As we move closer to establishing a new school at QEII, now is the time to start gathering artefacts from the old school on North Parade which can be incorporated into a Shirley BHS museum. Already, staff, students and Shirley Old Boys visit and borrow items from the Archives – especially school scarves, caps and the occasional blazer or other pieces of uniform.

We would like to add more to the collection. Our ‘millennial’ students (i.e. born in 2000 AD and thereafter) may wish to know the way their elder siblings and parents communicated. There has been a huge technological leap and 20th Century items are now beginning to have an archaeological value. One has only to look at some of the recent television programmes (the ‘Antiques Roadshow’, for example) to appreciate the continuing interest in ‘Heritage’.

If any parents are planning on cleaning out the garage and come across items they would like to donate to the Archives, these would be most welcome.

In particular, since we have now entered the digital age and landlines are slowly going out of use in many homes:

• An old style hand-piece telephone

• A more modern push button telephone

In addition:

• a portable typewriter of the mid-20th Century

• a Banda reprographic machine

• a Gestetner reprographic machine

• an 8mm movie camera

• a school mathematical calculator of the 1970s

• a vale radio

• an early transistor radio

If you have an item ‘surplus to requirements’ in reasonable condition and are able to deliver it to the Shirley BHS Reception please contact School Archivist Colin Amodeo, email cfa@shirley.school.nz