NSG Memoir
SOME PERSONAL MEMORIES
Olwyn:
Sandringham
Dad
bringing me a wooden toy truck and a kaleidoscope when I had mumps, I
think. Mum and Dad giving me an enema in
the bathroom both trying to hold me down as I screamed! I still have a lock of
my baby hair in an old envelope labelled in Dad’s writing ‘Olwyn Anne’.
Papatoetoe
I
remember him coming back from his medical for the army during the war. It was
the first time I heard my father cry and it was then that I began to understand
what a wonderful person he was and most of the time was so positive with such a
bad disability. I remember his joy when
he and Mum hosted different functions in our garden and home: the BYMOA Club,
the Papatoetoe Baptist Church garden party, family get-togethers.
We had a
Baby Austin car. Dad would take us out
into the country to Redoubt Rd and on the hill would turn off the engine to
save petrol as it was rationed at that time.
He liked
to travel and took us to many exciting parts of New Zealand. One Christmas we camped at Scandretts Bay out
of Warkworth. The trip seemed to take all
day. We saw whales, visited Kawau, had a
wonderful holiday. I remember we had a
windup gramophone with records of Dame Clara Butt. Our Grandpa Bigelow stayed there with us and
one day when we were out in Scandretts launch the dinghy broke loose and was
drifting away. Grandpa hooked the dinghy
with his walking-stick and I thought him a hero.
Grange
Road
Dad’s Mum
was not so well so Dad decided to move nearer to Mt Eden where our Grandmother
lived. Dad found a house which was an
exciting house for us teenagers but was a lot of work. Dad was pretty busy with his law firm,
Baptist Theological College work, Epsom Church work. On Sunday mornings we were always pretty busy
as Mum was often getting ready for guests or helping at church, but Dad always
beat the ice cream which was homemade so it would be set for lunchtime. Actually all the time from my childhood , Dad
always got up first and made Mum a cup of tea which she drank while still in
bed. Dad read the paper and then made
porridge or rolled oats and vimax. Dad
also usually washed the dishes while one of us children wiped (though Franklin
was usually at the toilet),
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