Pegasus Post: May 08, 2018

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8 Tuesday May 8 2018 Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi News PEGASUS POST Mairehau counsellor’s books help children worldwide • By Sophie Cornish A COUNSELLOR from Mairehau Primary School is attempting to improve the lives of people involved in child trafficking by creating and selling her own books. Sue Dickson created Books For Hope in 2016 after writing her first book in 2015. Since then, she has written four books, donated money to several overseas charities and received a message from the Pope. “I am really passionate about children and I wanted to be able to give to charities which help children who are less fortunate, especially those who are involved with things like Sue Dickson child trafficking,” she said. The books, titled Wisdom, Inner Peace, The Little Prayer Book and Power of the Heart, support New Zealand based non-profit organisations, Tent Peg Missions, Hagar New Zealand, LIFT International and Tearfund’s work combatting human trafficking and exploitation. “Each book that I’ve written, 50 per cent of the profits go to charity and each book has a different charity.” So far she has raised more than $600. Tent Peg Missions helps children in Uganda, and the money Ms Dickson has raised has gone towards supplies at a school for children with disabilities. Hagar New Zealand works GOOD CAUSE: The profits from Sue Dickson’s books, including Wisdom, are used to raise money for New Zealand charities which help children overseas. to rehabilitate children who have been rescued from child trafficking. Ms Dickson is currently writing two more books to add to her collection which are sold on her website and on Amazon. She hopes to complete two children’s books next year as well, and her 10-year plan is to build schools overseas. “That’s the goal. Hopefully I can sell enough books,” she said. Ms Dickson Pope Francis sent a copy of one of her books to Pope Francis and received a thank you letter. “His holiness Pope Francis was pleased to receive the gift which was kindly sent to him. He appreciates the devoted sentiments which prompted this thoughtful presentation,” the letter read. Ms Dickson said it was a “very exciting and special moment” in her life. •Ms Dickson’s books can be purchased at booksforhope. co.nz Later date looms for fishing event • By Sophie Cornish THE ANNUAL Take a Kid Fishing event at the Groynes lakes may be saved. However, the October event could be pushed back into late November or December this year. There were fears the event could be cancelled due to rapid growth of the lagarosiphon weed. City council regional parks manager Kay Holder has recommended two options involving chemical control to the Fendalton-Waimairi-Harewood Community Board, to minimise the problem. “The reasons for the rapid growth are not well understood but the warm summer and high nutrient flow into the lakes could be the cause . . . at this stage it is proposed that further on-going chemical control of the lake weed will be the most effective method for management,” said Ms Holder. The work, costing $15,000, would go ahead this upcoming spring/summer season and fishing cannot take place for six weeks afterwards. Event organiser David Denton said the event can work with the new dates, if a commitment is made by city WEED PROBLEM: Last year Freya Askew caught a 4kg salmon during the Take a Kid Fishing day at The Groynes. The event may be put back several weeks as the city council looks at chemical control to tackle the weed issue in the lakes. PHOTO: AARON CAMPBELL council to control the weed. The Take A Kid Fishing event has been held at the Groynes annually since 1988. About five to six thousand people attend it each year. Previously the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust has donated 800 salmon which are released into the lake. Volunteers show the children how to catch a salmon, clean it and prepare it for cooking. It is unclear how effective the chemical control could be. “There will still be some uncertainly on the effectiveness of the control as it depends on unknown environmental conditions, if the weed regrows in time for it to be controlled and chemical effectiveness,” said Ms Holder. The large quantity of weed means that if pulled out, it will regrow and potentially spread. “There are concerns that mechanical methods may produce loose stem that could move to other water bodies and spread the weed problem,” said Ms Holder. FOR CHLORINE FREE WATER Call Aqua Filter today on 0800 426 426 www.aquafilter.co.nz Better Technology, Better Water...
