Historian – Jan Suckling
The Zonta Club of Christchurch-Canterbury Inc. was chartered on 24.11.1970, organised by Dorothy Thompson, official Zonta International club organiser, and along with the Dunedin Club, was sponsored by the Zonta Club of Buffalo, New York, (the first Zonta Club which chartered in 1917).
The Second Biennial Conference of District 16 (NZ) was held in Christchurch in 1993, and again in 2001 and 2016.
CHARTER MEMBERS:
Jeanne Edgar was a Charter Member of the club and President in 1974/5. She was District Governor from 1980-82. In 1981, she held the 4th District Conference in Christchurch, also attended by Dorothy Thompson. In 1984, Jeanne served on the Planning Committee for the 47th Convention in Sydney as well as on other International Committees, including International Nominating Committee for Zone Three and the International Relations Committee. In 1985 Jeanne was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal for service to the Community.
Jean McGregor, along with Jeanne Edgar, was instrumental in getting Christchurch’s Court Theatre started in the early seventies. The theatre is still going strong today.
Margaret Smith was the first woman anesthetist in New Zealand. Margaret died in 2007 in her 101st year.
Iris Orchard’s service to the community and to sporting organisations in Canterbury was voluntary, dedicated, and continuous for more than sixty years. Iris served as inaugural Treasurer and has been on every committee over the years until retiring in 2007. She has also represented the Club at International level.
A qualified accountant, she was admitted to the New Zealand Society of Accountants in 1941, graduating BCom (the only woman) in 1942. Iris spent 47 years in the service of one practice, Nicholls North & Nicholls (now Grant Thornton), being admitted to full Partnership in 1958. In August 2001 she received a certificate recognising 60 years’ membership of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand. Iris was heavily involved both in women’s hockey and cricket in Canterbury, and served for a decade on the NZ Women’s Cricket Council going on to be awarded Life Membership of the Canterbury Cricket Association.
Iris has Life Membership of the New Zealand Federation of Graduate Women in recognition of her service to that organisation, and honorary membership of the New Zealand Antarctic Society. She was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal in September 2004.
NOTABLE LONG SERVING MEMBER OF THE CLUB:
Dame Adrienne Stewart ONZM QSM LLD(Hon) FInst FNZIM
Adrienne is a Past President and a member of the Zonta Club of Christchurch since 1974. Married to Sir Robertson Stewart CBE JSM (Hon Dr. Eng) she was involved in industry and commerce for forty years. Adrienne is and has been a director, board member and patron of numerous companies, banks, organisations and charities for many years.
Awards include:
- The Queens Service Medal in June 1995 for services to the community.
- Officer NZ Order of Merit Queens Birthday Honours 2006 – ONZM.
- Zonta International District 16 – Woman of the Biennium 2009-2011.
- Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Canterbury 14 December 2011.
- Becoming Dame Adrienne Stewart in the New Year’s Honours List 2015.
CURRENT LONG SERVING MEMBERS OF THE CLUB:
Dame Adrienne Stewart, Pamela Barnard, Chris Blacklock, Catherine Boyd, Jeannie Ching, Ngaio Donnell, Jacqui Hanafin, Heather Hardie, Clare Martin, Ann North, Joy Stuthridge, Alison Woods
Club Presidents
1970-72 Winifred Lowndes
1972-73 Felicity Logan
1973-74 Ruth Brown
1974-75 Jeanne Edgar
1975-77 Lorna Speary
1977-79 Annette Prier
1979-80 Jill Sheil
1980-81 Adrienne Stewart
1981-82 Shirley Rudkin
1982-83 Jill Proctor
1983-84 Joan Hawley
1984-86 Joan Parr
1986-87 Marion Ruthven
1987-88 Jacquie Hanafin
1988-89 Catherine Boyd
1989-90 Pamela Barnard
1990-91 Alison Woods
1991-93 Jeannie Ching
1993-95 Dearwin Bonniface
1995-96 Adrienne Stewart
1996-97 Lorraine Tomlinson
1997-98 Ngaio Donnell
1998-99 Cheryl Colley
1999-2000 Claire Martin
2000-01 Drahomira Earwalker
2001-03 Janet Messervy
2003 Jan Bellerby
2004 Glenda Murphy
2005 Doreen Hawkins
2006 Bernice Ireland
2007 Nicola George
2008 Kay Murray
2009 Anna Arps
2010-11 Phillippa Jacobs
2012 Chryssie Woodham
2013 Kathy Clarke
2014 Glenda Murphy
2015 Melissa Benge
2016-17 Andrea Haberfield
2018-19 Lois Russell
2020 Glenda Murphy
2021 Priscilla Read
2022 Marie Kyle-Stevenson
2023 Marie Kyle-Stevenson
2024 Deborah Platt
2025 Melissa Benge
Z Club
We have one Z Club which was formed with the help of Janet Messervy in March 1993 at the Avonside Girls’ High School. This has been a very successful Z Club ever since. In 2018 we celebrated our 25th anniversary at the school with various invited guests, including Janet, representatives of various charities we have supported over the years, teachers from the school and Zonta membefrs.
