 |
Varley
 |
|
|
Dawn, Varley and Sandra |
Varley at her 50th Birthday Party |
|
Varley's Memories Memoirs from my kindy days to today. Varley Patricia Broadbridge nee Johnstone. My grandchildren call me Beebar a name my first grandchild called me. I lived at 32 Kings Avenue, Gonville, Wanganui for most of my childhood along with Mum, Dad and my two sisters and two brothers. Things I remember starting with my Kindy days - I can't remember much about kindy except having to drink little bottles of milk that weren't cold and cut up apple and also having to line up to get our milk. I can remember starting school and we had this horrible teacher who we had to stand and in chorus say "Good morning Mrs Ashton" and quite often it would come out "Good morning Mrs Ashtin" and she would insist we said it again not tin, ton she would say. I remember at Gonville school swimming baths getting my head held under the water and to this day can't stand water on my face. The dental clinic was another terrifying place - I would cry when called to it. Some of the things we did on the way home from school - I look back on and think of the great times we had as children and think that today's children miss out on the safeness we had. When we left school we would race to the bottom of the road where there was an icecream cone factory and it had a little side door that the top half opened like a stable door and they would put out all the damaged and broken icecream cones for us to eat on the way home. No one was greedy - we just took a couple each and left the rest for others. Another thing we did there was this little cottage of about two rooms that sat on a bank and had about ten steps leading up to the front door and inside lived this old couple probably in their seventies then and they used to hand out little religious quotations on little cards some were stickers not much bigger than a postage stamp. It was a bit of a dare for us to go up and knock on the door to get one of these rather than what the old couple thought we were getting out of the religious quotes. It was quite scary but you were considered brave to do it and the couple were dear old things really. He was a watchmaker and did repairs on watches from his home. At home I played a lot with Wendy and Lynne Mitchell who used to live across the road. We had a playhouse up in our backyard and we used to play a lot in Mitchell's shed with our dolls. When my brothers wanted to upset me they would hang my doll by a belt round the neck in the shower. We had a coke and coal bin in our backyard that had a big lid that lifted up for the coke and coal man to empty the sacks into and in the front were two holes to shovel the coke and coal out into buckets, Kerry and I used to play this game where One would hold the lid up and the other person would get in with a funny teddy we had pretending it was a monkey and when the neighbouring kids would come round for a look whoever was in the bin would poke the head of this teddy, which was a funny thing not a normal teddy, out of the hole in the front and the kids thought it was a real monkey. I can remember playing in Mums fernery, a Pathway up the middle of all these ferns and we used to get all the pods off the fuchsias and make little jars of coloured water and pretend it was a chemist shop. We had a large backyard and I can remember Dad taking us up into the back corner at night to watch the glow-worms in the compost area. Next-door was this fabulous big garden that we used to like to sneak over to and walk through their paths when they weren't around. We had this huge tree in the back corner of our section that we used to climb and quite often had verbal fights with the boys over the back fence and they would go and get their mother and she would tell us off. Also up in the backyard we had half an acre, we had chooks, a white rabbit called Sniffy, guinea pigs that kept getting out and were near to impossible to catch, we had budgies and a cat called toodles. Whenever we were sick Mum would drag an armchair into the kitchen in front of the chip heater and wrap us in a blanket. She also used to rub vicks everywhere when we had colds. Custard was a comforter food when we were sick something I always made for my kids when they were sick with a cold or something. Mum was a good cook and we always had full cake tins. She had a sunbeam cake mixer, which I have today, and it is still going strong. One of the things we used to do as a family was to go over to Aunty Helens and Uncle Les's on a Sunday afternoon for afternoon tea with all the other families of Mums Aunties and they had a Pianola and we would all sing along and had fun. The afternoon teas were lavish affairs with cream cakes sandwiches etc. There was this Aunt called Aunt Min that used to tell stories to us. With Dad being in the rowing club we used to go out to Ted Johnson's farm for club picnics, which were always great days out. We would rip the branches off cabbage trees and sit on them at the top of these hills and race down them perhaps about ten of us at once. The winner always got a chocolate fish. We also had sack races where you climbed in a sack held it up and ran or jumped along to the finish line. Also two