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BIRTHDAY TIME - From your mayor 
The pace of public events aimed at celebrating Canterbury's 150th birthday will start to pick up momentum in the next couple of months. It's a celebration that I'm hoping as many people as possible will take part in as a way of collectively looking at our past as we prepare to meet the challenges of this new century. I know that it tends to sound a bit ponderous and pompous an idea, but it is my belief that this will turn out to be an exercise with great potential value for us all. Initially I, too, found little appeal in the idea of a year of events built around the first official European settlement. However, the more involved I have become, the more inclined I am to admit that my initial reaction was wrong. I have ended up hugely impressed with both the tenacity and the strength of vision that went into the establishment of Christchurch and Canterbury. Rather than the slightly starchy city forbears I expected to encounter, when looking at our history, I found a vivid and visionary crew of folk. These people were enthused by a dream strong enough to make them give up the certainties of their lives and travel across the world. Perhaps the most exciting discovery of my own journey into our city's past has been to find that the early settlers had a strong vision of building a better society than the one they were leaving. It was, of course, a vision shaped by the times in which they lived, however the aspiration was for a way of life that they hoped would lead to better lives for all society. I've also found that history is a lot closer than we tend to think when we just look at the number of years that have elapsed since this event happened. The evidence of the legacy the early settlers left us is a city that I think many of us take for granted. Icons like Hagley Park and the Arts Centre are part of that legacy. So are some of the central parts of our local political climate, which tend to cut across local body party lines to be part of our bedrock values - such as our practical approach to looking after residents. I have found that as I have become more involved in our 150th birthday events, the legacy of the past in Christchurch and Canterbury is strong and alive. In fact, I am starting to appreciate that the strength of the original founders' vision may be one of the reasons this city has survived and thrived while other experiments in settlement elsewhere in the world have become distant memories. I have already found that, yes, we do have real grounds for celebrating this birthday this year. The more of us that take part, the better we will weather the challenges and changes that lie ahead. There is also every reason to look at building on the original vision to ensure we continue to take charge of building a positive direction for Christchurch in the future. |
