Community
22 November, 2024
Farewell Canterbury Road
ARE you or a family member a former (or current) Emmanuel College student or staff member?
The community is invited to join in a special farewell to the college’s Canterbury Road site on Wednesday, December 4.
The site played host to Catholic education for more than a century and next month’s farewell celebrations will celebrate and recognise the important role the site has played over those years.
On January 28, 1912 an official opening for the Christian Brothers College was held – described by those who attended as a ‘notable gathering with throngs of interested spectators’.
Some 112 years later, it’s time to farewell the Canterbury Road site (as it is well known) with a celebratory event.
Since the early 1910s the site was home to CBC before amalgamation with St Ann’s in 1991 to form Emmanuel College.
The site then became the senior school and played host to senior students before becoming home to the year nine program and formally referred to as the RICE Campus.
Event organiser and alumni coordinator Candice Hampstead said it doesn’t matter what your link to the site was, this is your chance to say goodbye.
“Whether you call it the Rice Campus, the Senior Campus or CBC Warrnambool… whether you were staff or students, let’s come together to say goodbye to the Canterbury Road site,” Ms Hampstead said.
“It’s so exciting to see the responses already rolling in for the event from near and far, so grab a classmate or two and come on one last tour before we move house.”
The afternoon’s events will include history displays, tours of the campus, a final blessing, light refreshments and no doubt plenty of stories about battles on the handball courts, classes in the White House and races round the grounds.
In order to capture as much information as possible, Ms Hampstead is calling for the community to come forward with their own stories and recollections of the site.
“Any photographs or written recounts from members of the community are welcomed for submission and we’d love to showcase just what this site meant to so many people over the years,” Ms Hampstead said.
Stories can be submitted by email to Candice Hampstead at alumni@emmanuel.vic.edu.au
Activities are planned from 4pm-6pm on December 4 but bookings are essential.
These can be made at www.trybooking.com/CVOJU
