SEPTEMBER 2021 ACTIVITY

A Trip Down Memory Lane

(in lieu of a main speaker)

Brian and Anne Hewitt: The first image is of Anne's box collection, and the second is Brian's camera collection.

The next image is of the tea set used at the marriage of Fiona Smith's grandparents, Thomas Berry and Alice Foxcroft, on 4th March 1910.

Next is an image of Kathy Terry and her sister's Norwegian dolls.

Here you can see a child's 'grain' sewing machine made in England (circa 1949) from Eileen Soper, along with her grandmother's vase.

An interesting one from David Hodgson, his mother's crystal perfume and powder receptacles that are labelled as 'Lalique' (David is doubtful). Aladdin also belonged to his grandmother.

And from Margaret Westgate, Hummel and Capodimonte figurines and a Royal Copenhagen vase.

And more porcelain from Denmark from Trevor Hitchcock.

This pottery collection is from Sue Lovelace.

And a personal favourite (Ed) from Mike Blong's grandmother's collection.

Ten-Minute Speaker (Trevor Hitchcock)

Trevor opened his talk saying this was a ‘Martha Stewart’ talk. Trevor met his wife Pauline while he was doing his National Service. His boss was called Windy and he ran the show. Part of Trevor's job was to take reports up to the typing pool and that is where he met his future wife. As they started their life together they came to an agreement that Trevor would look after the outside of the house and Pauline would look after the home and cook the meals. This happy and wonderful marriage lasted 58 years.

After the funeral of his wife at St Stephens church Trevor took a long walk trying to come to terms with what life would be like on his own. As the days went on and the realisation that he would now have to cook his own meals, he raced out and bought two can openers. After a while the tinned meals lost their appeal and a friend Maurice suggested that Trevor take Senior Chef classes. So Trevor arrived at his first class to find that there were old codgers like him and six women. The women in the group have coped with cooking for large groups in the farming community but now they were on their own, cooking for one was difficult. After a few classes Trevor managed beans on toast, with a few sliced tomatoes for decoration.

The other dilemma was how to look after a home on his own. Running the dishwasher was fine until the sediment on the plates went rock hard, then he resorted to hand washing. Overtime Trevor managed to operate the vacuum cleaner, do the laundry, and struggle with the fitted sheets and steam iron. On talking to a friend at the golf club about all the things he had to learn about keeping house a fellow member sitting nearby commented "How big is that guy's castle! Thanks for the reminiscences Trevor.

AUGUST 2021 ACTIVITY

Waipu Trip

We had 18 members car-pooling to Waipu for our visit to the museum. Jackie a volunteer at the museum gave us a very entertaining history of the McLeod clan and how they came to settle in and around Waipu. Jackie herself is of Nova Scotian descent and has researched her family's history in the area. Norman McLeod was born in Scotland into a Presbyterian family, later to become a minister of the church. He was too extreme for the local community so decided to emigrate with his wife and nine children to Nova Scotia Canada. This did not work out well for them so they, with their whole community moved to America. Time and conditions were hard and so another move was planned to an island off the coast .Amongst farming and fishing they became ship builders. This island became too overworked for the growing community so yet another move was planned.

This one taking them to Australia in the middle of the 1850’s. Attempts were made to integrate with the locals but with the high moral standards set by the Minister they failed to settle in either Melbourne or Adelaide. They made their way to New Zealand arriving in the south of the North Island and making their way north to the to the Waipu district. Here they settled in as farmers, timber workers and general commerce workers. Clan members settled to live in groups according to their occupations. Schools were built in Waipu and then later in Bream Bay as the families expanded. Norman McLeod by this time was an old man but still stuck to his old extreme ways, scolding his wife for having a bow on her bonnet. The museum is a testament to the clan’s search for the perfect place in which to form a community for their future. Following the presentation, members had a walk through the museum or went in search of morning tea.

Main Speaker (Kevin Salmon)

Kevin provided us with an entertaining and very useful talk about Alzheimer's. Confusion and memory loss are some of the first signs that all is not right. At present it is estimated that 70,000 people in New Zealand are suffering from this and by 2050 there is expected to be 150,000 who will require help to live at home or be in care. Kevin had another thought that with the baby boomers requiring retirement villages for their living, it could be that in years to come there could be a surplus of them. Maybe it could become a chance for first home buyers!!! It was also interesting to hear that the population of Northland in 1970 was 100,000 people and at that time there were 304 hospital beds available – how times have changed, our population is now 194,000 and we have 284 beds available. It is not surprising to hear that care is not getting better and that, being short of 100 doctors for our area, we are going to have to do our very best to look after ourselves and give a helping hand to others that we see in need. Also mentioned was having a will and Power of Attorney done. I noticed a lot of hands went up for this but to the ones who haven’t done this yet, please put it on your ‘to do’ list. There are two (2) powers of attorney – one is for your financial affairs and the other is for your care and welfare. Kevin, we thank you for your most entertaining and interesting talk to us and wish you all the best.

Ten-Minute Speaker (Jim Beniston)

Jim gave us an insight to what it entails to be a volunteer for CPNZ, which is short for Community Patrols of New Zealand. This position is being the eyes and ears for the police who they work closely with to make New Zealand a safer place for us all to live. Time is spent checking residential, business and industrial areas, also looking out for stolen cars as well as any other suspicious activities. When Jim worked in the Whangārei area the hours were from 9 pm to 2 am and in the early days, volunteers had to use their own vehicles and received a payment of $20. Nowadays a vehicle is provided and they are never sent out on their own. A lot of the time can be quite unexciting as there is nothing out there to see apart from the odd stray cat having a wander but of course there are the other times when other things are happening. I think it is our best interest to take extra care and be aware of things that are happening around us when we are out and about and it’s a big thank you to Jim and all the other people who are working to keep us all safer.

