A golden jubilee is a time for celebration when we look back on the founders of our schools, the staff and the pupils. If it were not for them, our children would not have the privilege of attending Springvale House and Peterhouse Girls' today.
The Chronicle of the Springvale Estate
The history of schools on the Springvale Estate was collected together and published in a booklet, "The Chronicle of the Springvale Estate" .Richard Shaw did the initial research work and Penny Sylvester put pen to paper to produce this booklet which is very easy reading. Mike Hammond was a great help here - he knew everybody, staff and pupils, and was always prepared to give of his time and fill in details for me and make suggestions. Copies of the booklet are still available if anybody would like one.
Activities
Many of our past pupils are abroad and have been kept up to date by Oliver Beaumont who has kept up a Springvale Campus website as part of the Petrean website.
Sue Heathcote was responsible for all the computer work - the updating of the database of past pupils which needs continual updating, the design and photographs in the souvenir catalogue, and the design and printing of the many newsletters, programmes, tickets etc that we have had for our various events throughout the year.
Sue and Hans Christen took photographs throughout the year to keep a record of our activities.
Our main contacts in England involved with the Jubilee were Rev. Alan Megahey and Chris Paterson . Alan dealt with souvenir orders and helped to update our database of past pupils. Chris organised a great reunion dinner in Oxford which was attended by over 70 people who had connections with the schools.
Souvenirs
To involve the girls, we had a competition to design a logo at PHG which was won by Mandy Moran - then in D Block. The logo was used on all souvenirs and clothing made for the Jubilee. At Springvale House the children entered a "design a T shirt" competition and we ended up with two designs - one on the front and one on the back of the smaller T shirts. The children were allowed to wear these T shirts for all jubilee events and on Thursday afternoons. Liz Peebles took on the huge job of the souvenirs and was helped by Sarah Johnson when she was away. Financing initial stock, keeping up with price increases and chasing up orders made this project a major undertaking. A committee helped with design and ordering of various items and finally collecting finished products - not an easy task in Zimbabwe! Harriet Nel coordinated the sales at PHG and Elaine Redfern at Peterhouse. We sold souvenirs at all our functions during the year and at FFW and whenever parents came to collect children and by the end of the year nearly all of the stock was sold. The Smetham gates have been repaired and wooden planks replaced by Chris Matthews. Together with the newly planted Jubilee avenue of trees from Hans Christen, our entrance has taken on a new look.
Report on Events
Throughout the Year Between the two schools we had 38 events with a jubilee flavour during the year. With two school calendars and not wanting to clash with Peterhouse , organising the dates took many visits to Graham Peebles, Sue Davidson and Jon Calderwood - it's over now so they can relax! Each sport and cultural activity had a special event - some combined, like the opening and closing services and Andrew Lloyd Webber music show; while other events were separate. At all these events, flags were flown and souvenirs sold and any funds generated went into the Jubilee Fund. However the main purpose of these activities was to make our jubilee year a special year to remember.
The very first day of the year saw the launch of our Golden Jubilee year - the weather was kind to us for our outdoor activities. Firstly we planted an avenue of trees along the entrance road - each class at Springvale and Peterhouse Girls planted a tree together with members of staff. There is something very sentimental about planting trees for future generations - I wonder how big the tree planted by our grade ones will be by the time they leave school?
Our opening service was held under the trees by the entrance to the Girls' school buildings and past pupils of Springvale House now at Peterhouse joined the invited guests, pupils and parents of Springvale and Peterhouse Girls'. The service was led by Bishop Hatendi - prayers, hymns and a bible reading by our past headgirl Angie Raynor. An address from David Hatendi about his early days at Springvale had us all laughing.
Deb Lowe and Jane Grinham - daughters of our founder Robert Grinham "broke the ground" for the foundation of where we intend to build our Jubilee hall and then everyone went to the Springvale House Indoor Sports Centre for lunch. Mrs. Kuipers and Mrs. Davies had organised a display of past memorabilia - uniforms, boards, trophies and photographs of Springvale , Springvale House and the early days of Peterhouse Girls' which brought back a few memories. For the children, I hope they will remember this launch as more than a day when they didn't have lessons! Throughout the term there were various sporting activities - Jubilee cricket and tennis festivals and athletics meetings.
