White chairs earthquake memorial gets spruce-up

‘‘They rot. They just break down in the wet. We don’t have any trouble with vandalism any more at all. It’s really just weather.’’ Memorial designer Peter Majendie

Even the most indelible tribute can lose its sheen after a while.

About 40 volunteers armed themselves with paintbrushes on Saturday to touch up the 185 white chairs earthquake memorial in central Christchurch.

Each chair represents someone who died in the February 2011 earthquake.

The installation at a vacant site on Madras St is at the mercy of the elements and periodically needs a spruce up.

Artist Peter Majendie, who designed the memorial, said many of the chairs needed a fresh coat of paint and about a dozen needed to be replaced.

‘‘They rot. They just break down in the wet. We don’t have any trouble with vandalism any more at all. It’s really just weather.’’

After five years, Majendie had a mailing list of reliable helpers to call on for a working bee every five or six months. Saturday’s job was finished by the early afternoon.

‘‘It’s one of the reasons it works,’’ he said. ‘‘The community have bought into it and helped maintain it.

‘‘When I go in there after strong winds to pick them all up someone’s picked them up or they often stop and give us a hand.’’

The good will can extend even further. When Saturday’s job was done Majendie took the broken chairs to the dump. The man in front of him in the queue took one look at his load and insisted on paying his dump fee.