Wellington school helps with $70,000

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Christchurch Earthquake 2011

Earthquake bells proposed as tribute Tremor rattles Christchurch On track with mum, just like she wanted City Mall crowd mourns quietly Lyttelton residents stand together for moment A day for Christchurch to remember Proud dad full of praise for son's heroic efforts Rebuild slower than thought - Fletchers Installation represents victims' personalities School's memorial balloons sail to CBD

A Wellington school that raised $70,000 for earthquake-hit Christchurch schools helped "take away the loneliness of our toughest times", a principal says.

South New Brighton School held a "thank you" assembly for Wellington's Ngaio School yesterday. Three pupils, a teacher and one PTA member from Ngaio flew to Christchurch where they saw the quake damage first-hand and took a helicopter ride over the city.

"It's really weird, we came from Wellington this morning ... and then everything here is wrecked," 11-year-old Sam Keogh said. "You'll see one street and it looks fine then you go around the corner and everything is damaged."

Ngaio teacher Adelle Broadmore said the fundraising gala had been a "huge success".

"People really did want to help Christchurch. We have a gala every year and it usually raises money for our school but we thought, `we can't raise money for us when Christchurch is going through all of this'," she said.

"It's been very humbling for us to see the extent of the damage first-hand."

South New Brighton principal John Bockett said it had been been a "long and tough year".

"These people have been so very generous, it's been quite overwhelming really. It's just amazing," he said.

"Knowing that people were thinking of us helped take away the loneliness of our toughest times."

The school's water and sewerage systems were still out of order and many buildings had been damaged by liquefaction. Bockett said the money would go towards something "the whole school would benefit from".

"We haven't totally decided yet but we think we might use it to repair the adventure playground and give it a bit of an upgrade at the same time."

Freeville School, St Paul's School and Bamford School also received money from Ngaio School.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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