Recent Sketches

More media

 

Recently I have been trying some new techniques learned from the beautiful book which Matthew gave me: The Art of Urban Sketching.

 

With the weather we have been having, most are taken from good quality photos in books, or from shots we took when we were in Europe put up on the TV screen.

 

Here is a view of Auckland Harbour in mechanical pencil:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One fine day I walked around the block to sketch the shop on a corner near us, using felt pens:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the new media I have used is acrylics. Here is La Place du Tertre in Montmartre:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And combining acrylics, watercolour and pencil, a shot of a school on the Albaycin hill in Granada, shot from the Alhambra windows on the opposite side of the valley:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS  Have a look at my contribution to the Carersair blog: http://www.carersair.net.nz/what-i-learned

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family History 1.132

Gaze History:

NSG Memoir

From younger colleagues

Among the people in the Church Young People’s group which Noel organised on Saturday nights were Hugh Dickinson and Dorothy Bond, who later married. They write: 

 

We had the greatest respect for him, and your mother, who was my (Dorothy’s) Bible Class leader for many years.

 

He was a great family man and thought the world of you all.  As you know he had a great sense of humour and treated everyone the same.

 

He certainly made a great Young People’s leader, displaying his ability to get on with young and old alike.

 

Hugh was just recalling his generosity.  As a teenager, your parents took him for a holiday with the family for a fortnight in your little Prefect; it must have been a tight fit!

 

Of course he was greatly respected in the business world for his great integrity. I’m sure he would be thrilled to know you are remembering him in this way.       

           

Family History 2.33

Bigelow History: post-1630

from Wikipedia

Watertown, Massachusetts

Where John Biglo lived most of his life.

 

The main street of Watertown today

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watertown, first known as Saltonstall Plantation, was one of the earliest of the Massachusetts Bay settlements. It was begun early in 1630 by a group of settlers led by Sir Richard Saltonstall and the Rev. George Phillips and officially incorporated that same year.

 

The first buildings were upon land now included within the limits of Cambridge known as Gerry's Landing. For its first quarter century Watertown ranked next to Boston in population and area.

 

Since then its limits have been greatly reduced. Thrice portions have been added to Cambridge, and it has contributed territory to form the new towns of Weston (1712), Waltham (1738), Belmont (1859), and Lincoln (1754).

 

In 1632 the residents of Watertown protested against being compelled to pay a tax for the erection of a stockade fort at Cambridge; this was the first protest in America against taxation without representation and led to the establishment of representative government in the colony.

 

As early as the close of the 17th century Watertown was the chief horse and cattle market in New England and was known for its fertile gardens and fine estates. Here about 1632 was erected the first grist mill in the colony, and in 1662 one of the first woolen mills in America was built here.

The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, after adjournment from Concord, met from April to July 1775 in the First Parish Church, the site of which is marked by a monument.

 

The Massachusetts General Court held its sessions here from 1775 to 1778. Committees met in the nearby Edmund Fowle House.

 

Boston town meetings were held here during the siege of Boston, when many Boston families made their homes in the neighborhood.

 

For several months early in the American Revolution the Committees of Safety and Correspondence made Watertown their headquarters and it was from here that General Joseph Warren set out for Bunker Hill.

 

A Low Period

 

Working at Okato

I was fortunate to land a job at Okato College (now Coastal Area School) at the same time as we bought the lifestyle block at Hurford Road.

Okato was an isolated rural township half an hour down the Surf Highway from New Plymouth, where Margaret's family had lived for a few years when she was small.

The popular saying was that you had to live in the district for thirty years before you were accepted, but I had an advantage through Margie.

The first term (term 3, 1979) was fine, but by the end of term 1 in 1980 I was beginning to feel unhappy.

For the first time in my life I found myself struggling with my teaching work. I still don't know if this was a symptom or a cause of my approaching cancer, but by the second week of Term 2 I was depressed and not coping at school. Home was fine, but the stresses of the farmlet may have contributed to my gloom at school.

Fortunately a clear-sighted inspector realised the situation, recommended a visit to the GP and I was given three months on sick leave. I was clinically depressed, saw nothing but darkess ahead of me, and found it difficult to see a way out of my lack of confidence at work. Being at home was in contrast positive, and comforting.

