When Death Jumped Ship exhibition – 12 to 27 October

Hard on the heels on World War One, the 1918 influenza pandemic was the worst health disaster of the 20th century. Worldwide, over 50 million people died and here in Aotearoa 9,000 New Zealanders lost their lives to the flu in only two months. What was it like? How did people deal with this disaster 100 years ago?

When Death Jumped Ship – Remembering the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. Lyttelton Library and Lyttelton Museum Exhibition on from 12 to 27 October 2018. Flickr 2018-October-IMG_3054

For 100th anniversary of the arrival of the pandemic in New Zealand, Christchurch City Libraries and the Lyttelton Museum have teamed up to tell this story in an exhibition detailing the local response in Lyttelton and Christchurch. They have brought together a fascinating range of images, artifacts and stories from that time and recreated a 1918 medicine depot complete with an inhalation device for preventative treatment!

This is a travelling display and will be featuring at libraries around Christchurch. The exhibition is on at:

• Papanui Library until Friday 9 November,
• Te Hāpua: Halswell Centre from Monday 19 November to Friday 7 December,
• South Library from Monday 10 December to Friday 28 December,
• Tūranga in January 2019.

If you’d like to read more about the 1918 influenza pandemic and the local response take a look at Geoffrey Rice’s Black Flu 1918 and Black November: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Zealand and information and images on our website.

Exhibition history

The exhibition ran for two weeks until 27 October at Lyttelton Library and there were two fantastic free talks at the library:

• Tuesday 16 October 7pm to 8pm: Anna Rogers, who has written about WW1 nursing, will discuss the pandemic and New Zealand’s military medical contribution.
• Wednesday 17 October 7pm to 8pm: Dr Geoffrey Rice, acknowledged expert on the pandemic, will look at the question: could it happen again?

Kōrerorero mai – Join the conversation.

Lighting up the winter nights – Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights, Friday 29 June 2018

This week is an exciting one for Lyttelton Library and our customers, with our fabulous Stories after Dark with Lindsey on Thursday night, and the awesome Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights on the evening of Friday 29 June.

Lyttelton Library’s Stories after Dark starts at 6.30pm on Thursday 28 June – head down to the library and join us for stories, songs and rhymes followed by crafts and hot chocolate. We will entertain your 4-7 year olds, and the whole family is welcome. Come along in your PJs and bring Teddy too!

Friday 29 June is the night for the annual, spectacular Lyttelton Festival of Lights! Lyttelton Library will be closed as usual, but we’ll be doing our bit with several lightshows in our own space, and projected onto neighbouring buildings. Come through the tunnel for fabulous food vendors, lively musical entertainment, the Lyttelton Primary School parade, and the Lyttelton Port of Christchurch fireworks display at 8pm!

Parking in Lyttelton is extremely limited, especially with the extensive roadworks going on at the moment. For a parking-stress-free evening, check out the festival park and ride information (scroll down to Public Transport Information).

Find out more

• Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights website
• Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights Facebook

Lyttelton links

The following resources are helpful for Lyttelton visitors and locals:

• Information on Lyttelton Library.
• CINCH listings for Lyttelton — Lyttelton organisations listed in our Community information directory.
• See images of early Lyttelton in our heritage photo collection.
• Read books about Lyttelton.

Lyttelton Harbour with ships at dock and tugboat on the water [191-?], CCL PhotoCD 4, IMG0068

David Welch – Port to Plains; Over and Under the Port Hills, the Story of the Lyttelton Railway Tunnel

The Lyttelton rail tunnel officially opened on 9 December 1867. The trip through the hill secion took less than seven minutes. This was New Zealand’s first rail tunnel, and for many years it was also the country’s longest. The Lyttelton rail tunnel was the first in the world that was driven through the side of an extinct volcano.

I recently attended David Welch’s Heritage Week talk about his upcoming book: Port to Plains; Over and Under the Port Hills, the Story of the Lyttelton Railway Tunnel.

Entrance to a tunnel on the Christchurch railway [ca. 1868] CCL PhotoCD 18, IMG0029

No dry reading here! David loves a good social history so has concentrated on the real characters in the saga of constructing a tunnel through a volcanic caldera. In his talk he brought to life well-known early pioneer names such as Fitzgerald, Moorhouse, and Dobson in snippets of stories included in the book.

