1950s snapshot wins historical photo competition

10 November 2008

Judges have unanimously selected a winner of the Libraries Heritage Week photo competition, saying the image “encapsulated the spirit of the 1950s and portrayed a moment in social history.”

The photo, entitled “Majestic Dance Band,” was also awarded the 1950s decade section of the competition, winning its submitter, Merle Conaghan, a Sony digital camera, Christchurch Central Library’s Aotearoa New Zealand Centre Team Leader Annette Williams says.

The photo competition was part of Heritage Week 2008, themed “Retrospective: Christchurch Life, Architecture and Design 1940s-70s.”

The photo competition aimed to reveal Christchurch’s post-war history through seven categories – fashion, transport, buildings and streets, sport and recreation, occupations, events, and everyday life.

All 125 entries are displayed on the libraries’ online photo album: flickr.com/photos/christchurchcitylibraries.  

Ms Williams says the other decade winners were:

1940s: “North Beach Home Guard” submitted by Margaret Hubert.

1960s: “First Flight” submitted by Alan Tunnicliffe.

1970s: “North West Energy Group – ‘Wrong’ Sign” submitted by Keiran McNabb.

Each decade winner was awarded a $50 voucher for Ken’s Video and Camera.

Several highly commended entries won USB memory sticks.

“Judges looked for photos that captured a sense of the period and had a story to tell,” Ms Williams says.

“A story that may be nostalgic for someone who lived through the decade, or a story that could intrigue or entertain someone who didn’t.” 

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Winning photo … the Majestic Dance Band, featuring Jimmy Olin (saxophone), Lottie Duckworth (piano), Neill Bamford (drums) and Tom French (double bass), at Worcester Street’s Mayfair Lounge, which boasted Christchurch’s only white grand piano, in the 1950s.

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