Heartland - Fendalton

Oh, the tea and cucumber sandwiches are part of the Sunday afternoon ritual.

– Fendalton local Bessie Seymour Porter

The façade was everything. Anything unpleasant was swept under the carpet because we didn't want to know about that, dear.

– Fendalton local Bessie Seymour Porter on the roles of women as 'perfect wives' in the early 1900s

It's basically a choir school. There are only two of them in the Southern Hemisphere like this, that were founded to train boys for the Cathedral Choir. That's how it began in 1880 and that's how it continues today.

– Dean of Christchurch Cathedral, The Very Reverend John Bluck

It's very good for the housewife. I think most of the men in the area are out working all the time to pay for it.

– Homemaker Dee Wilson on the Fendalton lifestyle

A lot of people don't like us, Christ's College, or probably private schools in general... A lot of people think we're arrogant, and some people are, but that's just a stereotype and it's not right.

– Christ College student Mathew Burgess

At the moment this place does have an identity which is unique to New Zealand, but one can't help feeling it's transplanted England and that will change because we are not England, we're New Zealand.

– Fendalton local and Christ College alumni Chris McVeigh

Having met with Mongrel Mobsters in their Gisborne headquarters and Rastafarians on their marae, it came as a surprise to find that the most delicate of all negotiations were necessary Fendalton. There was a lot of debate at Rangi Ruru College about our request to film the Rangi Ball. We were granted permission but not before a rearguard action by some of the students who circulated a petition to keep us out!

– Gary McCormick writes about this episode, in 1994 tie-in book Heartland, page 178