When I got to work this morning, this was waiting for me:

A few weeks back, we asked pupils from some of the schools in New Zealand to send us a postcard telling them why they love their town for our Conservation Week display. This year the theme is We Love You, New Zealand. One of the participating schools is Chirstchurch’s South New Brighton School, and here is a sample of what they sent. The postcards we got back were most likely sent at the end of last week, certainly before Christchurch was shaken by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale. Here are some more cards:

 Well, we love Christchurch too. We love Christchurch for all the reasons you’re reading, and because they’re tough. In the middle of the devastation, there’s still the resolve to keep going. Every day, I’ve been seeing pictures of buildings that aren’t usable any more. There’s pictures of roads and bridges that have been thrown around like cardboard. But there just aren’t any pictures of people giving up. And there aren’t any pictures from the rest of New Zealand of people shrugging their shoulders and saying anything about how that’s too tough and too bad.

So, a big thank you to the children and teachers of South New Brighton School.  These postcards show that every place has tiny little treasures and things that everyone loves. Maybe inside this there’s a little Cantabrian kickstart and a reason to keep the faith and keep moving. Because of this, we’re going to make our own project bigger. The bottom two pictures on this page are the front and back of a postcard that you can download and print out. Then you can stick both sides together, slap on a stamp  and send them to us at this address:Discovery CentresMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaPO Box 467Wellington 6140