Bay Harbour: March 03, 2021

Wednesday March 3 2021 Bay Harbour News
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NEWS 9
Special place for flowers presented
in recognition of opera performance
MEMORIES: Raemon Greenwood’s passion for opera provides
an unbreakable bond with her parents Beverley and Earl Stick,
who were killed on a bus crushed by a collapsing building on
February 22, 2011.
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN
• By Chris Barclay
WHEN RAEMON Greenwood
was presented with flowers in
recognition of her contribution
to an operatic company’s
inaugural production, she
already had the perfect place to
put them on display.
Rather than keep them in her
Redcliffs home, she carried them
north of the city last Monday, to
the resting place of her parents
Earl and Beverley Stick.
While the city paused at
12.51pm to remember the
10th anniversary of the deadly
February 22, 2011, earthquake,
Greenwood was at rural Balcairn
inland from Leithfield Beach.
“I’d been given a really beautiful
floral arrangement from the
Dame Malvina Major Foundation.
I placed it on my parents
grave, it was appropriate because
that’s how much they loved opera,”
she said.
In a perfect world Earl and
Beverley would have sat in one
of the three rows either side of
the stage at The Great Hall of
The Arts Centre when To Toi
Opera debuted with their adaptation
of Puccini’s Suor Angelica
& Elegies.
Tragically they were passengers
on the No 3 bus which was
crushed by a collapsing building
on Colombo St as the couple
headed to Christchurch Hospital,
where Earl was undergoing cancer
treatment.
“They loved opera and classical
music. In the Canterbury
Opera days we were all on the
POIGNANT: Raemon
Greenwood embraced
the role of The Abbess
in Toi Toi Opera’s
production of Puccini’s
Suor Angelica &
Elegies.
PHOTO: WEI LI JIANG
friends committee,” Greenwood
explained.
“We used to do the catering,
dad would help out with the
props.”
So Toi Toi’s New Zealandthemed
take on an opera inspired
by World War 1 and first staged
in 1918 was particularly poignant
for Greenwood, who assumed
the role of The Abbess.
“Mum would have been here.
My niece’s wedding is at Easter
and mum would have been here,”
she said.
A ticketed rehearsal was held
on February 18, four shows
followed culminating with the
finale on February 21.
Fortunately the lastminute
relaxing of Covid-19
restrictions in Auckland enabled
Greenwood’s out of town
family members to witness
her performance, the visitors
including a 91-year-old aunt.
“Everyone got down and they
loved it,” she said.
“It was so up close and intimate,
everybody was raving
about it. We had a waitlist for the
last night.
“Someone I volunteer with,
it was the first opera she’d been
to, she said it was just stunning.
We had a lot of new people that
hadn’t been to opera, that’s a
good thing.”
Greenwood hosted a family
dinner for 29 later on anniversary
day, a positive occasion in
spite of the circumstances.
“The slides came out and we
went through all the lovely old
memories,” she said.
“There was this stunning
photo of my mother, in her late
teens, skating up Porters Pass way.”
Greenwood estimated it took
12 months to come to terms with
losing her loved ones, the pair
of devoted explorers, coming to
grief so close to home.
“In a year I flipped my grief
to gratitude. I know a lot of
people have found it very hard
losing their loved ones . . . I had
to be thankful for everything,
thankful that I’d had parents for
50 years.”
•Buoyed by the success
of Suor Angelica & Elegies,
Toi Toi Opera’s creative
director Katherine Doig
said their next, as yet
unspecified, production
was planned for December
or January.
Join us in celebrating Seaweek with a
Whakaraupo Harbour clean up
Sunday 7 March 2021, 10.00am – 12.00pm
Join Ruby from Our Seas Our Future and Donna from CVNZ
in tidying up around our beautiful Lyttelton Harbour.
Meet at Naval Point - Te Nukutai o Tapoa, Lyttelton.
Bring sensible footwear and gardening gloves. Everyone welcome!
For more information, please contact Donna at dlusby@cvnz.org.nz or 021 457 568.
Brought to you by Conservation Volunteers
NZ. Supported by Our Seas Our Future and
Environment Canterbury.