A little bit of history from a first year pupil at Casebrook Intermediate

By Catherina Hengst | Posted: Thursday July 27, 2023

Chris Andrew, one of the first pupils at Casebrook has written a book which will be privately published later this year, below are some of his memories of the time.

We lived in Grampian St in the 1960’s and the area was then known as Northcote, sometimes Papanui North. Dad was on a voluntary school formation committee for the Ministry of Education. The Ministry had purchased an orchard on about four acres at the end of our street. 

The orchard was owned by Mr Case, a nice old fellow who sat out front most days sitting on an apple box selling his fruit. He often gave a free apple to kids passing by. Smart move, as this probably helped reduce temptation to jump the back fence and grab an apple anyway. It was called “raiding the orchard” and rather common. 

To the east of the Case orchard was McDonald’s Keston orchard of a similar size. To the west was Sisson’s orchard, and to the rear was Mr Ward’s market garden. 

I recall a gathering of committee members at our home one evening where they discussed the proposed new school build. It needs a name, they all agreed. The land had two boundaries with an open creek where we often played and caught little fish. Discussion centred around the name Case, and ideas were tossed around such as Case Stream School, Case School, Northcote Intermediate School, but they kept coming back to Case - something. Eventually, someone suggested Case Brook, and all agreed they would tender this recommendation to the Ministry. Case Brook Intermediate School. And that’s how the suburb became known as Casebrook! 

I was a first year pupil at Casebrook when the school opened. I arrived at the gate at 6-30am on the first day in an endeavour to be first. I wasn’t. I was fourth. A Press photographer was present to capture the historic first day, and photographed the first three kids for the front page of the Star newspaper. I missed out on a wee moment of fame! Boo. 

During school holidays, there was always plenty of work available for kids. Tree pruning, apple picking, plum picking, weeding market gardens and much more. I once took a job picking spuds. It was very hard work walking behind a tractor, filling large sacks with potatoes. Back breaking, damp and cold as I recall. We were paid half a crown per sack (.25cents). When we thought the sack was full, and it was, the farmer would come along, lift the sack, jiggle it, and suddenly it was only a little over half full. We had to keep going until it was properly full. I think I filled around six sacks a day, perhaps a few more. 

What a wonderful day it was when I walked home with 16 pounds ($32) for a few days hard work. It was a colossal amount at the time. Dad was a commercial traveller then, selling confectionery, and he earned 14 pounds per week. Wow, I earned more than Dad! 

Casebrook was a happy place for me.