New trust hopes to save Margaret Mahy’s home for future generations
A new trust is being formed in the hope of preserving Margaret Mahy’s house at Governer’s Bay for future generations.
Spokesperson Morrin Rout writes:
Margaret Mahy's house has recently been put up for sale. It is now 9 years since her death and this is the first opportunity to purchase her house and preserve and celebrate her memory in this wonderful place. Her house was her haven and Governor's Bay the inspiration and setting for many of her stories, and the place that reinvigorated and nurtured her.
The house was built for her in the late 1960s — apparently she dug some of the foundations herself. It was a humble home with an outside 'can' and a big rambling garden with a view down the harbour to Lyttelton. Later, the house was altered and expanded several times and became filled with paintings, memorabilia, childrens' toys and hundreds, probably, thousands of books.
My daughter still remembers Margaret's magnificent dolls' house and most Governor's Bay school children who were around when Margaret Mahy was alive will have colourful memories of her regular visits to read and tell stories, often disguised as a penguin or wearing a crazy, multicoloured wig.
It was a house that was imbued with Margaret's joie de vivre and mischievous sense of humour and it is this ambience that we want to retain so that others can visit the house and be inspired by her life and work.
We are a group of local residents who have lived in Governor’s Bay for many years and got to know her as a neighbour and friend. We have the support of her daughters, Penny and Bridget, and we are forming a trust so that we can fundraise and begin to plan how we can best make use of the house to allow children, families, writers and the general public to visit and take part in activities that promote children's literature in all its forms. The trust at this early stage will consist of local residents, writers and members of the Mahy family.
We would like to institute a writers' residency and encourage young writers to visit and take part in writing programmes. Our ideas for what we could do with and in the house are growing by the day and we welcome suggestions and advice from writers, teachers and anyone who has experience and knowledge of events and programmes that would be appropriate for the property.
We are approaching government and funding bodies, the Christchurch City Council, literary groups and the general public for support.
We are also considering crowdfunding so that we can capitalise on the great love and respect that New Zealanders have for Margaret. Someone suggested that if everyone who had read or enjoyed a Margaret Mahy story donated $1, we would be overwhelmed with funds.
Margaret Mahy had a significant and outstanding international reputation, receiving the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books.
We are hoping that our fundraising will have a global reach and that we can persuade the many Margaret Mahy fans that live around the world to help us secure her house.
There is a tight timeline so we are moving with urgency. We welcome whatever support people are able to give.
The response so far has been wonderfully encouraging and we will keep everyone up to date with our fundraising efforts and plans for how we can make Margaret's house a lively, educational and inspiring centre for children and children's literature - a real national taonga and a tribute to an extraordinary woman.
The Trust is in the process of setting up a website and crowd-funding page. In the meantime, if you would like to contact Morrin Rout or the Trust to offer your support, please email Margaretmahyhouse@gmail.com