I for one am really looking forward to its publication. Place a hold on Port to Plains; Over and Under the Port Hills, the Story of the Lyttelton Railway Tunnel and we will let you know when a copy arrives for you to read.

Find out more:

• Other titles by David Welch
• Our page on the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel
• Christchurch Photo Hunt

From tiny seeds… The origins of The Great Library Seed Swap

So what’s the deal with all this seed swapping that’s propagating across our libraries? Well, it’s been growing quietly for a while, and I was there when it all began…

It all started just after the February 2011 earthquake, as so many other interesting projects did. When my usual library (the Central Library) was closed, I was reassigned along with my colleagues – first to emergency response related duties, and then to help out at other suburban libraries as they reopened and experienced increased patronage.

So, I found myself on a bus to Lyttelton! On my first day my new colleague Lizzie greeted me with “So you’re the person who gets all the new garden books on hold before me!” From that welcome followed many hours of gardening talk; through aftershocks, closures, and long Friday afternoon desk shifts (often involving customers in the discussion).

A bit before spring of 2011 Lizzie uttered the fateful words “Hey, we could do a seed swap!” and The Great Lyttelton Library Seed Swap was born. It has been brightening up our early spring days at Lyttelton ever since. Our swap has includes seeds and seedlings (and even baby fruit and native trees on occasion) and we have the Lyttelton Community Gardens on board too.

I left the libraries for four years, but couldn’t stay away and was delighted to discover on my return that not only had The Great Lyttelton Library Seed Swap thrived, but it had put out runners to Akaroa and Hornby Libraries – and this year, with the help and enthusiasm of Remy at Spreydon Library, it’s popping up at Spreydon and South libraries too! Check out the times and dates for your nearest seed swap now.

Jo
Lyttelton Library

Opening of the Harbour Light Theatre

The queue had started long before the official opening at 8pm and while they waited the crowd was entertained by musical selections from the Lyttelton Marine Band. The Deputy Mayor, J.T. Morton, started the official proceedings, apologising for the absence of the Mayor, Mr Radcliffe, who had been unable to be present due to illness. Mr O.T.J Alpers on behalf of the directors, spoke next, remarking on moving pictures being a great source of education, especially in war-time.

And then the films began rolling…a wild life film, followed by a humorous study entitled “When in Rome” and then the main attraction, a drama, “The Deep Purple”.

Harbour Light Cinema, circa 1980s. © Jae Renaut.

So began the life of the Harbour Lights Picture Theatre when it was officially opened on 20^th March 1917.

Situated at 24 London Street it was built in 1916, reputedly designed by John and Maurice Guthrie. Arthur William Lane had purchased the land in June 1916, transferring the title to Lyttelton Pictures Ltd in September. Mr Lane would be the theatre’s first manager.

Two storeys high, with a mezzanine floor, the theatre could seat 550 people in both stalls and circle. Initially just films were screened but in 1920 the building was extended and a stage erected to accommodate theatre performances, the first one “The N.Z. Diggers” opening on the 4^th December. The theatre was now able to be used for performances, concerts, public talks and other social events as well as screening films.

Over the years the Harbour Lights went through a number of changes including building damage when the clay bank at the rear of the theatre collapsed into the stage extension in 1925. The main building escaped unscathed so film screenings continued but the stage was out of action for some time. Talking pictures arrived in April 1930, and attendance at the theatre continued to be a regular social activity for the townspeople. In the 1940s the theatre was advertised for sale or lease but ownership only changed in the 1960s when Lang Masters took over running the cinema and again in 1972 when Leo Quinlivan took over the building and after a major refurbishment reopened it as a theatre. In 1980 it was once again a cinema when Frederick E. Read, a film librarian, took over ownership.

The 1980s saw a squash court added, the auditorium stripped, the building turned into a restaurant, and then a night club. By 1992 it had evolved into a licensed entertainment and function venue and it continued to operate as such until the earthquake in February 2011.

In April 2011 the Harbour Light Theatre was demolished.

Further information

• See photos of the Harbour Light on Flickr
• Read about other cinemas and theatres on Kete Christchurch

 

The Lyttelton Report: the old, the new, and the canine

It’s all go portside at the moment, as we at Lyttelton Library watch the repairs proceeding apace from our temporary perch up the hill in the Recreation Centre’s Trinity Hall on Winchester Street. The in-progress library now has a dashing white coat of paint (goodbye pink!), lovely new double-glazed windows, and a smart new resident outside…

This gorgeous bronze sled dog, nicknamed Hector, was sculpted by Mark Whyte and stands guard by what will be our new customer entrance. He’s looking towards Quail Island, where his real-life predecessors were housed and trained. Hector is there to recognise and celebrate Lyttelton’s contribution to exploration in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean and he symbolises the courage, commitment and comradeship of all those involved. (He’s also a hit with local kids and tourists – it seems the thing to do is have your selfie taken with Hector wearing your sunglasses!)

