Gibson Girls' Bubbles

Stables Block

Rosemary Nattrass (Rathgen) 1952 ‘I remember being taught in the old stables. We tried to knit under our desks and got caught. We wore lyle stockings, dreadful things, and the togs were even worse. At Rangi, I made friends for a lifetime, especially from amongst the boarders.’

Anne Masters (Stevenson) 1954 ‘Rangi was smaller then. Everybody knew everybody. Nat Lough – I remember her teaching us in the stable block. She could be lovely, or she could throw the chalk or the duster at you. We had a lot of traditions. Miss de Lambert took us for art and Mrs Patrick was the headmistress and she was very good for the school. She was an educationalist and she dragged the school into the 20th century, which was needed.

It was after the war, the Gibsons had sold Rangi to the Presbyterians, and the church had taken over the running of the school. 1947 I think it was (?).’

June Cloudesley (Matthews) 1954 ‘I was one of four girls that attended Rangi. My dad, Frank Matthews, donated the steel trusses for Wilson Hall. My favourite teacher was Mrs Dennis. She was friendly, and open to anything – a contrast to everything and everyone else being so prim and proper. I remember Mrs Patrick, for example, with her high heels strutting along, wearing a black gown.’

Cushla Moorhead (Rennie) 1954 ‘I was a 2nd generation boarder. I liked the Boarding House; we had cocoa for morning tea in the winter. Now my granddaughter, Olivia Armitage is a 4th generation day girl.

Some of the boarders used to have a midnight feast, up in ‘heaven’. I only did it once; day girls smuggled the food in, and when we thought everyone was asleep, we went up onto the roof. There was a valley between the two peaks of the roof and that’s where we sat. It was very risky and if we’d been found out, we would have been gated.’

Sandra Francis (Franklin) 1954 ‘I attended Rangi from 5 to 17 years old. I was there at the end of the Gibson era, with Miss Ethel and Miss Winifred. I wore a black wool dress with a lace collar. Miss Lough taught us. Three of us girls used to smoke during her class, leaning out the window, I was about 16 years old, and because she was a smoker herself, she didn’t smell anything when she came in, at which point we quickly stubbed the cigarettes out in the ink well, and then the smoke would curl up out of the inkwell during class, she never noticed it either. Her classroom was in the stable block; she taught us biology, and the bell was down below in the courtyard. She lived in Darfield, and when I left school I used to call in and visit her at her cottage in Darfield on my way to go skiing.

Miss Lough and I rang the bell together on our last day, with tears streaming down our faces.’

Lesley Moore (Lewthwaite) 1950 ‘We had Miss Mason for Latin, she was brilliant. Miss Mason left and got married, and Mrs P succeeded her. We loved Mrs Patrick tripping along in her high heels.’

Top left: Helen Gibson at desk, Middle: Anne Masters, Right: Helen Gibson Middle left: Cushla Moorhead and June Matthews, Middle: Gill Rich, Right: Sandra Frances Bottom left: Miss Ellis and M. Ziffer, Middle: Lesley Moore and Janice Bell, Bottom right: Natalie Lough 1912-1984