I had already applied for a Social Work job, which eventuated in October. As you will see, I never regretted my change of occupation, and never had a moment's depression about my new work.

Meantime I was able to concentrate on the farmlet and on spending time with Matthew, who was by this stage three months old.

Matt and I on a trip to the mountain

It took altogether about three years before I felt at home in Taranaki; once I was working in the city, meeting plenty of other adults every day, and in a more positive work environment, I became more comfortable. Shifting from a place you are totally involved in all aspects of life as I was in the Bay of Islands proved to be one of the most stressful changes in my life.

 

Matt learning to mow the lawns 1981

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terry on one of his visits to Matt

And with me

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family History 1.131

Gaze History: NSG Memoir

Noel's story continued

He was still thinking about designing houses and was undecided whether to alter the house at Papatoetoe or to build a new house somewhere else. To augment his income he had for some years been marking assignments for students of the International Correspondence School.  Around this time he was persuaded by an early encyclopedia salesman to invest in a set of books which introduced students to the great books of the world.  Whether he ever got his money’s worth is doubtful, but those books were used by other members of the family for many a school assignment.

 

Mary’s sister Win was hit with a great tragedy at this stage.  Her husband Doug died suddenly. After struggling for a while, with no widow’s benefit in those days, she made the decision to come back to Auckland and found a house in Mt Albert for herself and her four children. Noel became the substitute man in the life of the Bird children and the families spent many holidays together.

Don Bird, the oldest of the children writes:

 

 

Noel Gaze was a prince among men – to at least one small boy growing up in suburban Auckland in the thirties and forties.     Learned, having graduated with a Masters’ Degree when few people had even a Bachelors’, he had both a faith and a commitment which commanded the respect of his contemporaries – whether in the law, in business, in the church, or in society at large.    Other than my own father, probably no man has had as great an impact on my life as Noel Gaze.

 

My first memory of the Gaze family was while they were living on the slopes of Mount Albert.     My step-mother was Noel’s sister-in-law, and my parents and siblings and I were staying for Christmas.     Some time later the Gaze family moved to Kolmar Road in Papatoetoe,  where my family were frequent visitors after we returned to Auckland in the forties.    To me as a young  teenager the section seemed huge. Even more note-worthy were the holidays we had at the Gaze family “bach” on the hillside at Milford within a short walk of the beach and “The Pirate Shippe”.    That was where I celebrated “VJ Day”  - the end of the war with Japan, and the end of the Second World War.    It was before the Harbour Bridge – it was in the days of ferry boats and big slow yellow buses.

 

It seemed completely appropriate that I should consult “Uncle Noel” about my choice of a career in 1947.     After all, he was a practising lawyer, and he had “done the exams” himself.    He had his own

office in the Security Building in Queen Street.      I knew there were certain types of “cases” which he as a Christian would not take.  

 

I had decided that I wanted to be a lawyer too, but I had started my secondary schooling in a town where “no-one” took Latin, it was deemed too late to start the subject when I enrolled at Mt Albert Grammar two terms later – and at that time Latin was a pre-requisite for a law degree     I had decided that I would just have to start from scratch and catch up four or five years’ Latin as quickly as I could.    I am most grateful now that “Uncle Noel” helped me to see the issues and  problems more clearly.       When I arrived in Dunedin I found one of my contemporaries from a legal family was trying to pass Latin for a law degree.     After six or eight repeats, which had badly frustrated him and his father’s plans for succession, he was finally allowed  to sit the remaining law subjects after the prescription for the law degree was changed and Latin was no longer a pre-requisite.

 

Perhaps his most valuable contributions to the Baptist Churches in New Zealand were the years he served as Chairman of the Board of the NZ Baptist Theological College and his year as President of the Baptist Union of NZ.     He commanded the respect of his colleagues, and he enjoyed a ready acceptance in all of the churches throughout the country.     A man of faith, vision, care and compassion he always had his feet on the ground.      It was not for nothing that his second name was Shaftesbury!

 

Family History 1.130

Gaze History: NSG Memoir

Late 40s

During these years Noel was a regular listener to BBC comedy radio programmes such as Itma and Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, and regularly read the NZ Listener. 

Also in 1947 the family celebrated the eightieth birthdays of Julia and Fred in July. They were still in their home, looked after by Doris, although Julia was increasingly kept in her bed by illness. 

