Kia ora, School. Please be seated

I’d like to invite Head Prefect William Duncan forward to deliver today’s reading.

Today’s reading comes from Ecclesiastes Chapter 1: Verses 9-10

What has been, is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? It has been already in the ages before us.

This is the word of the Lord (thanks be to God)

Rectors Comments:  

Thank you, William

William’s reading highlights the idea that whilst we may think things occurring in our lives and in our world our new and original, especially in our younger years, but in fact many of those things are repeated from ages past, and we see that in music and fashion and literature and in lots of other things too. It also reminds us of the value of history and tradition.

One of the great things about being a student or staff member at Lindisfarne College is the sense of pride that we have in our history and tradition. We have so much incredible history at our College and so from time to time I’m going to share some of that with you, because it’s really important that you know about our history, our story, but also about the people and actually the concrete, visible things that we can touch or hold that are precious to us and are part of our college history.

Such as the good man window that’s above the sanctuary at the Chapel end of our hall and on the screen right now. I wonder if you can you name the four people in our Good Man Window. And have you ever looked at the words that form part of the good man window? You can see our six Christian values in those words, but also some other words that reflect the qualities of these four men.

Today I’m going to tell you about a bit about a really important building in our school, and that’s the building that has been surrounded by fences for over a year now and where you see lots of construction workers and might hear a bit of noise from time to time, and that’s the Homestead. Our main administration building.

In case you didn’t know, the reason the Homestead has been a construction site for the last year is because we’ve had to strengthen the building to make sure it’s safe in a potential earthquake. It’s a three storey, 112 year old wooden building with lots of windows as you know, so we’ve had to put a lot of extra steel in the walls and flooring to make it as strong as possible.

We could have knocked the building down and built a new one, but as I said before, we value our history and tradition and the Homestead is a very special, historic building and it really is the birth place of Lindisfarne College. It’s where it all started.

What you may not know is that the homestead did survive an earthquake in 1931, over 20 years before it became a school. That was the Hawke’s Bay earthquake that caused huge damage to our region. The Homestead actually stood up to it very well, and the only significant damage was that the two brick chimneys came down – the building itself was fine. But after the Canterbury earthquake in 2011 the rules around earthquake strengthening tightened up and that’s why we are getting all this work done.

OK, so what is so special about the Homestead?

Well, the Homestead is where we get our name Lindisfarne College from. 112 years ago, back in 1911, the Smith Family moved to NZ from the North of England. They lived on an island called Lindisfarne, also known as the Holy Isle. They moved to New Zealand and bought some land right here where on this patch of land and built themselves a home – the homestead.

Because they missed their family and friends and the old village of Lindisfarne, they decided to name their home and small farm, Lindisfarne.

Many years later, one of the daughters of the Smith family married Mr Eddie Herrick and the Smith family then gave the homestead and farm to the newlyweds, Mr and Mrs Herrick. They brought up their family, eight children in all, six boys and two girls here at Lindisfarne. The Homestead was their home. Your may have noticed that the current Reception area and Uniform shop is called the Herrick building. That was actually the family squash court. The Homestead lawn, outside the Intermediate block and library was their back yard and actually there was a family tennis court on there.

Some of you will also know that we actually have two Herrick students in our College at the moment, with William in Year 13 and George in Yr 12 and yes, they are descendants of the Herrick family. I feel very proud to have William and George here with us because they have a personal connection with the history of the College through their own family.

You may remember this photo that was up in the reception area and is now on the wall in my office on the second floor of the homestead. These are three of the 6 Herrick boys. Tragically, all three of these young men lost their lives in WWII. This is a very special painting. Just imagine for a moment, these three men as young boys, running around the fields and up and going up and down the Homestead stairs, just as you all do today.

So how did the Homestead become a school.? Well, once all the children had grown up and left home the Herricks no longer needed a big family home and they had heard that three local men were working very hard to establish a Presbyterian, Christian school for boys in the Hawke’s Bay.

Mr Herrick said to them, “Well, if you can raise the money you need to purchase this house and land, I’ll let you have it for a really good price, so that you can keep some of the money you’ve raised to establish your new school.”

The three men raised the money, bought the homestead and land, and in 1953, with 32 boys arriving at the front door of the Homestead, Lindisfarne College was born. And here you are today, 70 years later, also wearing the red blazer and the same tie the boys wore all those years ago. It hasn’t changed because it’s special. And that’s what I mean about valuing tradition. We could have changed the tie, just like we could have built a new admin building, but we value what has come before because it lays a foundation for us to build. We do want to introduce new ideas and initiatives, but we never lose sight of our treasured past.

So yes, the College is 70 years old this year and we’ll have a celebration later in September to acknowledge that fact.

And now you know that the Homestead building is a special part of our history, but I hope you also understand that you are also now part of that special history. Many of you have brothers, fathers, uncles, grandfathers who attended Lindisfarne. We have staff members who are also former students of the College.

• Mr Howlett
• Mr Duff
• Mr Petersen
• Mr Smith Head of Durham House, and Intermediate teacher
• Mr Hay
• Mr Good
• Mr Mufana
• Mr Simutoga

That’s really special too.

But you might also be the first in your family to attend too, and it may be that you are starting a family connection to Lindisfarne College that may last long into the future. Be proud of your college. Be proud of the buildings and the other historic items that you see around the school.

Most of all, make a great contribution to the college in your time here. Get involved in the cornerstones, live the College values and help to make Lindisfarne a great place to learn, a safe and happy place to live and just like the how we’re making the Homestead stronger this year, you will make our College stronger for its future.

