Photo Hunt October: Picnic, 1965

Highly Commended Entry in the 2012 Christchurch City Libraries Photo Hunt, PS-PH12-Eimg364.jpg CC-BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ

“Dad Peter, Mum Norma and Paul, together with a family friend, share a picnic by the car in the vicinity of Christchurch, in 1965.”

The judges commented “I reckon every family has a version of this shot – the picnic by the car. This is a classic example of that most Kiwi of photos.”

“Jandals and biscuit tins. And isn’t a Christchurch picnic always more comfortable with the easterly–sheltering qualities of the family car to keep things cheerful? ”

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: Grocers United Stores Picnic, Amberley Domain, circa 1934

Winning entry in the 2010 Christchurch City Libraries Photo Hunt. File ref: HW10-Ho-134A; CC-BY-NC-ND-3.0 NZ

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.

Picnic, 1965 : Picturing Canterbury

Dad Peter, Mum Norma and Paul, together with a family friend, share a picnic by the car in the vicinity of Christchurch, in 1965. Entry in the 2012 Christchurch City Libraries Photo Hunt. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ. Kete Christchurch PS-PH12-Eimg364.jpg

• See more Picturing Canterbury posts
• Browse our image collection
• Visit Kete Christchurch

Time to get the kids outside

Do you find your kids hang about inside even when the weather is fabulous?

Let’s get them inspired to play outdoors:

• get into some outdoor games
• learn a sport
• dig in their own garden
• try some outdoor crafts
• read a good story under a tree with a picnic.

Kid’s say they’re bored of their books? Try searching a reading list for other authors that write stories like their favourites and they can join the Summertime Reading Club where they may win a prize!

Teens can check out The Pulse for what’s new and happening. Garden City SummerTimes is here and the World Buskers Festival is just around the corner so there’s no excuse for not getting out this summer!

Picnics

With the holidays coming up and good weather on the way, it’s time to get the chilly bin out and head off into the wide open spaces with picnic blankets and plenty of yummy food.

I’ve always loved picnics. Listening to The Teddy Bears’ Picnic on National Radio as a child, reading about Ratty and Mole and all those Famous Five feasts with lashings of lemonade, gave picnics an aura of sumptuousness and magic. Sand in the sandwiches and sand flies never really managed to dent their romantic appeal.

Our forebears loved them too. Take a look at these two:

Messrs. Dexter & Crozier's, Ltd. Clients and staff, Cadillac and Belsize Motor Car Picnic

The picnic party on the Waimakariri Gorge bridge. Yes, the whole train.

Our adult cultural icons don’t seem to be quite as enamoured of them though.

Omar Khayyam loves them …

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread-and Thou

But what about  Picnic at Hanging Rock and A Passage to India? They’re hardly likely to tempt one into the countryside.

In Emma you get a great feel for being stranded miles from anywhere with a group of people you desperately want to escape and there’s a fairly uninspiring one in To the Lighthouse.  D.H. Lawrence likes them, but then it’s hardly the food and the scenery that matter in his case. I can’t really think of any that work out well in literature. Can you?