'Children will know about them': Rolls of honour resurrected at Christchurch school

David Stanley Moody and Frederick Rex Higgott were not together in the trenches of Belgium, yet in death they are side by side so current, and future, pupils at Opawa School will remember them.

Old boys who died too young, past pupils who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War 1 and 2 are recognised once more now Honour Rolls commemorating their service are on display at the school for the first time in 45 years.

A meticulously handwritten list of the 120 men who served in the Great War from 1914-18 – a cross denotes the 19 who did not return home – again takes pride of place alongside the 15 gold-lettered casualties from World War 2.

An official unveiling takes place in the school hall on September 13 thanks to homework by teacher Robyn Drummond and remedial work by David Trerise, whose children went to the school.

A pupil at Opawa before teaching there for 30 years until 2020, Drummond remembered the rolls when she started her primary education.

They were hung in the foyer of the school’s brick classroom building until it was designated as an earthquake risk and demolished in 1977.

The rolls were then put in storage, separately, and said Drummond: “As time goes by people forget where things are.”

Ironically it took an actual earthquake for the likes of Private Moody, who died on the Western Front in 1917 and Flight Sergeant Higgott, killed on active service in 1942, to be reunited.

Parents on a working bee after the 2010-11 quakes discovered the World War 2 roll under the rickety floorboards of a verandah classroom.

Misshapen and infested with borer, it had clearly been in the wars while missing in action. The intention is now to raise funds so a conservator can restore it to its former glory.

The older counterpart had been moved around various locations on the school grounds and spent years in obscurity, wrapped in a blanket and propped against an office wall.

Drummond recalls the World War 1 roll being on display for the school’s 125th jubilee in 1997, and with the 150th to be celebrated on Labour Weekend next month, she decided last year to bring the rolls back from the dead.

“I started searching for someone to help ‘do’ something to get the boards out on display, or dispose of them,” she said.

“I emailed, phoned and made inquiries with furniture restorers, pest control people, conservators, archivists, the museum, RSA and art gallery. It went on and on.”

Finally in March she was put in touch with Trerise at City Art Depot, who in turn recommended conservator Emily Fryer.

Tresise downplayed his involvement in the project, which focused on the World War 1 roll presented to the school by WC Tisch and JE Schneider in 1919.

“We reglazed it, polished up and restained the frame ... we had nothing to do with the art work itself,” he said, adding the World War 2 roll required a conservator’s expertise.

“It’s riddled with borer. I don’t know what they can do. The panel is incredibly warped. That’s never going to be improved. The outside frame could possibly be tidied up and reframed.”

That work is for the future, with the rolls ready to be rededicated at a ceremony including descendants of the men who died, or survived, the conflicts.

The existing roll should also benefit from the gesture, with Drummond acknowledging the curriculum had changed from her days behind a desk.

“They don’t learn about it (the World Wars), but that’s something that’s going to be happening, looking at these boards,” she said.

Trerise was also pleased the younger generation will learn what their predecessors endured in warfare.

“They’re very interesting objects and schools should honour their past,” he said.

“It’s ideal children will know about them, they might take a bit more pride (in the school) and have a think.”

Research by Drummond, fellow jubilee committee member Kay Wenmoth and school librarian Karen Gardner, understandably unearthed many poignant back stories as they tracked down relatives.

“Hutton Stewart was dux in the year he finished at school, a few years later here he is dead (in 1944), what a waste,” said Drummond of the 26-year-old, who has a headstone in the Sangro River War Cemetery in Italy.

Thomas Hugh Erie Monro served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War 1, returned home and then drowned (at age 34) off Waikuku Beach in 1932 while trying to save another swimmer.

“His parents bought the land of the original school site and donated it to the council to use as a park in his memory (it is now the Monro Playground on Opawa Rd). His grandsons are coming to the unveiling,” Drummond said.

Wenmoth has a family tie to the project through her grandfather, World War 1 veteran William Phillip Wenmoth (1892-1964), who died when she was 10.

“The survival of this man against the odds resulted in our large extended family. He left behind an incredible record in the form of three faded pencil-written diaries containing entries for every single day of the 3-1/2 years he was away from home fighting in Egypt,” she said.

Wenmoth had five children, who all attended Opawa School, as did 15 of his 19 grandchildren.

Drummond also delved into the background of the women who presented the World War 1 roll.

WC Tisch was actually Beatrice Tisch, the wife of Walter Clement Tisch; Katie Schneider, Beatrice’s sister-in-law, was also referred to by her husband’s initials.

“Kate and James had two children at Opawa School in 1915 and James was on the school committee. I imagine there was a discussion about a roll of honour and James may have said: ‘My sister-in-law is good with art/writing’,” Drummond said.

Wallace Bernard Cox, an old boy wounded at Cassino in October, 1944, unveiled the World War 2 roll in 1949.

A major in the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Cox enlisted in 1943 and was awarded the Military Cross in October, 1945. He died on June 15, 1980, aged 71.

• Anyone interested in donating to fund the restoration of the rolls can contact Opawa School principal Sally Ormandy via sally@opawa.school.nz