Bay Harbour: November 13, 2019

Wednesday November 13 2019
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Your Local Views
Pottery group’s changing shape
BAY HARBOUR
PAGE 13
Mt Pleasant Pottery Group co-chairwoman Renate
Galetzka writes about how the group has evolved since it
was founded 59 years ago
WHEN THE Mt Pleasant
Pottery Group was founded in
1960, it was known as the Betty
Crocker Potters.
This was because members
used commercially-supplied
materials from Smith and
Smith, rather than digging
them out of the ground as purist
potters did.
The group once operated out
of a hut across the road from the
Mt Pleasant Community Centre.
As the club expanded over the
years, it typically had an active
membership of about 60 to 80
and exhibitions were big affairs.
Over time, the club acquired
considerable assets, including
a gas kiln, salt-firing kiln and a
large wood-firing kiln.
Believed to be the oldest
pottery club in Christchurch,
the group celebrated its 50th
birthday before the earthquakes.
The February 22, 2011, quake
rendered the former Mt Pleasant
Community Centre clubrooms
unsafe, so for a number of years
it was a very difficult time.
Class activities continued to
a limited extent in a member’s
private studio in association
with workshops held as part of
the Otago Polytechnic Diploma
in Ceramic Arts distance
learning.
The group will forever be
thankful to Shona Clarkson for
keeping these activities going.
Finally in 2016, a then very
small but dedicated group
of members relocated to the
Phillipstown Hub as it was
unable to secure rooms in
the newly-rebuilt community
centre.
Members occupied a
classroom-sized space and a
kiln shed.
Since then, the club has
steadily been re-growing and
presently runs five regular
classes, children’s classes, club
days, raku firings, weekend
workshops and more.
One of the regular highlights
used to be the yearly exhibition
at the Mt Pleasant Community
Hall with an out-of-town
exhibitor who would open the
evening.
The group had not held an
exhibition for a number of
years, but felt it was time to
reintroduce it to the yearly
calendar to celebrate the group’s
achievements, its creative
members and a beautiful craft.
The exhibition was held
last month at the Mt Pleasant
Community Centre with guest
potter Neil Hey, who put his
works on show.
PROGRESS: Renate Galetzka giving a demonstration of engobe
decoration at the Mt Pleasant Pottery Group.
Readers respond to the Bay
Harbour News article about
the historic Sumner tram
shelter on the corner of main
Rd and Nayland St which has
become a safety hazard
Toni Pengelly – As a Sumner
resident and historian, I would
very much oppose the removal of
the tram shelter. The structure has
both historical and aesthetic value
to the community. We have lost so
many of Christchurch’s historical
assets that to pull such a structure
down for the want of council
funds would be a loss to future
generations. Please keep this issue
in focus in your paper.
Samuel Zelter – It would be
a shame to see the tram shelter go
due to simple neglect and minor
damage. However, until I read
the article, I had no idea it was a
tram shelter at all. Some signage
is an absolute must, and perhaps
something like tables to bring
people back to using the shady and
reclusive artefact of history.
John Belcher – I would
like to see the old tram shelter
restored.