Cambridge High School library manager Glenys Bichan was delighted to have “school icon” Gail Troughton along at a public open day last week to celebrate the first major upgrade to the library in 20 years.
Gail Troughton (left) thumbs through publications from the archives at a Cambridge High School library open day last Tuesday with library manager Glenys Bichan (right) and year 13 student Hannah Goodwin. Photo: Steph Bell-Jenkins
Troughton started Cambridge High School in 1956 and met her husband of 62 years, Allen, there. Their three children, Ian, Ross and Janeen all attended the school.
Troughton was the first woman elected to Cambridge High School’s board, where she served for 12 years, eventually becoming its first female chairperson.
She also served 12 years on the Cambridge High School Educational Trust.
“I just love being invited back to things at the school,” she said.
“They always take priority over anything else I’m doing at the time because I do value it so much. I have an utter sense of belonging here.”
She said she had “total admiration” for Bichan, who has been working for several years to upgrade the school library.
“She has worked so hard to renew the children’s interest in books,” she said. “The library has become a fun place to come, and the children are allowed to talk and enjoy being together in with the books. It’s just wonderful.”
Gail and Allen Troughton take a trip down memory lane at the Cambridge High School library open afternoon last Tuesday. The couple met at the school 69 years ago. Photo: Steph Bell-Jenkins
The library now boasts new shelving tables and signs, and its book collections have been rearranged to “make reading for enjoyment and pleasure more accessible”.
Bichan said her goal was to create a modern, inviting library that prompted students to find reading materials, increased their love of reading, and provided easy access to study and research materials.
Data she collected shows school library users have checked 44.5 per cent more resources for the 2025 year to date than they did over the previous 12 months.
Head student librarian Hannah Goodwin, a year 13 student who has volunteered in the library for four years, loves the revamped space.
“The non-fiction section feels a lot more inviting now, and the whole downstairs is fiction, and it feels more accessible for people to be able to find things like Manga, Japanese comic stuff, which is one of our most issued categories,” she said.
Compared with the 2024 year to date, Manga – comics and cartooining form Japan – issues increased by 226 per cent in 2025. The next highest jumps were in fast fiction, which swelled by 145 per cent, and graphic novel issues, which grew by 95 per cent.
Goodwin said the library was “so important”, not only as a rich source of study material, but as a social space where students could hang out and feel welcome.
It was also an important meeting place for student groups.
Goodwin was serving cups of tea, coffee and juice at the June 10 open day and had a chance to chat to Troughton, who enjoyed catching up with old friends and soaking up memories while thumbing through old school publications and meeting minutes.
Troughton and her husband Allen, who have been together 69 years, lived in Cambridge for 70 years before moving to Te Awamutu in 2013.
Gail Troughton browses historical publications at Cambridge High School’s library open day on June 10.
Cambridge High School library manager Glenys Bichan shares a moment under the library’s book arch with “school icon” Gail Troughton.