Another tradition as Lindisfarne College is singing our school songs and hymns. Today I’ve chosen our school song which is also our school motto, and it also celebrates our wonderful college history, so please join with me in singing Highways in the Heart.

Hymn: Highways in the Heart.

Academic Awards:

We now have some Academic Awards to Present.

I’ll call on Mr Barry to read out these awards:

Mr Barry

It’s my pleasure to call up two Academic Centurion winners. These young men have attained a GPA Score of 100% in their respective subjects.

Academic Awards:

1. Centurions (GPA Score in the subject of 100%)

Chris Proctor               L1 Economics, L1 General Science

Finn Balchin                  L2 Chemistry

Sutherland Cup for Striving

At least years’ end of year prizegiving, Nelson Taylor was recognised for winning the Sutherland Cup for 'Striving, Learning and Persevering in Year 10'.   However Nelson was away from school on that day, and therefore we present his award today.

Nelson can you please come forward to receive your trophy.

Nelson is also receiving a certificate for

Diligence Award in 10KJO for 2022

Thank you Mr Barry

I now call on Cultural Prefect Antoni Milewski to deliver this week’s cultural report

NZ Trio Concert and Lessons

Last Wednesday, both the Intermediate school and music students at Lindisfarne College were treated to a fantastic performance by the New Zealand Trio. Our boys were also joined by students from Iona College, Woodford House, Hastings Girls and St John’s College to listen to an incredible performance of both modern and classical music. Afterwards, workshops with the performers were held where our students were given professional guidance on improving their technique and quality of sound. Thank you to everyone who came to listened and took part in this special event.

James Kennedy - Speech New Zealand Scholarship

2022 Year 13 Cultural Prefect James Kennedy has received the Excellence in the Use of Language and Expression with Public Speaking Scholarship for his 2022 year group. This is a national scholarship that places James amongst some of the best speakers in New Zealand that sat Speech New Examinations last year. This is an outstanding result for James who is currently studying at Canterbury University.

Lindisfarne College Musicians Fundraising Concert

Yesterday our pipe band, symphonic band, jazz band and soloists Jonty Bothamley (guitar) and Fergus Morunga (bagpipes) performed at a lunchtime concert at St Columba’s. It was fantastic playing to a packed audience and there was great vibe throughout the concert. All performers played excellently, showing the great variety of music on offer at Lindisfarne, and a total of $1294 was raised which will go to the Hawke’s Bay Cyclone Relief fund. Thanks to all boys in the bands that made this concert possible.

Lindisfarne College Guest Poets

Lindisfarne College poets Chris Proctor and Jaimil Ravla featured this month as “guest poets” at the monthly Hawke’s Bay Live Poetry meeting in Taradale. Both boys had prepared original poems, and delivered these with style and confidence that impressed the audience of Hawke’s Bay poets. Well done boys for taking up this fantastic opportunity.

Thanks very much, Antoni.

Sports captain Finn Balchin will now present our latest sports report.

Good afternoon I am pleased to be able to read today’s sports news.

FUTSAL

The Senior A team drew 1 all with NBHS in the first leg of the final meaning everything on the line to play for in this Sundays final.

The Junior Futsal A team won their semi-final and will now also play this Sunday in the final against NBHS

All the best to both teams as they battle for supremacy over their fiercest rivals.

CRICKET

Congratulations to the following boys selected to represent Hawke’s Bay in the Year 9 Cricket team vs Whanganui:

Marley Hekenui

Archie McDonald

Fergus Benefield

James Boyes

Leo Dixon

Presley Kupa 

CRICKET 1^st and 2^nd Xl

All the best to both the 1^st and 2nds as they endeavour to secure wins in their final round robin matches to secure a semi-final spot the following week extending their season a little longer.

TENNIS

Congratulations to Tom Haliburton who came runner up in the Hawke’s bay Secondary Schools Derek Ward Championships held on Monday. Tom won 3 fixtures on his way to the final.

COLLEGE SWIMMING SPORTS

Last Thursday we had the college swimming sports.  It was perfect conditions for this event and there were some excellent results.  A huge achievement was Sam Skidmore breaking 3 records.

In the seniors:      3^rd place went to Hugo Absolom           

                             2^nd Angus Pringle             

                            1^st place Jarvis York    

In the Intermediate age group:    3^rd place went to Wyatt Holmes                           

                                                    2^nd place to Matt McKendry                        

                                                    1^st place Will Worthington-Thin                     

In the Juniors:    3^rd place went to Liam McEntee                           

                           2^nd place Monty Douglas                         

                           1^st place was Sam Skidmore                                        

In the Intermediate School:     3^rd place was Archie Cole                                

                                                1^st = was Max Tubby & Thomas Mill      

The House results with the 20x25m relay still to be swum is:

Durham with 717 points, Oswald with 865 points, Aidan with 1188 and in 1^st place Cuthbert with 1238

Thank you and to everyone have a fantastic rest of your day and weekend.

Rector

Thank you, Finn. Congratulations to everyone who has been acknowledged today. Have a great weekend boys, and all the best for your sports and cultural activities. I know we have some exciting futsal fixtures on Sunday and also our Scots College exchange starts with 1^st XI cricket on Sunday so all the best to players, coaches and managers.

I’ll call on Chapel Prefect Heremia McGarvey to close our assembly in prayer.

Article added: Friday 24 March 2023