In 2011 during the devastating earthquakes, the main building of Avonside School was extensively damaged and was demolished. The students were in temporary class rooms for a few years, before moving to their new school campus in New Brighton; sharing some of the facilities with Shirley Boys’ High School.
Our Z Club at Avonside Girls’ High School goes from strength to strength and in 2019 we celebrated our 25th Anniversary in the new school auditorium. Members of our Zonta club attended and invited guests included Janet Messervy, Ms Sue Hume, Principal, several teachers including Anna McNeill who was our school liaison since inception, and a number of speakers from several of the charities Z Club had supported over the years.
At the beginning of each school year, we promote our Z Club at the school assembly and most years we have between 40 and 50 girls join. The girls themselves vote their members onto the new Board and they also suggest and then vote on a charity to support.
Some of the organisations girls have provided service and fundraising events for over the years:
Ronald McDonald House;
Canteen;
Canterbury Heart Kids;
All Star Kids;
Women’s Refuge (Aviva);
Cholmondely Children’s Home;
Goodnight, Sleep Tight; Windsor Rest Home;
Camp Quality
Assisting Women in Business
In 1998, the Status of Women committee, led by Jeanne Edgar, initiated the idea for the Women in Business Award. Originally, two awards of $3,500 were given each year, until 2004 when the club agreed to give one each year of $5,000. A variety of businesses are represented by our winners, from the fashion industry to photography, candle making, swim school, dance class, Pilates, and a food manufacturer. The awards were funded by club members’ fundraising efforts. Applicants needed to show they have been working in their business from two to five years to qualify.
Past Recipients of the Women in Business Grant
| 2013 | Cate Grace | Leap2it Fitness and Motivation |
| 2010 | Abbey Parson | Movementor Pilates $5,000 Pilates |
| 2008 | Karen Love | Rhythm in Your Shoes $5,000 Pre-school dance |
| 2007 | Tracey Tishrei | Tracey Tishrei Designs $5,000 Art designs on fabric, etc. |
| 2006 | Ruth Greenaway | Tapestries $5,000 Oral histories, life histories, research |
| 2005 | Frauke John | Frauke John Photography $5,000 Photography |
| 2004 | Jenny Wilson | Jenny Wilson Ltd $5,000 Gluten Free products |
| 2003 | Chrissie Tukaki | Mini Swim $5,000 Private swimming pool |
| 2002 | Lene Alexandesen | Lanowool Breastfeeding Pads $3,500 |
| 2002 | Rima Herber | Rima Herber Photographer $3,500 |
| 2001 | Suzanne Gibbs | Soapworks $3,500 |
| 2001 | Michelle Sherman | Car Seat Buddy $3,500 |
| 2000 | Sharon Screen | Toybox to the Rescue $3,500 |
| 2000 | Marilyn Marshall | The Beautiful Box Co Ltd $3,500 |
| 1999 | Chryssie Russell | Unique Style Image Consulting $3,500 |
| 1999 | Susan Louise | The Candlemaker $3,500 |
Zonta International Canterbury Tertiary Scholarship Trust
The Trust was formed in 1990 and the scholarships established by the combined Zonta Clubs of Canterbury to assist women completing a tertiary course of study. Preference may be given to a mature student in need of financial assistance to complete a defined course of study at any level. The initial funds were raised by holding two sold out debates in the Christchurch Town Hall. Subsequently, each Christchurch Club donates $25.00 per member annually to keep the fund topped up.
CHARITIES AND ORGANISATIONS:
Organisations in the Christchurch area the Club has assisted by service and fundraising are:
- Holly House – for teenage mothers
- Teen Schools
- Cholmondely House & School
- Styx River Revegetation Project 1994-1999, Christchurch
- Adult Reading Assistance Scheme
- Endometriosis Foundation
- Breast Cancer Foundation
- Ronald McDonald House
- Heart Foundation
- Salvation Army
- Look Good, Feel Better
- Dress for Success
- Presbyterian Support Services
- 2005 – Kimihia – for teenage mothers still at school
- 2012 – Christchurch Women’s Centre
- 2013 – Women’s Refuge/Aviva
- 2014 – Birthright
- 2015/16 – YWCA Emergency Housing
- 2017 – Post Natal Depression Canterbury
- 2018 – Shakti
- 2019/20 – Walsh House, City Mission
- 2021/22 – Project Esther
Various Fundraising Events held by the Club:
- Balls, Dinners and Auctions
- Cabaret Evenings
- Pub quizzes
- Garage sales
- Race days
- Garden parties
- Vanishing Tea Parties
- Fashion & Style events
- Wine tastings
- Movie nights/afternoons
- Garden tours
- Last Night at the Proms
- Long lunches
- Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
- Brides Through the Ages
- Whiskey & wine tastings
- Christmas House Tours
Woman in Business Award
This is our Club’s prestigious point of difference and has been offered to Canterbury business women for nearly 20 years. The $5000 award money is raised each year through ticket sales of the annual Sumner Players Cabaret. The 2013 Award was launched at the end of 2012 at an event at the Westpac Centre – with celebrity chef Jax Hamilton providing an entertaining evening of cooking demonstrations followed by an account of her life before and after Masterchef.
