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Time has been lost and it must be found. And Muritai School has just 29 days to find it.
A great mystery is unfolding in the Lower Hutt suburb of Eastbourne concerning the whereabouts of a time capsule buried somewhere in the local school in 1997.
The seaside community must work together to unearth this capsule in time for the school’s belated 125th anniversary on March 24.
A call has been put out for a metal detector.
READ MORE:
* Purua School rings out 125 years of education
* The capsule that time forgot: Where was school’s anniversary memorial buried?
* A 125 year jubilee that took 18 months to finish
Carole Lowe, the school’s executive officer, put out an all points bulletin a few days ago on the Eastbourne Community Noticeboard Facebook page – a busy virtual Speakers’ Corner that would surely give up the answer immediately, if not sooner:
“We are hoping that one of the highlights of the [125th anniversary] event will be opening the time capsule that was buried at the 100th anniversary… the only problem is no one is able to tell us where it was actually buried!… Are you able to shed some light on where we can locate the capsule?”
Much chatter followed.
JUAN ZARAMA PERINI/Stuff
Stu Devenport, principal of Muritai School, said the buried time capsule could be anywhere on the school grounds.
Former Muritai pupil Lexxi Frost was 10 when she wrote a letter to her future self and put it in the capsule.
“I seem to remember the capsule was somewhere in the hall. My son is at the school now, so he gets to open up my letter,” she said in a voice full of hope but not a lot of certainty.
One former pupil swears it’s buried somewhere in the far field, another reckons it’s under the stage – a popular hunch. Outside the principal’s office, in the principal’s office, embedded in the wall of the school office.
Someone suggests the capsule – a tubular thing around 40cm long – is buried somewhere over at the senior school across the road.
We’ll need that metal detector posthaste, said school librarian Sue Fieldes, who seemed to be quite enjoying her role of time capsule detective.
She can’t imagine why there was no record kept of the capsule’s whereabouts. There must have been minutes from the planning of the capsule’s burial at the centennial event all those years ago, she said. It was a big deal. Surely someone must know.
With the bit between her teeth, Fieldes visited a former teacher now running a sweetie shop in Lower Hutt for more intel.
Jo Mortimer of JoJo’s Sweet Treats put the bonbons aside to cast her mind back. She recalled the capsule being buried but isn’t 100 percent sure exactly where. Somewhere near the flagpole, she wondered.
Fieldes, a veritable sleuth by now, rang Pete Pointon who was principal at the time the capsule was buried. He doesn’t remember a thing. She rang Andrew Bird who was principal a bit later, and he didn’t know either.”
Stuff
Former Muritai School principal Andrew Bird (pictured) doesn’t know where the time capsule is buried, and neither does another former principal, Pete Pointon.
Pete Pointon hasn’t got a clue where the capsule is.
“I had an idea it was in the staff room, but that’s all been changed since I was there 20 years ago. Someone thought it was in the library, but that’s been moved too. I’ve had about five people call me about this, but I haven’t got a clue.”
Fieldes rang Ruth Holmes (you can’t make this stuff up). Holmes, who was a teacher there at the time, reckoned the answer probably lay with one person: Anne Madgin.
Madgin was the teacher in charge of the content kids were putting in the capsule – letters, photographs, items that would paint a picture of life in the 90s.
But Madgin left the school a few years after the capsule was buried.
Some say she’s in Auckland, others are sure it’s Australia. One clue led the trail to Aberdeen from whence Madgin came. Her whereabouts remains a mystery but Fieldes lives in hope.
With so many different theories about where the capsule lies, current principal Stu Devenport was reluctant to start digging up the school or drilling into walls. Messy.
He’s gunning for the metal detector and the first place he’s looking is the field by the flagpole.
“We could grid out a section and take bids on where it could be. The winner could unearth it.”
IAN MCGREGOR/PRESS.CO.NZ
Weeks after the February earthquake, two time capsules were found under the toppled John Godley statue in Cathedral Square. (First published in 2011)
Meanwhile, the online chatter continues.
One former pupil seemed less concerned about the capsule and more ticked off that she hadn’t been informed about the 125th school anniversary celebrations.
Another said the capsule probably contained Spice Girls CDs and a Tamagotchi and all could be resolved if someone could just nip down to the op shop, pick them up and bury them in another capsule. “No one would know.”
That’s not going to fly with Fieldes.
Someone somewhere must have the knowledge. The search continues, but time is ticking.
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