“ Getting journalism and media studies up from scratch was stimulating and satisfying
With an MA in geography from the University of Canterbury and a Trained Teachers Certificate, Peter spent two and a half years with IBM based in Wellington before he won a job teaching geography, social studies and economics back at College. “That was 1980 and, apart from a year on exchange to Charterhouse in Surrey in 1984–85, College is where I’ve spent my career.” In all he has taught six subjects, becoming Head of Social Studies, introducing journalism as a club and running a school newspaper written by the boys and published each term for 14 years, during which he also studied for a Diploma in Journalism. In recent years he has been responsible for driving film making at College, with a number of short films made by student filmmakers wining national and international awards. “Getting journalism and Media studies up from scratch was stimulating and satisfying, and operating the school newspaper was a great experience for the boys involved, some of whom went on to forge a vocation in journalism.” and operating the school newspaper was a great experience for the boys involved. ” Peter Hewson
The boys wrote the newspaper which was called Black and White , raised $2000 of advertising to pay for each edition, and it was published by The Star newspaper. Various students won awards for feature articles and photography. “I was lucky, to be able to direct quite a few shows for College, including Cabaret , Godspell and Perseus , which I wrote myself with music by Tony Ryan from Linwood High School.” Peter was married in the Chapel in 1985, his father, a vicar and organist, taking the service. “Not many people can say they were married by their father!” Alan Hewson had been vicar of many parishes in Canterbury and
the West Coast and was organ advisor to the Canterbury Diocese. He was asked to redesign the Chapel organ in the 1970s and the present layout with the console on the south side is attributed to him. Keeping a healthy balance between College life and private life was important for Peter. He became involved with lots of different organisations, including flying clubs, choirs, music and drama groups and sporting clubs. Peter’s retirement will start with a three-month trip to the United States, then he’ll regroup to embrace a whole new stage of his life. Undoubtedly it will include continuing making replica model
aeroplanes, and following his interest in music and theatre.
College Issue 36 2019
81
Made with FlippingBook HTML5