When Lloyd Crawford married and moved into the manse provided by the church, his room became vacant.  One of Noel’s relatives, his cousin, Alice Grover, a widow, who had been looking after another cousin, Nancy Pearce, and her daughter Rhoda, was in search of a home while she adjusted to the death of one of her charges and the loss of the other to a nursing home.  So Noel and Mary offered her the use of the vacant room, and the lounge as her living room. Alice was also able to look after the children while Noel and Mary were away on holiday or business.  This was a happy arrangement for everyone, as Alice was a gentle, pleasant lady with a warm smile and a kind heart.

Alice’s niece, Dorothy Phillips, writes:

 

 

Memories of a second cousin, Noel Gaze

 

Noel was a very hospitable man, treating visitors with loving care and thoughtfulness and always having an open home and a warm welcome.  The times we visited we were made to feel at home and part of the family.

 

He had a sense of humour (real Gaze) that appealed to me.  On one visit, at breakfast he suggested that we each fold our paper serviettes and name them so we could use them for each meal all the time we were there.

 

As a family we were indebted to him for his kind offer of the family holiday home at Browns Bay where we were able to enjoy the comfort and view for over a week in the idyllic surroundings of the seaside.

 

 

Later still the spare room was used to accommodate Mrs Lily Olsen for another spell, while she adjusted to the death of her husband.  She too was a good friend and neighbour for all the family, and her son Frank and his wife Mavis continued the friendship.

Noel’s business was picking up all the time; the boom in land and other business enterprises after the war provided plenty of work for lawyers and before long Noel would be thinking about hiring some staff in addition to the secretary, Miss Chapman, he had employed for some years. In 1946 he took on Graham Bond, one of the young people from the Church, who was studying law at the University, as law clerk.

One of his best groups of clients was the developing Four Square Grocers chain. New grocery stores were springing up everywhere and the Barker family, who were involved in the Master Grocers Association and in Foodstuffs, sent many of their new store owners to their own solicitor for help with the incorporation processes.

 

 

 

 

 

Family History 2.32

Bigelow History: post-1630

from the official website of

Wrentham, John Biglo's Birthplace

 

Wrentham is a village of approximately 1000 persons nestled around a junction on the A12 London/Ipswich/Lowestoft/Gt. Yarmouth trunk road. The junction has roads to Southwold, Beccles and Covehithe.  

Wrentham is steeped in history stretching back to Saxon times and is mentioned in the Doomsday book. It is a mixture of old and new with some small new housing estates strategically placed so as not to detract from the overall impression of a very attractive village. 

Wrentham has some very pleasant buildings and has won the ‘Best Kept Village’ competition several times in the past.  In 2004 Wrentham won the competition for the 10th time and a tree was planted to commemorate this.  In 2008 the Village won the Waveney District Area Section again and received a cheque for £200 from Waveney District Council which has been spent on providing a new Notice Board at the Village Hall. 

With a core of old Wrentham families plus many new residents it still has a real sense of community.  

Wrentham, Suffolk enjoys connections with Wrentham Massachusetts. 

Wrentham is well sited for holiday makers wishing to visit the surrounding area, which includes Southwold (www.southwold.info): a quaint old Suffolk seaside resort untouched by time, Beccles (www.beccles.info)  a pretty market town, which has excellent boating facilities on the River Waveney, Lowestoft: England’s most Easterly point, Covehithe and Oulton Broad, which is also good for boating. Oulton Broad is the most Southerly of the ‘Norfolk’ Broads, being in Suffolk! It connects to the other Broads and holiday cruisers can be seen here and at Beccles.  There is also power boat racing here on Thursday evenings in the summer. 

Covehithe is a hamlet 2 - 3 miles from Wrentham and boasts a magnificent church, a good proportion of which is a ruin.

 

Family History 2.31

Bigelow History: post-1630

from Bigelow Society Website

John Biglo, Immigrant Ancestor

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     The immigrant ancestor of nearly all persons in North America, and elsewhere, bearing the surname Bigelow in any of its several variants, is John Biglo of Watertown, Massachusetts. He lived from 1617 to 1703.

 

Many of his descendants have been recorded in a genealogy entitled The Bigelow Family in America, written by Gilman Bigelow Howe, printed 1890. The book was published by Charles Hamilton of Boston, and is no longer available except by photo-copy reprint. Rebound used copies occasionally come into the used-book market with the simple title Bigelow Genealogy.