PEGASUS POST Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi 9 Tuesday May 8 2018 Local News Now Fire rages, homes at risk The entertaining drama teacher Former Aranui High School teacher David Chambers has been made a life member of Drama New Zealand. The Christ’s College director of drama talks to Julia Evans You’ve recently been made a life member of Drama New Zealand, how did that feel? Well it was a total surprise, I was absolutely gobsmacked, but really honoured. There aren’t a lot of them, there are only about eight life members in total. It’s the drama teachers’ association for primary and secondary schools from around the country. I’ve never really held back about what’s going on in drama and how it could be better. I’m very lucky that I’ve had a wealth of students who are very talented and got themselves some very good results. I can bathe in their glory a bit, that’s quite fun. I’m always talking to other drama teachers around the country and we have a good dialogue together, which I tend to contribute to a fair amount. Was your family proud? They were absolutely gorgeous; I got lovely reactions from all around the country. It’s amazing what Facebook does. They all started posting it on Facebook and it started going a little bit viral. I’m lucky to have a life-long partner who is also a high school teacher. She’s brought me three lovely kids and so now we have a number of grandchildren sort of all around the world. Can you tell me a little bit about your background in teaching? I started out with a commerce and geography background and taught all that stuff for 10 years. Then was lucky enough to be able to shift into my first drama department. I started the first drama department at Aranui High School and I did that in 1987. Then I grew the department while I was working on all the national growth for NCEA. So I spent 19 years at Aranui, then moved to Linwood for a year, and after that I came to college. So this is my 21st year at college, 40 years with a lot of beautiful people. It must have been an interesting shift from Aranui and Linwood to Christ’s College? Well it was. I often think that the kids still need the same thing. What you’re trying to do is you’re trying to drag the best out of each kid, give them the opportunities; try and give them the unconditional love and just create the biggest challenges for them to achieve. Just a little bit above what they need to be, an arm’s reach away. There’s a greater wealth base at college, but money isn’t the only thing people are wealthy with. The wealth of experience at Aranui is just extraordinary. In fact, the demise of Aranui is one of the saddest things in my life. I believe that school should still be there. We had an amazing drama department and it wasn’t only drama, it was a bloody good school. It’s such a pity it’s just been wiped off the face of the earth. It’s gone except in the loving memories of a few people. How important is drama? Studying drama in school means that kids can look at the world with a fresh lens. It opens up a whole range of thought and opportunity to think in the skin of other people. It teaches diversity, it teaches inclusion and tolerance. Those things are just vital right now in this confused world. Over the years you must have taught some interesting students, any juicy stories? It would be very difficult to know quite what stories to tell. There have always been some rat bags who thought it would be a good idea to take my car for a ride to go and get fish and chips. That was a goodie. BACKSTAGE: David Chambers is currently working on the Christ’s College and Rangi Ruru Girls’ School’s production of West Side Story. PHOTO: MARTIN HUNTER I mean there are a lot more stories about students who have been exceptional in their own right. Those are the real stories. I have had the privilege of teaching some really good television presenters, actors, stage technicians, writers, reporters. The most wonderful thing about all of those young people is the contact that I continue to have with them, often on a monthly basis. I’m still always on the phone to someone I taught at college or at Aranui. It’s amazing. How did you get into the world of drama and arts? I found out that I could do it in year 13 in 1971. It was something that I could do at school but also I could enjoy it beyond the classroom. I did a bit of it at Otago University and I did a bit of it up here in Christchurch with various outfits. Then when I got to Aranui, I realised I could pursue it, which is what I did. From there, we developed it and I just made it happen for the kids. They wanted it to happen. It is my life role, it’s what I’m here to do really, because it gives me such a buzz discovering texts, discovering culture, discovering things about myself in a great way, I just want to share that with the kids and pass it on. When was the last time you performed on stage? Years ago. Probably the last time I would’ve performed would have been the 1994 production of Les Miserables, I think. That was such a huge feat, to be able to fit that in was a very difficult task, but I managed it and the school wanted me to do it. That was the last and that’s because there’s just no time. This is a seven-day a week job and you just can’t commit to a full production. Someone asked me the other day if that made me unhappy. I said ‘well, no, it can’t be because if I was unhappy I would have done something about it’. I think I am, if truth be told, happy enough to be where I am making it possible for other people to act, sing and dance. Well interact, because acting is really interacting. Have you had any on stage disasters? There’s been plenty of them. Every show has its own set of challenges and sometimes it just sort of stops. Fortunately, that’s not often. When it does stop, you just have to get it started again. If the fire alarm goes off, you’ve just got to stop, reset and do it again. I’ve had a few of those. In 1994, most people forget, while Les Mis was on there was an earthquake. We were doing a matinee at the Isaac Theatre Royal and everyone had to evacuate. We all walked past all those bricks that hadn’t fallen down but would fall down later in 2011. Everybody forgets. I can remember the lights moving and the building moving. We were standing on the side of the stage and all of the lights just started swinging and we’re thinking ‘holy heck’. The whole audience and cast just piled out so there was a whole French Revolution out on Gloucester St. Back to it after a few durries. I played the policeman, Javert.
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