Meanwhile, inside the library, the new spaces are starting to take shape. Here are a few shots of the work in progress:

Looking at the new children’s area (old entrance on London Street).

Looking at the new entrance on the corner of London and Canterbury Streets.

Main library space with newly opened up porthole view over the harbour.

We’re enjoying our current sojourn in sunny Trinity Hall (particularly with Jenny the giraffe watching over everything) and looking forward to next year, when we’ll be back in the heart of things (and the Saturday market) again!

Lyttelton Library is due to reopen in March 2017.

Lyttelton Library’s temporary home, watched over by Jenny the giraffe.

More information

• Opening hours of the temporary Lyttelton Library
• Photos of the temporary Lyttelton Library
• Antarctic exploration and Christchurch

Jo,
Lyttelton Library

October Photo Hunt: Unloading diggers for Christchurch rebuild, 29 October 2011

Entry in the 2014 Christchurch City Libraries Photo Hunt by Jane Rodgers. Unloading-diggers-for-Christchurch-rebuild-29-October-2011 CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0NZ

• See more images of Lyttelton Harbour on Kete Christchurch.

Christchurch City Libraries has been running an annual Photo Hunt in conjunction with the city’s Heritage Week since 2008.  The 2016 Photo Hunt is running again from 1 – 31 October. During the month of October we will be posting a series of images from earlier Photo Hunts.

Enter the 2016 hunt online or at your local library.

Kete Christchurch is a collection of photographs and stories about Christchurch & Canterbury, past and present. Anyone can join and contribute.

Photo Hunt October: Open Day, 1955

Highly commended entry in the 2012 Photo Hunt. File ref: RM-2012-PH-101; CC-BY-NC-ND-3.0 NZ

United States Navy Icebreaker Open Day at Lyttelton in 1955.  As the 2016 Antarctic season opens, this is a reminder of the length of the association between Christchurch and the U.S. Antarctic progamme.

Highly commended entry in the 2012 Christchurch City Libraries Photo Hunt.  The judges commented that “This colourful and action-packed shot shows the strong and enduring connection between Christchurch people and those heading down to the Antarctic.”

Christchurch City Libraries has been running an annual Photo Hunt in conjunction with the city’s Heritage Week since 2008. The 2016 Photo Hunt is running again from 1 – 31 October. During the month of October we will be posting a series of images from earlier Photo Hunts.

Enter the 2016 hunt online or at your local library.

Kete Christchurch is a collection of photographs and stories about Christchurch & Canterbury, past and present. Anyone can join and contribute.

Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights 2016

The Lyttelton Harbour Festival of Lights is an annual event of lights, music and fun celebrating the Lyttelton community, Matariki, the Māori New Year and the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

The Festival runs over nine days from 18 to 27 June, and this year incorporates the Alliance Française Christchurch Musical Festival on opening night. The programme features a street party (the dress up theme is ‘Futuristic’), a masquerade ball, music, waiata, food and wine, live poetry performances, storytelling, and, of course, fireworks.

Highlights of the 2016 programme of events [2319 KB PDF] include:

Saturday 18 June

• Matariki Celebration 10am – 1pm, Albion Square: Cultural performances and music.
• Puppets at the Port St Saviour’s Church at Holy Trinity, 10am – 2:30pm: Including favourites Liz Weir, and Natural Magic
• Grand opening cabaret, Lyttelton Arts Factory, 7.30pm (already sold out)
• Alliance Française Christchurch Music Festival

Lyttelton Library is moving and you can help!

The Lyttelton Library in London Street is relocating. It will close at 1pm Saturday 30 January and relocate to Trinity Hall, 25 Winchester Street. It will open at its new location Monday 15 February.

Earthquake repairs and strengthening and a full refurbishment will be carried out on the London Street building from February to November 2016.

You can help! Lighten the load of books to be moved from the London Street library site. Max out your library card by borrowing books, DVDs, magazines and CDs, then return your books to Trinity Hall.