Cantabrians creating a one-kilometre bunting to share messages of aroha

One year on from the March 15 Christchurch mosque attacks, All Right? is inviting Cantabrians to write their messages of aroha and hope on paper triangles that will be strung together as bunting in the city.

All Right? manager Sue Turner says the project will provide an opportunity for people to share their messages of support and their hopes for the future.

“Our community’s collective response to the mosque attacks, and the strong sense of belonging and togetherness that was brought to the surface, is not only something to be proud of, but it’s something we need to build upon.

Our hope is that hanging messages of aroha and hope in the city will be a visual reminder of the love and compassion that still resides within our community.”

From 6 March All Right? will be providing bunting flags to various schools, libraries and the Canterbury Museum for people to write their own messages on.

Once collected, the Student Volunteer Army, in partnership with the University of Canterbury Students’ Association (UCSA), will combine the messages to create approximately one kilometre of bunting. The bunting will then be hung on the wall in front Christ Church Cathedral on Friday (13 March) morning.

Student Volunteer Army President Isabella Fanselow says it will be a privilege to help share so many heartfelt messages.

“Time and time again Canterbury has shown how it can unite. By bringing together thousands of individual messages into something cohesive and powerful, the project symbolises unity in itself.”

While the bunting paper is recyclable, the Giving Seeds of Love project has volunteered to collect the bunting at the completion of the project and turn it into art.

People wishing to write a message of aroha for the bunting can do so between 6 and 10 March at the following locations:

Canterbury Museum

Tūranga (Christchurch Central Library)

Linwood Library

New Brighton Library

Papanui Library

Shirley Library

Fendalton Library

South Library

Upper-Riccarton Library