St Margaret’s College chapel and gymnasium complex

To view more images, click here

E te Tumuaki, me te Poari Kaitiaki, e ngā Kaiako, ngā tauira, me ngā mātua, o tēnei kura o St Margaret’s, tēnā koutou katoa. To the Principal, and Board of Trustees, the teachers, pupils and parents of St Margaret’s College, Greetings to you all.

I specifically acknowledge: Andrew McGill, Chair of the St Margaret’s College Trust Board; Gillian Simpson, Executive Principal; Augusta Cohen, Head Girl; Rt Rev Victoria Matthews, Bishop of Christchurch and Warden of St Margaret’s College; and Arihia Bennett, Chief Executive of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu – tēnā koutou katoa .

Thank you for inviting me to St Margaret’s College today.  It is good to be back in Christchurch.  I have been asked to officially open this new complex with its combination of a new chapel-auditorium and gymnasium, and the atrium that joins them altogether.  Before I do that I want to speak briefly about the significance of this event.

Opening any new facility is always special as it represents the culmination of the dreams and the hard work of people.  And opening new educational facilities especially are events that Janine and I always look forward to because they represent a faith in the power of education to transform lives.  They also represent a commitment to young people; they are our greatest taonga and our hope and dreams for a better future.

There has been no shortage of new buildings to open.  At last count, this is the twelfth new facility  that Janine or I have opened at a school, polytechnic or university since I became Governor-General 21 months ago, about one every seven weeks!

However, this new gymnasium and chapel auditorium at St Margaret’s College is distinctive because it also represents the resolve and commitment of the Board, parents, teachers, and alumni to the future of Christchurch and Canterbury.

With about 80 per cent of the school being damaged beyond repair in the earthquakes that have hit this region since September 2010, some would have simply walked away.  Fortunately, in the best traditions of this school community and in keeping to your school motto - Beati Mundo Corde: Blessed are the pure in heart - you held true to the energy, faith and values that have defined St Margaret’s for over 100 years.

In the face of having to make do with temporary accommodation; and the trauma this city and its people have suffered, the school community has worked to ensure its students have the opportunity to achieve.  And the girls and young women of St Margaret’s have achieved academically, and they achieved in sport and cultural activities.  St Margaret’s girls have won events regionally – the Sheilah Winn Festival of Shakespeare in schools – nationally – the Levin Cup symbolising national girls’ rowing champions – and internationally – Holly Greenslade and Alice Darry are off to the Junior World rowing champs and St Margaret’s girls academic results featured among the best in the IB results for 2012.

To the school community’s credit St Margaret’s is being renewed.  The chapel-auditorium and gymnasium join the new classrooms, library, swimming pool and artificial hockey turf that were opened last year to ensure the school can continue to provide a holistic education that “embraces the spiritual and emotional wellbeing of our girls, as well as their academic growth and their development in sport and in the arts”. 

I want to acknowledge all of the people who have been involved in bringing these amazing facilities to fruition.  I particularly want to acknowledge the contribution of the Old Girls’ Association, after which the atrium is named, and the family of the late Charles Luney, who built many of Christchurch’s notable buildings, and after whom the auditorium is named. 

Having a chapel and a gymnasium are important for a community, and especially for St Margaret’s.   As a school founded on Christian values, the chapel is fundamental to the spiritual principles that lie at its heart.  And, the gymnasium is important because it represents a commitment to creating healthy and properly grounded young women.

As I mentioned previously, the significance of these new buildings goes much wider than the grounds of the school.  It also speaks of the future of this city.  St Margaret’s College has been a part of Christchurch for over 100 years and so the rebuilding of St Margaret’s College, like many other projects taking shape in Christchurch, is a fantastic symbol of the regenerative spirit of this city and the enduring character of its people.

I am indeed pleased to be here today.  The opening of these buildings is a visible sign that after the devastation and heartache of the past, there is a brighter future ahead.

To conclude, I want to provide a perspective on the school theme, which was chosen by this year’s St Margaret’s College student leaders:  “Live the Dream.”  St Margaret’s College: dreams and hope are unending and as each segment of a dream becomes a reality celebrate it – dream it, do it, celebrate it.  The real benefit of these buildings, however, is captured in a statement made by the late Senator Robert Kennedy from the US, when he said:
“Our answer is the world’s hope; it is to rely on youth – not a time of life, but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, and the appetite for adventure over the love for ease.”

You young women are our hope, and these new facilities are here so celebrate and start living!  Use your new chapel-auditorium and gymnasium wholeheartedly.  And with that done, it gives me great pleasure to declare them officially open. Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.