A thumbs down in a recent edition of the Armidale Independent has prompted a flurry of activity to repair and reinstate the RB White Memorial Gates at Armidale High School.
The Memorial Gates were presented to the school by fifth year in 1958 following the death of their highly regarded Principal RB White. Even today, former AHS student Eddie Ray (who was in fifth year in 1958) remembers Mr White as a “wonderful, first class guy and a good teacher”.
The gates were built by Harold Smoother, whose daughter Bev was also in fifth Year in 1958. The Memorial Oval and Memorial Gates were officially dedicated on June 12, 1960 by the then Dean of Armidale, the Very Reverend M K Jones. Mr White’s widow cut the ribbon on the gates and officially opened them.
The gates fell into disrepair and were removed, much to the disappointment of many ex-students of AHS. Seeing the item in the “Thumbs Down” column earlier this year has prompted the Ex-Students group who attended AHS from 1962-67 to take on the refurbishment of the gates as a project for their gift to the school as part of the reunion that they are holding from September 28 to 30 this year. In addition, the signs on the Memorial Oval will be repainted and repaired.
In consultation with the Principal of AHS, Ann Mattley, the ex-students group led by Geoff Walsh and Ken Peter have started work on reinstating the gates. The first step was to lift and secure the footings for the brickwork and this was achieved recently with assistance from the people at URETEK who were able to insert special foam under the existing wall. URETEK did this work at a nominal fee as “a service to the community of Armidale and the ex-students of AHS”. The wall itself is in need of significant repair. Damaged bricks have been identified and are being painstakingly removed by Geoff Walsh, Ken Peter and Eddy Ray.
Peter Fisher, a current teacher at AHS, has assisted by providing a generator to power some of the tools needed to remove some of the bricks and mortar.
Replacement bricks have been located at New England Building Recyclers and will be delivered to the site by that firm when it is time for the rebuilding to start. Red bricks are being sought for the capping of the wall. The brick-laying will be led by Mark Garvey who is a current parent of a student at AHS.
The missing gates, including the pedestrian gate with brass lettering, have been located at the school and are currently being rejuvenated. Romac have done some structural repairs very promptly. Michael Smith, who is a former parent at AHS, has offered the services of his firm Soda Blasting New England to sand-blast, prime and paint the gates free of charge.
At present, the wall that supports the gates appears to be in total disrepair. However, Geoff Walsh says, “While it would have been quicker to knock the original walls down and rebuild them from scratch, we are trying to repair them authentically to maintain the heritage of the structure.”
