said were the nuns feared ? They did have favourites and I was a favorite . But if you weren’t a favourite they could make your life pretty difficult picking on you and making it hard. It would have been tough for those kids but if you got on well you were in this close knit environment that you felt secure and important in, And it was really neat because I mean you spent at least 3 or 4 years with the same teacher,

36. Was it true that the nuns just had to click their fingers and everyone would come running? I remember them being more polite probably than that We would certainly never have said I'm not doing that. We did what we were told basically and for a while the boys stayed till form 1 and they were big boys for the nuns, and they did give the nuns a bit of a hard time, I can remember especially 2 or 3 who played up in church. One used to take a big Bible and have donald duck and mickey mouse cartoons inside it. I mean that mightn’t sound very serious today but in those days it was extremely serious. But we were like a family, a big family.

37, would you say the school progressed and grew over the 8 years you were there? It certainly grew, and yes I do think it progressed. I mean we started to do more things and in the last few years I went there, as I mentioned before we didn't really do science, in terms of Biology, we started moving into that and we did go and do a Rocky Shore study at Ragion and there was a family called the Rumny's who were very involved in the Junior naturalists and they started to push ideas of perhaps going out to the Junior Naturalists camp.

38 Would you say Saint Peter Chanel had special character ? I certainly did, I think without the special character the school would have been nothing. it was just so integrated into everything that we did!'

ST PETER CHANEL SCHOOL AN HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Under Bishop Gaines: Our new Bishop. (1980-1994)

And managed by Fr Duggan:- Our Parish Priest.

The school was first opened in February 1955 in the original building of three classrooms. The first and later the second room also doubling as the parish church: Two sisters of the Missions, who were from St Mary's Convent, were driven out each day by the parish priest Father J. O'Sullivan, and staffed the school. The roll was just over 50 and took boys and girls from P.1 to F2. By 1958 the school roll had grown to approx 100.

The older boys in Std 4, Form 1 & 2 then went to the Marist Intermediate. In the second term of 1960 a lay teacher, Mrs Cuming was first appointed on a part time basis, mornings only in the infant room. In 1961 Mrs. Laurent. the first full time lay: teacher took charge of the infant room and two Sisters took the upper school. New housing development in the Sandwich Rd, Pukete area necessitated another school room and teacher in 1970. 'Another teacher, at first part time in 1974 and two relocatable rooms were opened in March 1976. This left one very necessary all purpose room for the 150 plus children at the school.

Children who come to St Peter Chanel come' from Beerescourt, St Andrews. Pukete, Forest Lake, part of Maeroa and Te Rapa. The school is centrally situated to these residential and suburban areas 2- 3½ miles north of Hamilton city central. : on one side a growing industrial area and the Waikato Hotel is passed by some children on their way to school.

The Waikato river is a natural boundary to the east, the race course and Hamilton Recreational area being developed adjacent to is forms a boundary to the west. Te, Rapa, Road, State Highway 1 divides parts of: Forest Lake, Beerescourt, Maeroa from the rest of the area:

Nicola Walker, Form 1 (after 1976 and before 1980 fire)

St Peter Chanel Church – Foyer extension and re-modelling of interior and exterior areas. (The $ figures are an estimate from memory but are very close to the actuals- Fr R) Fr Alexander asked me to investigate options for an extension to accommodate a good gathering space and remodelling the existing interior of church. I did a survey of parishioners to assess their views and wishes. The views extended from and I quote “doing nothing” to “start with a match”. Luckily common sense prevailed. Nick Koning, a builder, father and I played around with ideas and options and eventually the finance committee engaged White & MacDonald as our architects. Their plans were well received and we tweeked a few things then presented them to the parish. The plans involved stripping out the altar area of old dark wooden walls, removing the sarcristy on one side and the work room on the other and remodelling the steps to the altar. Just this gave us a wide lovely light sacred space with a large suspended light above our altar.

The plans also included a new entrance way, a wide foyer space, a small kitchen, a toilet, and the sarcristy. They also involved remodelling the quiet room and the narthex under the loft, plus a covered exterior walkway. It was very exciting. The parishioners approved! A budget was done. Originally Fr Alexander thought we might spend $100,000 but the main contact was $220,000. But with some tight financial management and a $90,000 loan from the Diocesan Fund we could do it. We redid the planned giving programme and asked if parishioners would like to make extra donations. Extra money came in. Only a couple of fundraising activities were done and helped. Christine Kornman organised a concert and there was a raffle of a large knitted doll made by Margaret Jacques, I think. On top of the main contact we had other works to be done. Instead of buying new seats we decided on a complete strip of the solid rimu pews. The pews were lifted out 4-6 at a time and trailered off to a local parishioner’s business and stripped & polyurathaned. They came back beautiful and the cost of $10,000 was well worth it.

The floor was a major job done by a few men who had to uplift old linoleum and hardboard. Then remove hundreds on staples. It was knee destroying work. We decided to carpet right through. A bold move by all accounts. We had $13000 in the budget for carpet and Murray Charteris not only did the carpet for this but included high quality vynal in the kitchen and toilet areas. But he couldn’t include the loft. But later returned with some carpet left over from a large job and laid that for free. We have never regretted it and the wool carpet has lasted well. It helped create a peaceful quiet church.

The whole carpark and driveway needed resealing and edging. We allowed $17000 in the budget but the new quotes came in well over that. I gave the budgeted amount to the lowest bidder and asked him what he could do. A few more trimmings and we got a great job done. As the school used the area five days out of seven the Catholic Education office funded 5/7ths of that cost. It was a win win!!

The walkway had to be funded separately as our budget we presented to the Diocese finance committee was so tight we had to remove it. But we put that extra cost to parishioners and generous donations came in. So many blessings. Then Fr Aidan designed the outside area and obtained prices from contacts and all that area was developed quite quickly and easily. The whole project took a few years. Several things changed along the way and a some things were challenging.

Fr Alexander moved on and Fr Aidan moved in. So for all his great savings and plans Fr Alexander wasn’t to be parish priest for the opening. It was a bit of a shock for Fr Aidan to arrive and his first job was to present the whole plan including finances to The Diocesan office. But Fr Aidan was soon in his element helping with designs and colours and curtains. He came with a fresh view for all the finishing touches especially. Our architect, Alan White passed away from cancer fairly suddenly. RIP. Luckily his partner, Alan MacDonald, could take on the job for us. The architects donated the remodelled Red altar lantern.

Bishop Gaines passed away just before we were to seek approval. So we had to wait about a year for the appointment of a new bishop and his new committees. Stressful! The blessing ceremony saw the church full. Many past priests attended. Father Alexander had the biggest smile. We had done it and the parish finances going forward were well manageable.

We had created a beautiful place to gather to praise God and enjoy one another’s company. I stayed on the Finance Committee until the loan was paid off. Thank you to my husband Steve for his support. He found me part time employment shortly after the blessing ceremony.

May God bless the priests and parishioners for all their generosity and work.

Linda Richards