In conjunction with the Springvale House PTA a Family Fun day was organised for Springvale House - good to see parents joining in and getting involved with their children even if there were sprained ankles and twisted knees! . The Girls' interhouse plays were preceded by cheese and wine particularly enjoyed by our Borradaile guests. On the Girls' side we had a tennis/ volleyball tournament on the last Sunday of term - parents and friends joined us for the sport and also a lunch. During lunch the girls gave us a fashions how, "Then and Now"' organised by Harriet Nel which went down very well, and the girls performing enjoyed it too!
Second term saw various Jubilee rugby and hockey fixtures. The squash girls had a jubilee tournament and we had a Fund Raising Golf tournament in Harare superbly organised by the hardworking duo of Gary and Claire Steyn - staff and pupil teams from Peterhouse Girls and Springvale House were sponsored to play in the tournament as well as parents and teams from companies so we had a full field - some good golf and some not so good golf! .
Both schools got together with our music staff and produced the Andrew Lloyd Webber music show which was a great success and particularly enjoyed by the children who sang their hearts out!
Third term started with a weekend in Gosho Park. Some Springvale House children and parents camped out a night and we had various activities - sundowners on their favourite rock, night bird calls, early morning game-viewing, bird walk with Peter Ginn, and after breakfast we learnt some very amusing things about trees with Ian MacLelland. The Girls' fifth form came into the park after lunch for a leadership course and spent the night in Gosho. At 11.30 we had all the girls in the park for an open air service with Father George and a picnic lunch. The park was particularly beautiful as September can be with the msasas out - Gosho is a fantastic facility right on our doorstep.
On the sport side during third term, we had jubilee tennis and cricket fixtures and also the interhouse swimming at both schools. The Jewel Bank sponsored a Toastmasters dinner for the Girls' which we held in the Springvale House dining room - John Davidson was our guest speaker and the girls spoke with confidence and maturity.
The Springvale House PTA Firework function had a jubilee flavour with a special display and a "50" lit up to finish off with. The Springvale House Speech Day was specially moved forward to tie in with the senior schools and special guests from England who were here at the time. As many Peterhouse parents come to Speech Day we held our "Reunion dinner/Dance on 6th November. This was a very special event to round off our year - we set up a marquee in the quad by the Girls library. The décor was fantastic thanks to Debbie Raynor, Lorraine Cooke for flowers and Di Negri and her helpers for decorating . With about 200 people many of whom were past pupils, excellent speeches, a live band and good food and drink, a wonderful evening was had by all.
Our final function was a closing service taken by Father George just before children went home for the holidays. This was held in the Springvale House amphitheatre where we fitted in all of Springvale, Peterhouse Girls' and staff and invited guests and parents - once again, the rain held off. With all these events it certainly was a memorable year. My thanks to everyone involved - not least Chris Nel and his staff who must have moved hundreds of chairs! At all these functions there was extra catering to be done and Eve Boxter and her kitchen staff kept everyone well fed . Debbie Raynor and Lorraine Cooke arranged flowers for many functions during the year and I would like to thank them for their help and also the parents who donated the flowers. Many of the functions brought parents to the schools and gave them an opportunity to spend time with their children and enjoy memories. Frequently past pupils got together and caught up with news and spent time together.
Summary of fundraising.
With the Zimbabwe economy as it is this was a very difficult task and very time consuming indeed. Our focus was to raise funds towards a multipurpose hall to be used by both Springvale House and Peterhouse Girls'. Plans have been drawn but the building has been put on hold until things improve. All funds have been invested and we hope one day this Jubilee Hall will in fact be built on the Springvale Campus.
The main sources of income were as follows:
1. Rental from large notice board at the front
entrance.
2. Rental from correx board advertising and flags displayed at all our
events.
3. PTA Family Fun Day profits
4. PHG Valentine Day Dance profits
5. PHG tennis/volleyball/squash tournaments and Fashion Show profits.
6. Corporate Golf day in Harare
7. Ticket sales Andrew Lloyd Webber Show
8. Jubilee dinner at Peterhouse Festival
9. Entrance and camping fees Gosho Park weekend
10. Golden Jubilee dinner/dance profits
11. Donations and voluntary levies
12. Sale of booklet "The Chronicle of the Springvale Estate"
13. Profits from souvenir sales. The Zimbabwe Independent ran a four page
colour supplement on our jubilee which was good advertising for our souvenirs,
events and the "Chronicle"
In conclusion I would like to thank all those who helped to make our Golden Jubilee a memorable year. I certainly learnt a lot about organizing events, how schools run and also about big business in Harare!
Penny Raynor
(Co-ordinator)
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