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Sheilah Maureen Winn CBE (née Hannah; 10 June 1917 – 27 June 2001) was a New Zealand arts patron and philanthropist. She was the founder and principal sponsor of the Sheilah Winn Festival of Shakespeare in Schools.

Early life and family

Winn was born in Wellington in 1917. She was the daughter of James Alexander Hannah and Sybil Maud (née Johnson). She described herself as a mediocre school student, but said one of her successes was playing the character of Bottom in a school performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, "ass's head and all". She attended Samuel Marsden Collegiate School from 1928 to 1933, and in 2016 the school inducted her into its old girls Hall of Fame.

Her grandfather Robert Hannah was the founder of the Hannah's footwear chain, and she used her large inheritance to support her love of the arts and travel. When asked why she contributed so generously to the arts, she said: "Because I derive so much pleasure from seeing artists displaying their talents and wares and anyway, what else could I do with my money?" She said she would have liked to have been a performer herself but that supporting the arts was a rewarding alternative. She was a first cousin of actress Edith Campion.

She lived partly in Wellington and partly in Christchurch. On 1 December 1936 she married Percy Brian Winn, and they had one son.

Philanthropy

In 1966 she founded the Sheilah Maureen Winn Charitable Trust, and in 1968 she donated NZ$300,000 to found the Hannah Playhouse in Wellington, which was named after her mother's family. On its opening in 1973 she said: "The theatre measures up to all my expectations. It is intimate in its atmosphere and it is cosy. I feel I have something to live for." She was also the patron of the Downstage Theatre, the professional theatre company that occupied the playhouse until 2013, and donated in support of several other New Zealand theatres including the Isaac Theatre Royal and the Court Theatre. She funded the Christian Unity Chapel in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch. She also made many unpublicised and anonymous donations to other causes throughout her life.

She was the co-founder of the Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellowship in 1970, together with New Zealand writer Celia Manson. They conceived the fellowship together in the 1960s, after Manson and her husband discovered that a room was available for rent at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton where Mansfield did some of her most significant writing. They formed a committee in Wellington to raise funds. Their vision was "to give a selected New Zealand writer a period of leisure to write or study a different and more ancient culture, and thereby to see own remote country in a better perspective".

She was the founder and principal sponsor of the Sheilah Winn Festival of Shakespeare in Schools, which began in 1989. As of 2021 the festival is still running and is managed by the Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ. Until her death she attended the Canterbury regional competitions for the festival on an annual basis. In 1990 she founded the Sheilah Winn Trust for the Promotion of the Arts. In 1993 she supported the Women's Suffrage Centennial Year commemorations in New Zealand, marking 100 years of women's suffrage, and helped fund New Zealand's artistic contribution of embroidered stage hangings for Shakespeare's Globe in London, which opened in 1997.

Winn died on 27 June 2001 at Christchurch Hospital, aged 84. New Zealand's prime minister Helen Clark said on her death: "Through her unstinting financial generosity and encouragement, Sheilah Winn has supported a wide range of artistic endeavour in New Zealand, from theatre, to weaving, to literature."

Honours and awards

Winn was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1980 Birthday Honours for her services to the arts.

In 1999 she was presented with an award by the mayor of Wellington, Mark Blumsky, for her significant contribution to theatre at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. In the same year she was presented with a Civic Award by the Christchurch City Council for her work promoting Shakespeare in schools.

She was an Officer of the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem.

References

1. ^ "PM pays tribute to woman who funded Downstage". Dominion. 30 June 2001. p. 16.
2. ^ "Winn, Sheilah Maureen, 1917-2001". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
3. ^ "Sheilah Winn (nee Hannah) CBE". Samuel Marsden Collegiate School. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
4. O'Neil, Andrea (5 September 2015). "Robert Hannah's shoe empire marches into Wellington - 150 years of news". Dominion Post. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
5. ^ Crean, Mike (29 June 2001). "Final curtain for Bard's best friend". The Press. p. 3.
6. "Marriage: Winn-Hannah". The Evening Post. 3 December 1936. p. 1. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
7. "The Hannah's History". Hannah Playhouse. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
8. ^ O'Neil, Andrea (1 September 2015). "Wellington's Hannah Playhouse opens to rave reviews - 150 years of news". Dominion Post. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
9. ^ "On the death of Sheilah Winn OBE, patron of the NZ arts". New Zealand Government. 30 June 2001. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
10. Mortelier, Christine; Robinson, Roger (2006). "Mansfield Fellowship, The". In Robinson, Roger; Wattie, Nelson (eds.). The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-1917-3519-6. OCLC 865265749. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
11. Catherall, Sarah (5 November 2015). "Katherine Mansfield Fellowship saved by a literary whip-round". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
12. Iosefa, Sarona (24 March 1999). "On a roll with the Bard". The Press. p. 3.
13. "SGCNZ's University of Otago Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival". Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
14. "No. 48214". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 14 June 1980. pp. 39–44.
15. "Queen's Birthday honours 1980" (PDF). Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette. No. 70. 27 June 1980. pp. 1909–1911.
16. Barnao, Pete (13 December 1999). "Sheilah Winn honoured for support of theatre". Dominion. p. 23.
17. "Civic awards for service to others". The Press. 24 March 1999. p. 5.

• 1917 births
• 2001 deaths
• People from Wellington City
• New Zealand philanthropists
• 20th-century philanthropists
• New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• Recipients of the Order of Saint Lazarus (statuted 1910)
• Patrons of the arts
• People educated at Samuel Marsden Collegiate School