While searching for former students I stumbled upon this Obituary from September 17th 2013. What an amazing man.

Ashburton-born Dr Stuart McGregor, Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College, died recently in Cambridge, England.

Dr McGregor was a pupil of Ashburton High School and its dux and sports champion in 1946. He graduated Master of Arts from Canterbury University College with First Class honours in English and French in 1950 and 1951 before leaving New Zealand with a scholarship to study at Merton College, Oxford.

There his interest in linguistics led eventually to the study of Hindi and an appointment to the School of African and Oriental Studies, London. A year’s study at the University of Allahabad followed. In 1964 he took up an appointment at Cambridge University where he taught and worked until his retirement.

Dr McGregor instituted the formal study of Hindi in the UK and researched and published extensively on its language and early literature. One of his major works was the re-writing at the request of OUP, of the Oxford Hindi-English Dictionary, a work of 20 years, which remains a definitive source. His work on Hindi grammar and other aspects of the language saw him recognised by the Indian government, the Hindi Institute of Agra and the Third International Congress of Hindi in New Delhi. He also lectured and advised on Hindi in Europe, USA and Australia.

In an obituary in The Indian Express, a daily newspaper, Dr McGregor is described as “a philologist, grammarian, literary historian, translator and lexicographer of the front rank (who) probably did more for Hindi studies in the West than any other scholar of his generation.”

Another colleague has described him as “the most remarkable scholar of Hindi language and literature of the second half of the twentieth century, (his) dictionary of Hindi is used across the world as the authoritative source for English translation. He also produced the most complete history of pre-modern Hindi literature and a raft of specialized studies of enduring importance.”

Dr McGregor retained a life-long love of music having learnt piano from Miss Lilian Lewis and continued with piano lessons in London well into his retirement. His father, Ronald McGregor, known to most as Sandy, may be remembered still as having taught for many years at AHS.

Stuart is survived by his wife, Elaine and three children in England and a sister in Auckland.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 17 September 2013

Ashburton College graduates Annelise Diamond (left) and Libby Higson are pursuing careers in the performing arts. Photo Susan SandysAshburton’s Annelise Diamond and Libby Higson are pursuing careers in the performing arts, and now have scholarships to help them on their way.

The two 18-year-olds are long-time attendees of the Mid Canterbury Summer Singing School, and were among the school’s three scholarship recipients this year, each receiving $300.

The pair, who completed Year 13 at Ashburton College last year, say every little bit counts, and the money will be a big help towards their studies.

Higson is off to the National Academy of Singing and Dramatic Arts (NASDA) next month, to undertake a three-year Bachelor of Performing Arts.

“My overall goal would be to end up overseas performing in Broadway productions,” Higson said.

Diamond plans to attend the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts next year, also achieving a Bachelor of Performing Arts, and needs to save as much as possible this year so she can afford the tuition fees.

She has part-time work and is looking for either full-time or additional part-time jobs. She wants to add a teaching qualification and open her own performing arts school.

“I would love to perform on stage as well, but that’s a goal I can have and incorporate the thing that I love,” she said.

Both Higson and Diamond have pursued their love of live performance over many years in their home town, and they have lost count of the number of productions they have been in.

They include numerous shows including not only the summer singing school, but also Big Little Theatre Company, Mid Canterbury Children’s Theatre, DanceWorx and Variety Theatre Ashburton.

The pair are grateful to summer singing school founder Jo Castelow for giving them the confidence to own the stage.

“She’s watched us develop through the years, and she’s been such a big help, and without her we wouldn’t have got to where we are,” Higson said.

“I think I would still probably perform if I didn’t have Jo as a teacher, but I wouldn’t be able to perform to the standard I do, especially my singing,” Diamond said.

By Susan Sandys © The Ashburton Guardian - 23 January 2017

Vlad Barbu joined thousands of students around the country rushing to check NCEA results yesterday. Photo Jaime Pitt-MackayMid Canterbury high school students joined nearly 160,000 other students from around the country when they logged on to find out their NCEA Exam results yesterday

At 7am yesterday the electronic floodgates opened as students around the country accessed the NZQA website to view the results of the previous year’s hard work.

For Year 13 Ashburton College student Vlad Barbu, this was his third year discovering his exams results but this did not ease his nerves. The night before was a restless one. “I didn’t sleep much because I was really nervous and worried,” he said

He checked his results early in the morning while getting ready for work and hadn’t set a special alarm to be an early bird to view his results.

Barbu said he was looking for the all-important 50 excellence credits that would give him level three excellence endorsed and a scholarship towards university.

Studying a Bachelor of Science and double-majoring in Statistics and Finance awaits Barbu at university so merit endorsements in German, Calculus, Chemistry, Economics and an Excellence endorsement in Statistics is something he is very proud of, and hopes will help him at university.

The nationwide error that was made in the level three statistics exam was certainly something that played on Barbu’s mind in the period between the exam and the results being released.

“I was scared about how they would mark it and whether it would affect if I got excellence on the paper which was something I really needed,” said Barbu

Barbu will not have to endure another period waiting for scholarship exam results, unlike other Year 13 students who will be waiting until next month to discover their fate.

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 18 January 2017