After 60 years, 27 students who went to the Christchurch School for the Deaf have reunited.
Their time spent reminiscing about growing up together at the residential Sumner school has brought back both treasured and painful memories.
In 1963, it was a boarding school for 200 deaf children from across New Zealand. It was a strict and challenging environment for the young students, some as young as three, who were left in the care of the school.
Former student Anthony Walton says he was very distressed when he was first taken there, “I looked for mum and I asked them where they'd gone and nobody told me that they’d left. I think I was maybe 5.”
Once there, they were made to lip read, and sign language was forbidden, although they still used it in secret. Former student Lindsay Jones says: “It was hard if we signed a staff or a teacher would give us a smack they’d have rulers and things”
But those shared struggles made them all very close, and their reunion was full of big hugs and broad smiles. Former student Ngaire Williams says “I really miss it, lovely to see old friends, it’s just perfect, I’ve really enjoyed myself”
Another ex-student, John Fleming says ”It’s been strange, it’s like going back, faces look different, bodies look different. We can remember each other when we were small now we're much much older”
And now they all use sign language openly, Anthony Walton says: “The hugs and the communications and the catch-ups has just been wonderful. What we've been doing and remembering our experiences, it's been really rich beautiful communication”
So beautiful, they’re already planning a 65th reunion. “We still really love each other”.
SHARE ME