A record number of high-caliber applications for the award were received, making the judging extremely difficult. However, a winner was chosen, and at a glittering event at the Westpac Hub events centre on 26 March 2013, a cheque for $5000 was presented to Cate Grace of Leap2it Fitness and Motivation. We were fortunate that our District Governor Maureen Heine flew down to Christchurch especially to attend.
After many years of offering a cash award, members have voted to support local businesswomen by celebrating their success in an annual event, and invite well known and successful business people to speak. The 2015 event will take place in the Transitional Cathedral in June.
DAME ADRIENNE STEWART QSM
Adrienne was 19 when she started at the then small manufacturing company Plastics Die-casting (PDL) as personal assistant to Sir Robertson Stewart – who would later become her husband. Under Lady Adrienne and Sir Robertson Stewart, PDL Industries became one of the country’s largest and best-known manufacturers and exporters, with a strong presence in Malaysia and across the Pacific. The Stewarts sold PDL Industries in 2001 to French firm Schneider Electric. But her involvement in the Christchurch business world stretched much further than PDL.
She was New Zealand’s first female public company director, and the first woman on the board of the Institute of Management. As chairwoman of the New Zealand Institute of Directors, she took the organisation from “dormant” with a membership of 10, to a thriving 400-strong membership within a few years. Today, the institute has a membership of more than 800. In 1974, during her time with PDL, Adrienne joined Zonta and has been a strong, supportive member ever since, and being chosen as the Woman of the Biennium 2009-2011.
Adrienne has continued to use her business experience long into her retirement, turning her skills to arts patronage and philanthropy. She draws on her extensive networks and resources, taking a fairly pragmatic approach to supporting and funding the arts. She was named Patron of the Year by the Arts Foundation in 2009, and takes her patronage seriously, preferring to be an active participant rather than figurehead. The Arts Foundation described her approach as “intensely personal, and focused on ensuring that an individual is able to benefit from an opportunity or career development at the time it is happening”. In 2011, Adrienne was made an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Canterbury, in recognition of “her outstanding contribution to the university as an arts adviser, philanthropist and patron of the arts”. As in business, much of her work is in mentoring and seeking potential among young people, then supporting those she thinks have the ability to succeed and has recently provided four $10,000 scholarships to young people in the arts.
Adrienne was inducted into The NZ Business Hall of Fame on August 7 2014 at The Langham, Auckland. As one of her guests, she invited the current President of our Club’s Z Club to attend. Adrienne’s most recent accolade and probably the most prestigious was receiving her Damehood in the 2015 New Year’s Honours.
LIST OF HONOURS
- Long-serving member of Zonta
- Zonta International District 16 – Woman of the Biennium 2009-2011
- Governing patron of the Arts and Industry Trust
- Chair of the CSO Foundation
- Governing Patron of the SCAPE Public Art Trust
- Arts Foundation Patron of the Year
- Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Canterbury University
- Distinguished Fellow of the NZ Institute of Directors
- Fellow of the NZ Institute of Management
- Patron of the Court Theatre Supporters
- Queen’s Service Medal for the NZ Order of Merit, 2006
- Became a Dame in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List
IRIS OLWYN ORCHARD QSM
Iris was a Charter Member of the Zonta Club of Christchurch-Canterbury at its inception in 1970, serving as inaugural Treasurer and on every committee over the years since. She represented the Club at International level and her record of representing the Club collecting for charities was unbroken for 32 years.
From 1995 and for a number of years, Zonta Club of Christchurch-Canterbury was involved in the restoration and replanting of an area around the Styx River. Iris was instrumental in organising teams of members to spend weekends clearing and planting with the guidance of the Christchurch City Council. She continued to maintain a link with the Council and through her the Club received regular updates.
Iris was a tireless worker for our club over the years. Her sterling work kept us all in line with the Zonta International by-laws and financial reporting. In fact, most Treasurers would expect Iris to have some comment – either long or short – on their monthly reports to the club.
Iris had a wonderful memory for all manner of facts and happenings of our Club and the wider Zonta community. She was proud of her independence, despite it not being the norm for her generation of women to aspire to being an accountant.
Many of our members will have fond memories of seeing Iris on her bike – around all areas of Christchurch, or catching buses, with a number of connections, to participate in Zonta events – nearly always with some home baking in her bag. Iris retired from Zonta in 2005, but right up to that time she participated in club events despite her advancing years.
Just after she’d been to Wellington in 2004 to receive her Queen’s Service Medal, she brought the medal to our club meeting to show everyone, and it was very impressive. She also told us all about her day in Wellington, and she was obviously very proud to receive the award as we were proud of her.
For years she opened her home to many international students and judging by some of her stories, at times was quite perplexed by some of the things they did.
Iris retired from Zonta when she was in her 80s and died in 2012. She will always be remembered for her hard work and dedication and willingness to give advice to new members of the club and those serving on our Boards.