Relationship with Changping and Hurunui District
On writing the column I am preparing to welcome on behalf of the district a group of students from three schools in Changping district Beijing China. Our district hosts a historical and cultural connection that has been developed through the life and works of Rewi Alley, who as a very young boy lived in Amberley with his family. Alley’s father Federick was the Headmaster of Amberley Primary school, and they lived in the school house which was sited in Chamberlain Park, and it is recorded that the Alley family spent many hours playing in the stream that flowed through the town.
Phillippa Reynolds a niece of Alley wrote in her book “Rewi Alley – from Canterbury to China “ that when Alley was a small boy three or four years old and living with his family in Amberley there was an incident he remembered for the rest of his life. He recalled hammering holes into a water storage tank during a summer drought. He enjoyed the sound of water spurting out”.
Interestingly Alleys life continued in this manner when in 1931 the middle reaches of the Yangtze River suffered from a great flood Rewi Alley gave up his vacation and participated in flood relief where he transported supplies to relief workers in Honghu, continuing to assist many Chinese farmers in their approach with irrigation or when flooding impacted on their farming practises.
In July 2016 former Mayor Winton Dalley lead a delegation to cement the sister district relationship with Changping which continues to be enduring today. One of the purposes for the relationship is to offer an opportunity through our young people and education to bring the cultures closer together. In March 2020 just prior to the lock down for COVID we were preparing to welcome a group of students to visit and immerse themselves and experience life within our district. However, this trip obviously did not continue and for a variety of reasons it has taken some time to get back to achieve this goal.
In November 2017 I was fortunate to return to Honghu city in the Hubei Province to further develop the relationship and to jointly celebrate the 120th year since the birth of Alley, speaking on behalf of the Hurunui District alongside the then ambassador Sir Don McKinnon at the unveiling of the huge statue of Alley positioned on the banks of the Yangtze River.
Finally now, we are in the position to invite 32 students with 4 teachers to our district, they will have an exciting opportunity, spending some time with our students at Amuri Area school, Hurunui College and Amberley school where the Rewi Alley hall is sited, along with visits to farms and landscapes of interest. It is pleasing to welcome this group and further cement the goals and vision of our sister district and historical and cultural relationship.
