Good afternoon School. Please be seated.

I’d like to invite Head Prefect Zac Maulder to deliver today’s reading

Today’s reading comes from 1 Peter Chapter 4, Verses 10-11

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thank you, Zac. Today’s reading was all about duty, and I’ll be linking to the theme of duty in my words to you today.

Rectors Comments:  

Last Monday, as you know, was a public holiday in New Zealand. It was the Queen’s Birthday public holiday. I thought I spend a few minutes today talking about this Public holiday and the person in whose honour we take a day off from school and work.

So it is of course in honour of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch of Great Britain. She is our head of state too as a commonwealth country and that’s why we have a public holiday near (not quite on) her birthday.

The Queen was 95 on her last birthday. She became Queen of Great Britain and 15 Commonwealth countries in 1952 when she was just 25 years old.

She she’s been the Queen now for 70 years. She’s the longest serving and longest lived queen or king in the history of Great Britain. She is the longest-serving female head of state in world history, and she’s the oldest living monarch at the moment.

But even though she holds all these incredible records as a head of state, what you may not know about her, is that she was never meant to be Queen. Her father was not next in line to the throne – her uncle Edward was.

And her Uncle Edward did become King in 1936 when her grandfather died, and because he was expected to have many children, Elizabeth would have then dropped further and further down the line and you would probably have never even heard of her today.

But in the same year that her uncle became King, something happened that would change the course of Elizabeth’s life forever. The King was fascinated by the United States of America. He’d visited many times and he loved the fact that it was modern and fast-paced compared with his homeland. The king had met an American woman, Wallis Simpson, who had been divorced, and he wanted to marry her. Now because it was not the done thing for a King or Queen to marry a divorcee, he had to ask for the support of the British government to marry Wallis Simpson. The government said it could not give that support, and so King Edward VIII gave up the crown after less than a year on the throne. King Edward didn’t have any children, so the next in line was his brother, Elizabeth’s father, who immediately became King George VI. He reigned for about 15 years, and when he died in 1952, Elizabeth, his oldest daughter at only 25 years old, became the Queen.

Now you might hear people saying things like I’ve got no time for the Royals. They’re super rich and have never known what it’s like to need anything…..they’ve lived their whole lives in palaces eating the best food and going all over the world on holidays. And there’s some truth in that, but I have a different perspective when it comes to the Queen, and that’s because when her Uncle gave up the crown in 1936 and she knew, at 10 years old, that she would in all likelihood become Queen of her country one day, her innocent, carefree childhood ended.

She was told that she would now be living a life of service to her country. And she has gone on to live a full life of over 70 years service to her country and to all commonwealth countries and I am awestruck by the unwavering commitment she has made. And by her sense of duty. Duty is a really important value. It’s not one of our character values on our flags (it’s linked to service certainly), but duty is different to service. Service is about being of assistance to someone. On Wednesday Matua Sidney asked Yr 11s to provide service at the ball to assist the Yr 12 and 13s and I thank all those boys who have volunteered. When you help turn chairs around in the assembly chapel hall you are providing a service. Duty is something we are morally or legally obligated to do. In accepting a prefect badge, the Prefects have a duty to set the example for others. As teachers we have a duty to help you learn to become the best versions of yourself. I hope you can all think about what your duty is to your family, your school, your friends.

The Queen is patron to hundreds of charities and her duty to these organsitations and to her country and commonwealth is a huge responsibilty. She can’t take a day off from being Queen and she always has to conduct herself perfectly because she is always under the spotlight. Always in the public eye. She lacks the freedom to do what she wants. There are things that we can do that we take for granted like walking down a public street, going to a movie with friends or walking down a supermarket aisle. She will never know these simple freedoms. She has to act calm and friendly and grateful and interested even when she’s having a bad day. She can’t be seen to have a bad day. I think that must be incredibly suffocating.

And what I really admire about the Queen is how she has kept her head and her dignity and her sense of duty when there have been so many changes to her world. She has been a rock to her family, her nation and to all the nations of the commonwealth throughout most of her life. Remember boys, she was the same age as the young men in the front row here, when her father must have had to explain to her that her life was going to change in a way she could never have imagined. I can’t help but think this was not a cause for celebration, but rather a moment in time that in many ways brought the young Elizabeth’s childhood to an end.

So now you know a little more about the Queen, her history and why we have a public holiday in her honour. I hope you do reflect on the duty you have to Lindisfarne when you pull on the crest. It’s a duty to carry the baton and make the school better for the years that you are here. You may have five or seven years to run your race at Lindisfarne. You may have joined a bit later and may have only a few years. Please give the gift of selfless duty to the college. If you do, you will leave this place better than you found it. I think that if the Queen can live a life of duty to her country for 70 years and counting, we can be inspired by this 95 yr old woman to do our bit for this fantastic college.

Thank you and please join with me in singing the school song Highways in the Heart.

HYMN 

Thank you, please be seated.

I’ll now invite Cultural Prefect Zac Fitzgibbon forward to update us on the latest Arts and Culture news.

Arts and Cultural Report

Hawke’s Bay Festival of the Bands

Recently both the symphonic band and the jazz band won Gold awards at the Lindisfarne College Hawke’s Bay Festival of Bands. Both bands performed excellently and were praised by the judge Mr Mike Ashton from the Royal NZ Airforce Band. There were 19 different bands from around the North Island this year at the festival, including jazz, symphonic and concert bands.

