It is now a year on from the devastating earthquake of Feb 22nd, 2011. I headed into Christchurch with my husband Chris for a commemoration at one of the River of Flowers sites at O-Tautahi - The Bricks. This is only just down the road from where Chris used to work so it seemed like the right place to be. It was a very moving and simple way to remember all those who died in the quake. People were writing messages of hope and attaching them to a tree and these are going to be collected and collated later. Mike Moss (Avon Loop Planning Association) said a few words, sensitively done.
Children from Christchurch East School released some red balloons, we observed a two minute silence at 12.51pm and also threw red roses into the river.
The Bricks is an important historical site. A landing place here played a key part in establishing a foothold for European early arrivals in the 1840s and traces of whare were still visible here also until the 1860s; it lay on a route between major Ngai Tahu settlements.
So it was from here that we watched our flowers float away down river and the flowing water seemed to bind everyone together, with all our shared sense of loss and hope for the future.
