Suggestions For Town Hall Opening

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31094, 24 June 1966, Page 12

Suggestions For Town Hall Opening

Original compositions and possibly a special three-act play to mark the opening of the Christchurch Town Hall were suggested to the annual meeting of the Christchurch Town Hall Promotion yesterday. The chairman of the execuI tive committee (Mr C. L. Martin) suggested that a cantata with orchestra! accompaniment be specially written. A competition could be held in two stages, one for words and the other for the music. A “Town Hall overture” to be played by the Civic Orchestra would also be interesting. The Civic Music Council could handle this. Another suggestion would be an original three-act ptay on a suitable topic such as “A Town Hall for Christchurch” —a clever playwright could get a lot of humour into this. Mr Martin, who was seconding the adoption of the annual report of the president (Sir James Hay) said the choosing of the hall plan was a landmark. He joined with Sir James Hay in thanking

the Lions Club for the great assistance it had given during the year. “Historic Meeting”

The annua! meeting was being held in the after-glow of the historic meeting earlier in the week, Sir James Hay said. The Town Hall was a great “people’s enterprise” —an amenity for the people of Christchurch. Tuesday’s meeting had been the culmination of a vision that many persons had entertained during the last 100 years. Many persons and organisations had helped with the campaign. It would be a pity if Town Hall Promotion was now to fade out, Sir James Hay said. “I feel we are only at the beginning of an enormous job, and the City Council will want all the help it can get.” There was still some money to be collected if Town Hall Promotion went about it the right way. One last effort should be made to get these contributions. A letter to be sent to about 150 persons and Arms had been completed, and an approach to farmers was also being considered. Of course this would mean going and seeing the farmers, which would take a great deal of time.

It was hoped Town Hall Promotion would eventually hand over £200,000 to the City Council. Sir James Hay said that fund-raising was not entirely at an end, but the organisation would be involved more and more with other aspects of the Town Hall. The meeting elected Sir James Hay president of the organisation, and Mr Martin vice-president