Sir John Hall and Life-Saving
PRESENTATION OF SIR JOHN HALL LIFE-SAVING SHIELD
from Christchurch Press 26 March 1914
The Sir John Hall Life-saving Shield, for annual competition among school teams, which was won this year by the Normal School team, was formally presented by Mr J. D. Hall at the Normal School yesterday. The presentation was made in the school quadrangle in the presence of the assembled pupils and their teachers. There were also present representatives of the Canterbury Centre of the new Zealand Swimming Association.
Mr W. E. D. Bishop, president of the centre, said the shield had been competed for now for five years. It had been won twice by Sydenham School, twice by the West Christchurch, and once by Normal. He hoped that the Normal School team’s first win would encourage them to further effort and would cause them to win the shield for, at all events another year. He would not like to see any school retain it for any length of time, for it was better that it should go round.
Mr J. D. Hall, who was received with hearty applause, said it was a great privilege for him to be asked to present the shield. He thought the children would like to know one or two little circumstances connected with the giving of the shield. His father, the late Sir John Hall, who gave the shield, had never the privileges and advantages which the children enjoyed today in the way of becoming proficient in swimming. He was the son of an old sea captain in Yorkshire, who was taken prisoner on two occasions in the wars with France, which ended at Waterloo, and the way he escaped was disguising himself and by being able to speak the French language fluently. He accordingly made up his mind that his sons should go to France and learn the language properly. The result was that the speaker’s father was packed off to a French school and afterwards to Germany. There were no swimming baths there, and the best substitute was a pump in the back yard. Consequently his father never learnt to swim. In the course of his pioneering days in New Zealand afterwards, he had to face many privations and risks, and one of the greatest was the crossing of big bridgeless rivers which he often had to do. He often thought then that it would have been more useful to him to have learnt to swim than to have become a good French speaker. He was therefore glad to assist the work of life-saving in New Zealand, and he agreed to present the shield as an annual prize for competition in life-saving. He appreciated the value of swimming, for he could not swim himself. Mr Hall then congratulated the winning team and their instructor. It was a very hard contest, and very little separated the winners from the next team, and the win was well deserved. Life-saving by means o team work, he added, was about the finest work that any boy could engage in.
The shield was then presented by Mr Hall, also medals given by the Canterbury Centre of the Association, to the team and their instructor. The recipients were Mr J. Wyn Irvin (instructor) and L. C. Wigmore, H. A. Barlow, A. E. Lawrence and W. J. Ryan.
Short addresses were given by Mr Walter Johnson and Mr T. S. Foster, and at the call of the headmaster, ringing cheers were given for the visitors and the winners.
from Christchurch Press 26 March 1914
The Sir John Hall Life-saving Shield, for annual competition among school teams, which was won this year by the Normal School team, was formally presented by Mr J. D. Hall at the Normal School yesterday. The presentation was made in the school quadrangle in the presence of the assembled pupils and their teachers. There were also present representatives of the Canterbury Centre of the new Zealand Swimming Association.
Mr W. E. D. Bishop, president of the centre, said the shield had been competed for now for five years. It had been won twice by Sydenham School, twice by the West Christchurch, and once by Normal. He hoped that the Normal School team’s first win would encourage them to further effort and would cause them to win the shield for, at all events another year. He would not like to see any school retain it for any length of time, for it was better that it should go round.
Mr J. D. Hall, who was received with hearty applause, said it was a great privilege for him to be asked to present the shield. He thought the children would like to know one or two little circumstances connected with the giving of the shield. His father, the late Sir John Hall, who gave the shield, had never the privileges and advantages which the children enjoyed today in the way of becoming proficient in swimming. He was the son of an old sea captain in Yorkshire, who was taken prisoner on two occasions in the wars with France, which ended at Waterloo, and the way he escaped was disguising himself and by being able to speak the French language fluently. He accordingly made up his mind that his sons should go to France and learn the language properly. The result was that the speaker’s father was packed off to a French school and afterwards to Germany. There were no swimming baths there, and the best substitute was a pump in the back yard. Consequently his father never learnt to swim. In the course of his pioneering days in New Zealand afterwards, he had to face many privations and risks, and one of the greatest was the crossing of big bridgeless rivers which he often had to do. He often thought then that it would have been more useful to him to have learnt to swim than to have become a good French speaker. He was therefore glad to assist the work of life-saving in New Zealand, and he agreed to present the shield as an annual prize for competition in life-saving. He appreciated the value of swimming, for he could not swim himself. Mr Hall then congratulated the winning team and their instructor. It was a very hard contest, and very little separated the winners from the next team, and the win was well deserved. Life-saving by means o team work, he added, was about the finest work that any boy could engage in.
The shield was then presented by Mr Hall, also medals given by the Canterbury Centre of the Association, to the team and their instructor. The recipients were Mr J. Wyn Irvin (instructor) and L. C. Wigmore, H. A. Barlow, A. E. Lawrence and W. J. Ryan.
Short addresses were given by Mr Walter Johnson and Mr T. S. Foster, and at the call of the headmaster, ringing cheers were given for the visitors and the winners.