In addition to the band performances, the following boys received awards in the solo category. Could these boys come forward to be congratulated by Mr Hakeney.

Josef Oosthuizen (Violin) SILVER

William Duncan (Trumpet) SILVER

Quinn Le Lievre (Trombone) GOLD

Leo Guo (Trombone) GOLD

Antoni Milewski (Clarinet) SILVER

Thanks to all boys and parent helpers that ran a great band festival on the day! Thank you Dr Kristensen for organizing the festival.

Debating

Ned Brougham recently took part in the NZIER National Schools Debating Championship held in Wellington. Ned had been selected as part of the three-person Hawke’s Bay team after he competed in the regional round of the championships. Other members of the team came from Havelock North High School and Karamu High School. The 12 teams in the nationals initially took part in seven rounds of debating from which Hawke’s Bay emerged in first position. This is the first time in the history of the competition which goes back 33 years, that Hawke’s Bay has got through to the semi-finals.

Ned received a highly commended individual speaker award, recognising him as one of the top secondary school debaters in the country.

Well done Ned!

Mexican Embassy Cultural Day

On the 26th of May, a couple weeks ago, Lindisfarne College hosted  fun filled day of Latin American culture in conjunction with the Mexican and Spanish Embassies as well as staff from Massey Universities Spanish Department. Over 200 students from Lindisfarne College, Hastings Girls’ High, Havelock North High, Iona College, Woodford House, Taupo Nui a Tia College and Napier Girls’ High School attended. The day was filled with exciting activities such as listening to Mexican music and salsa. I think it could be said that a highlight for many would be the deliciously crafted meal by the kitchen staff  consisting of enchaladas and churros and much more. Thanks go to Ms Jeffery for organising this enjoyable event.

Jazz Band at the Manawatu Band Festival

Last Saturday, the Lindisfarne College Jazz Band went to Palmerston North to attend the Manawatu Jazz Festival. The band performed very well, and following the performance we were given a workshop with the adjudicators which will enhance our playing in the future. The day fully immersed us into the world of Jazz. To conclude the day, we were given the opportunity to watch the Rodger Fox Big Band, which certainly gave us something to aspire to. Thank you MR Selfe for organising this event.        

Thank you, Zac.

I’ll now invite Sports Prefect Charlie Roil forward to update us on the latest Sports news


Sports Report

Good afternoon I am pleased to be able to read today’s sports news.

HOCKEY

Our 1^st XI had a loss to HBHS on Wednesday. In the second half it was great to see the team kept going, putting a huge amount of pressure on their defence.

BOXING

On 5^th June Jett Varcoe became the North Island Golden Gloves Champion in the U48kg category.

KARTING

Harry Townsend recently competed in the Super Kart Drivers Club NZ Champs, the class was 125 Rotax Max Light and he won the cup for series winner. Harry also won the cup for top placing over a weekend at Hampton Downs.

PUKETAPU NIGHT RUN

Five Lindisfarne teams competed in the annual Puketapu Night Run, held on Friday, May 21. The evening was cold but clear and more than 250 runners gathered for the event. This was Lindisfarne’s first time entering and the teams were excited to see what was in store. The team of Matt Buckeridge, Harry Brenton-Rule, and Tim Wilson who held off all competition to win the event outright coming home in first place and winning the secondary schools trophy in a record time of 1 hour 4 minutes 18 seconds.
 

SURF LIFESAVING

On Sunday 30^th May there was the HB Surf Lifesaving awards and three of our students received awards.

Beck Allen received 2^nd place in U13 boys for overall local carnival results

Ollie Fritchley received 1^st place, the overall age group winner in in U11 boys

Corban Watson received the trophy for most outstanding Male Beach Athlete.

GYMNASTICS

Sam Alexander competed at the Central Championships in Wellington on the 28th and 29th of May. He competed on the floor, vault, rings and parallel bars. He won 4 gold medals, one for each of the above apparatuses.

CROSS COUNTRY

The results from our college cross country last Friday.

In the seniors 5.5km distance:

3^rd place Tim Wilson

2^nd place Matt Buckeridge

1^st place Tom Goodisson in a winning time of 19min. 52

In the Intermediates 5km distance:

3^rd place Jett Varcoe

2^nd place Hadley McDougall

1^st place Callum O’Keeffe in a winning time of 17min. 56

In the Juniors 3km distance:

3^rd place Matt McKendry

2^nd place Jacob Holder

1^st place Angus Scott in winning time of 11min. 42

Intermediate School 2.5km distance:

3^rd place James Boyes.

2^nd place Titus Dunnett

1^st place Noah Hemmingson in the winning time of 9min. 28

Overall House results:

1^st place Cuthbert

2^nd place Aidan

3^rd place Durham

4^th place Oswald

DUKE OF ED

Well done to Theo Heath-Anderson for completing his bronze award. 

Thank you and have a great weekend.

Thank you, Charlie.

Congratulation to all those boys who were recognised today and I wish you all the veerybest for your weekend.

Reverend Dunnett will now close our assembly in prayer.

Article added: Friday 11 June 2021