Keep up the good work.

APRIL 2021 ACTIVITY

Hobbiton

On Sunday April 18 our team of 35 met promptly at 8.30am to board our Clarks bus for our trip to Matamata so promptly that we departed ten minutes ahead of schedule. Our first comfort stop was Warkworth where coffees were consumed, then through the Auckland traffic using the bus lanes down to Mercer for lunch – (bacon butties – yum). Because Matamata could not accommodate us all we went to Podium Lodge, an Olympic themed motel in Cambridge. We all checked in and then travelled on to the farm where the Hobbiton movie was set and where the “Lord of the Rings”, and the Hobbiton Trilogies were filmed by Sir Peter Jackson.

On our tour we were joined by another group and our tour guide was a very articulate and witty young man who proceeded to outline the work which started in March 1999 to create 39 Hobbit cottages using untreated timber, plywood and polystyrene. An oak tree was bought in from Matamata and artificial leaves were bought in from Taiwan and wired onto the branches for the film “Lord of the Rings”. Also for the “The Hobbit trilogy in 2009. These were all rebuilt of permanent materials and the oak tree which stands high above the village or Shire was an artificial tree made of steel and silicon again with leaves wired on and this confused the birds who landed on the leaves when the wind blew. It still looks very real. An artificial pond which was made for the film became a home for a colony of frogs whose croaking was drowning out the actors dialogue. So the frogs were caught and relocated, only to return the following day. The first film took three months to make, the next only 12 days. At its peak there were over 500 people on site.

Our guide also told us some of the “tricks” used by the filmmakers to get the results required. Very clever and funny! The walk around the ‘Shire’ takes about one and a half hours. While the footing was reasonable, the path is quite steep in places and some of our group required buggies. This writer knew nothing about Hobbits or Gandalf and was lost listening to our guide – unlike Sue Lovelace, who was very familiar with the stories. However I marvelled at the whole set up which is so real even down to the washing on the line and firewood at the door. Many photographs were taken by both groups with most seeming to need to be photographed standing in the door way of one cottage or other. This did cause some delays, but finally we all came together for dinner in the Green Dragon dining hall.

Dinner turned out to be an absolute banquet with the tables groaning under the weight of the food prepared and when we had consumed this we were presented with dessert which was just as delicious. No one went hungry. As stated this writer was a reluctant traveller to start, but I can confess I really enjoyed the experience and was impressed by the whole organisation (ours and theirs)! One other plus for me was as a newish member of Onerahi Probus, I got to know my fellow members better. To people thinking of visiting Hobbiton, please go and see for yourself, don’t let your lack of Hobbit knowledge deter you. You will enjoy the experience. Also a big shout out to our bus driver Darryl Meehan who was so pleasant and obliging. Hopefully this is not the last time we see him.

Hobbiton report courtesy of Jim Beniston

Zealong

The guide was very good and had all the facts at her fingertips, and we did not even have to leave our bus. The statues around the grounds were all in keeping with the theme of tea growing and brewing. The high tea was amazing, the guides took some of the food to our driver as did some of our members, in fact he may have ended up with too much. The shop was well visited by our members, several of us came away with bags of goodies. All in all it was a perfect end to a really good weekend.

Zealong report courtesy of Sue Lovelace

Thank you to the Community Funding and the Lotteries Commission for making these trips possible.

MARCH 2021 ACTIVITY

Op Shop Fashion Parade

There was no guest speaker at the combined March General Meeting and Annual General Meeting. In its place was the excellent ‘Op Shop’ Fashion Show which entertained and delighted. Thanks to all of the organisers and participants in this. Hopefully it will be the first of many such events.

FEBRUARY 2021 ACTIVITY

Waitangi Trip

Twelve Probus members enjoyed the trip in pleasant weather to Waitangi. After arriving at the information centre and receiving our group’s stickles we were directed to the upper grounds and our first stop at the Whare house for the cultural presentation. We were met by one of the performers. She explained the protocols to us. The Whare is like a human with the head at the top of the roof, the sloping roof on either side is the open arm and the upright post are the legs, inside the rafters are the heart and soul of the building. Then, powhiri, the welcome and the challenge were explained to us. Our group was a part of a much larger group. We needed a chief to answer the challenge and much to the relief of the guys in our group another group put forward Wayne. Out from the Whare came the warrior wielding a spear to challenge Wayne. The challenge was accepted and Wayne picked up the peace offering.

We were then called to enter the house by wahine, having first shed our shoes at the door way. We were entertained by the cultural group singing traditional action songs using pois, spears and sticks. Very clever timing was needed for the actions. Following the performance we walked through the grounds towards the new museum dedicated to the Maori Battalion. This is called Te Rau Aroha. The building is a work of art, very pleasing to look at. On a board outside was the following:

“Welcome to the cauldron from which warriors were born. They who engaged in conflict so that peace may reign. Who embraced life, to redeem lives lost. Selfless service to a nation, their noble sacrifice. Their names adorn this house, Te Rau Aroa.”

After a good look around inside we walked across the grass on our way to the cafe and lunch. At his point there was a group of school children from Kamo with a Treaty grounds guide also crossing the grass. The guide stopped the children and stressed the importance of respecting elders and encouraged them to give us an impromptu concert of Maori songs learnt at school. This was a very pleasant surprise. We then went on to lunch at the Whare Waka café - good food in an outside room facing the bush. A great day out was had by all.

Waitangi grounds report courtesy of Sue Lovelace