John Biglo came from Wrentham, Suffolk, England, and was son of Randall and Jane Beageley, who had their youngest son, John, baptized 16 February 1617.

     The rector of Wrentham parish in 1617 was the Rev. John Phillips, who later emigrated to Dedham, Massachusetts. During his years in Dedham, Phillips once stated that the blacksmith John Biglo of Watertown, Massachusetts was the same infant whom he had baptized in 1617 as the son of Randall Beageley, and that he (Phillips) had "known John Biglo from earliest youth upward','

     Further, in a civil case in Watertown during his lifetime, John Biglo took the witness stand and identified himself as "John Biglo, formerly of Wrentham, England."

 

From these facts we state the identity and parentage of John Biglo, and through parish and probate records in England, can prove three generations of his English ancestry.

To Watertown, Massachusetts    

 

John Biglo seems to have arrived in Watertown, MA about 1632. He probably came with an older relative, Elizabeth Bigelow, second wife of Deacon Richard Butler, who after a short stay in Massachusetts, followed the Rev. Thomas Hooker to Connecticut. It is assumed that Elizabeth was an older sister or first cousin.

 

No ship's-records exist showing the date of their arrival. It is probable that John Biglow and/or Mary Warren came over on one of the ships of the Winthrop Fleet. It is also probable that they would have had to do so by budgeting solely based upon their own personal budget.

     John Biglo took part in the Pequot War of 1636, serving from Watertown. The next public mention we find of him is his marriage in Watertown on 30 October 1642-- the first marriage recorded in Watertown--before Mr. Nowell, to Mary Warren, daughter of John and Margaret Warren.

      To quote from Howe's book, "from the list of those who took the oath of fidelity at Watertown 1652, we find that John Biggalough was one of the number, and he became a freeman 18 April 1690 which we find from the roll of freeman written as John Bigolo; under the same date we find that Samuel Begaloo was made a freeman, and by another list, date 16 May 1690, we find Samuel Biggilo and John Warren jr. were made freemen. On the return of soldiers who were in the service from 25 November to 3 December 1675 [King Philip's War] we find the names of John Bigulah Sr, Michael Flegg, and Isaac Leonard, the last being wounded. Thus we find the name variously spelled by different officials, but when we find the name written by any member of the family, in those early days it is written Biglo, Bigelo, or Bigelow."

 Later Life   

 

John Biglo appears by various accounts to have been a blacksmith, and again from town records we quote: "Agreed with John Biglo that for ten trees the towne allowed him for the setting up of a shop for a Smithes forge, that he shall either go on with his promise of setting up his trade, which is the trade of a Smith, within one twelfmonth after the date hereof or else to pay unto the towne ten shillings for these ten trees he acknowledged to have off the towne." Dated 4 March 1651.

     John Biglo was chosen a surveyor of highways in 1652 and 1660, a constable [Tax-collector] in 1663, and one of the selectmen or town council, in 1665, 1670, and 1671.

 

His homesite consisted of six acres and was bounded north by Richard Ambler and William Parker, east by Thomas Straight, south by the highway, and on the west by Miles Ives.

 

After the death of his wife Mary in 1691, he married (2) on 2 October 1694, Sarah Bemis, daughter of Joseph Bemis. She outlived him.

 

He died on 14 July 1703, at the age of 86 years, as recorded in town records. His will was dated 4 January 1703 and was proved 23 July 1703.

 

Family History 1.129

 

War Ends

The whole world relaxed when the war came to an end in 1945. But the rationing of foodstuffs and petrol took a while to lift, and the war regulations continued to harass the legal world for some time. On V-J (Victory over Japan) day in August, two days before the end of the school term, everyone in Auckland was told to go home when the news came through, and the bus companies laid on free rides home for everyone.  Noel reached Papatoetoe about midday and found the children in school assembly celebrating the victory in long-winded schoolteacher style. However, restraining his impatience, he managed to retrieve the children from the clutches of the education system and they all enjoyed four days unexpected holiday together. 

Over the following months, friends who had survived the war began to arrive home and start to settle in to normal life. One such was Gilbert, Noel’s second cousin, who had been a captain in the army.  Noel brought him home for dinner with the family before he caught the train back to his family in Wanganui. 

