OBITUARY

SUMNER PEACE GROUP

- Murray Horton

The demise of the Sumner Peace Group, which decided to discontinue in February 2001, marks the end of an era. In the golden years of the New Zealand peace movement, the 1980s, every town and every suburb in all the cities had its own peace group. This was one of the major secrets of the success of that movement in getting New Zealand nuclear free. But Sumner carried on long after virtually everyone else had long since disbanded (there are now no other geographic peace groups in Christchurch; I personally am aware of only a handful in the country as a whole). Probably the reason that Sumner lasted so long was that its members lived in a compact physical area, with a strong sense of identity (I have a keen memory of attending a packed public meeting in Sumner, in the early 1990s, on an environmental/foreign control issue, and not being allowed to vote because I was one of those “from over the causeway”). That core group was also more stable and committed than most other peace groups; at its birth, in 1981, it could call on a number of people, already middle aged to elderly, with a long background of activism in political parties and a whole raft of social justice groups. The collective age of its membership was what led to its demise, one which has been charted in individual Peace Researcher obituaries, most recently for Mary McAlpine (see number 22. Ed.) and Dulcie Stocker (#19/20). Whole families were in the group and whole families have died – for example, both Peter Stocker and Bruce McAlpine predeceased their wives.

The Sumner Peace Group was a Christchurch institution throughout the 20 years of its life. Yet it was a most modest institution, never pushing itself forward. I never once attended one of its meetings, nor did I ever personally meet more than a few of its active members. It was an ABC member from 1993 until just before its demise, but our relationship went back much further than that. For more than the first decade of its life, the Stocker family was ABC’s point of contact with the Group. For many years, up until its demise, it pledged $25 per month to the CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account, which provides my income (something which Dulcie Stocker also did individually). In fact, it had a much appreciated close relationship with us, contributing some quite superb desserts to various ABC fundraisers held throughout the 1990s. It donated money to ABC activities, such as Waihopai spybase protests.

And its members continued to be involved with all manner of other groups – Mary McAlpine, for example, was a tireless worker for Jim Anderton, the New Labour Party and the Alliance from the time he quit Labour in disgust. Corso could not have done its innumerable mailouts from that freezing bloody building in Barbadoes Street without the continued active involvement of the “little old ladies” of the Sumner Peace Group. Dulcie Stocker put her heart and soul into Corso, working as a volunteer nearly up until her death, and always making sure those mailouts were fed with her wonderful homemade bran muffins.

Upon being informed of the group’s demise, I asked Jean Stroud, its secretary, for some material for this obituary. Her reply was succinct and worth including in full:

“The Sumner Peace Group was formed in 1981 and disbanded in 2001. The group was largely a support for other activist groups. Among our activities were

- lobbying MPs on issues as they arose.

- donating money to a range of peace and justice organisations

- attending marches and demonstrations as a group.

- sharing concerns about peace and disarmament issues with a group of likeminded people (the fellowship was important to us).

- remaining focused on issues – sharing information.

“Jean Thompson ran our meetings for 20 years, in an efficient and friendly way. Others in the group were Marjorie Ockenden, Ferne Every, Eric Johnson, Ailsa Jackson, Dorothy Perkins, Eileen Witherford, Peter Mower, Alison Dalley, June Stroud and many others who are no longer with us”.

Modest to the end. Without groups and individuals such as them, the peace and social justice movements in this country could not have achieved half of what we have done. Many thanks for the years of anonymous but vital work. And enjoy your retirement. We’ll miss you.