Franklin had by now almost completed his primary school education and Noel discussed with him what he wanted to do by way of secondary schooling.  It was agreed that they would try to get him in to Auckland Grammar School in the city. His school reports had always been good and his placings at the top or near the top of his class in the last year or two. So Noel took his son to the enrolment day at the Grammar School and showed him the hall where he himself had sat and the classrooms he had been taught in. Franklin spent 1946 to 1950 at Auckland Grammar, in early years travelling by train, and later, as we shall see, accompanying Noel by car. 

The 1929 Austin 7 was by this time nearing the end of its useful life.  Month after month it had been used for emergencies and special outings up to the limit of its permitted one gallon of petrol. But soon after the end of the war, Noel sold it for a slightly more recent Austin, which enabled the family to make good use of the relaxed petrol ration available after the war.  However one day on a longish expedition to Muriwai Beach, as the car was rounding a corner on the metal road, one of the family with sharp eyes called out, “Look, there’s the sea!” Noel, unfortunately, did so and when he looked back at the road found he was too late to avoid a glancing collision with a car coming up the hill in the opposite direction. No-one was seriously hurt, and once everyone had patched up their small cuts and bruises and the other family had been placated temporarily, it was discovered that the damage to the mudguard and wheel was too great.  The family limped back to the nearest suburb, but the smash had distorted the wheel so much that the very thin tyre wore out.

1947 Ford Prefect

 

As a result of this episode Noel decided to put his name down for one of the new post-war Ford cars (Prefect) then coming on the market and a brand new vehicle was delivered in 1947. Costing about 450 pounds the Prefect was a 10 horse power car with four doors and a minimal boot.  But it carried the family for many miles and ran through two motors in its five years.

 

First Home in Taranaki

Hurford Road

Probably the most enjoyable home I ever lived in was the farmlet Margaret and I bought in Hurford Road when we moved to Taranaki. Not because of the house itself, but because it was on a life-style block. The history of little lifestyle-sized blocks in that part of the district is unclear, when all around were full-sized farm properties, but we had four acres and  a 1920s era house, with a grass tennis court at the back, a few mature fruit trees and a hedge of high bamboos on the southern boundary. 

The house was in need of renovation, but our money didn’t stretch that far.  We had a distant view of the sea to the north, and the Kaitake ranges sheltering us to the west, with the mountain visible beyond the bamboo hedge. 

Fortunately the house had a Kent woodburner to keep us warm in the winter, and an area of porch at the back to keep wet clothes and boots. 

We were pretty naïve as to the farming side of managing the property, at least I was, but neighbours and friends were helpful and we soon had steers, sheep and chickens and a mother cat Sheba and her amazing kittens, Solomon and Tamar.

In particular, Rex had lived on or near farms all his life and was extremely helpful, even slaughtering sheep when necessary. He and Ruby came out to see us every weekend and helped with mowing lawns, repairing fences, and advising on what to do next. They also made up a four for tennis in the evenings! 

The house came with a large, self-propelled Briggs and Stratton lawnmower with a big rear roller, which was ideal for mowing the tennis court efficiently. 

Rex also converted a garden shed into a workshop, complete with workbench and shelves, which was another useful addition to the house. 

I soon learned to handle the fencing jobs that needed doing regularly, like replacing posts and strainers, or shifting the electric fences each day, especially when we grazed the cows on the “long acre”. One morning we woke to the sound of cracking and munching only to look out of the bedroom window and find the steers had somehow escaped the electric fence and found their way up to our gardens and were eating anything and everything that looked and tasted delicious!

But shearing sheep, or killing steers, needed outside help, either from our good neighbours, George Mattock and his family, or from the professional butchers. 

One of the enjoyments of living in Hurford Road was getting to know the rural community.  Its social life at times centred on the local Hall, since burnt down and removed, where community meetings, weddings, sports celebrations and so on were held. They held social occasions to welcome new residents, including us, and sometimes to farewell long-standing neighbours. 

Philip, Andrew, Jonny and Jenni Gaze, with Sheba and her kittens, Solomon

and Tamar, while on a visit with their parents, Stuart and Catherine,

Christmas Holidays 1979

Another joy of the farmlet was sharing it with friends and family, and several families came to stay with us while we lived there.