legged races Dads hanky was what we used to tie our ankle to our teammates ankle, and then plain old running races. Chocolate fish were the winner's prizes, at the end of the day a big lolly scramble. Across the road from us lived this couple Mr and Mrs Main we used to call them Aunty Tina and Uncle John. They had a big veggie garden that had this big plum tree that we used to get a lot of plums off. When we went over we used to hate having to go to their toilet as it was in their washhouse and quite often they would have dead unplucked chooks hanging behind the door waiting to be plucked. Mum used to send us over to their house to get bowls of dripping (fat) to cook in. Two doors along from the Mains and straight opposite our driveway lived the Walton's. In his later years he went a bit senile and used to go out on the street sometimes in the middle of the night and call out coooeee in an eerie tone. Next door to the Walton's lived the Dickies and just saying their name brings back the smell you always got when you went over to their place as he smoked a pipe. Another family I used to spend a lot of time with and staying nights was the Corby family, they had a china shop and in their house was this huge room the size of a large family living room and it had tables and tables of china in storage but all unpacked for some reason and Marion Corby and I used to love playing in that room pretending to sell or buy things. We did stay away from one corner of the room as it had all the crystal. The things in that room I remember most were the Toby Jugs in all sorts shapes and sizes. In school holidays we used to go out to Mrs Cundy's bach at Kai-iwi beach, which later on she gave to Mum and Dad. I remember going up to Mrs Cundys house she always made ginger beer and when you went into her house you could always smell it and to this day when I think of her I can smell the ginger beer. We used to be allowed to go where we liked at the beach and now when I look back we used to climb the track to the top of cliffs and we used to dig into the bank that was made of sand, and just over the road from the bach was an area that had a path down to a fish pond with a little bridge. Dad and Mum cut a track through the hydrangeas at the back of the property so we could go up through the camping ground to the shop. There were two shops and at the other shop Mrs Saunders used to have chocolate bomb ice creams a real treat. I used to go around the corner and play with Judy Henderson a lot and I stayed there a lot for the night. Aunty Mollie used to make the best spaghetti on toast you ever tasted. Why, I don't know, but she used to dice up the buttered toast and the spaghetti was only normal tinned spaghetti. Judy had lots of nice toys that I used to play with in their front porch. Dads father we called big Grandad, he had a hotel "The Red Lion Inn" and on our birthdays we were allowed to go into the walk in storeroom and pick a tin of something. Usually a big tin of peaches or spaghetti or something we could all share at home. At the hotel was this little room up these dark stairs above the second floor, it was an attic that they used to do ironing in and it was scary going up for a peek. Another thing we used to like is he had a huge garage that the guests used to park their cars in along with his vehicles and it had this little door on the side we used to like to go over and climb through. Big Grandad once took me to the airport I can't remember why but while there this truck with a couple of Maori men stopped and talked to him and I was standing alongside and Grandad picked me up and said do you want to buy her. I never forgot that I was so terrified Mum said I took a lot of pacifying when I got back I was so upset. Nana and Grandad were separated and we used to be dropped off or stayed at Nanas and I never used to like it the rooms weren't very nice and she used to smoke and drink and was a grumpy thing. But later in life I went and saw her a lot in the rest home and took my children to visit. She had a big backyard and veggie garden. Great place to play hide and seek in. With an outside toilet and washhouse we could sometimes hide in. We used to be sent to get the bread, which was usually a whole Kuta loaf, which is an uncut loaf of bread, but it was sort of two halves joint together. You could also buy a half loaf, which is when the grocer used to break it in half and only sold you half. We used to get a whole loaf and on the way home we would break it in half and eat the loose bread in the middle. In around 1957 we also used to be able to buy 25 aniseed ball lollies for a penny (that is equivalent to one cent). Mum used to always cook a Sunday roast and pudding. Mums roasts were a hit with all the grandkids, no one could cook a roast like Nana could they would say. I don't know how old I was but it must have been just before I started intermediate I had to have teeth removed because of overcrowding. To have them out I had to go to the "Town Dentist" which adults went to and I was put in a chair and a gas mask was held over your nose and mouth and you fell asleep and when you woke up there was this most foul taste that stayed for ages. When I started Wanganui Intermediate I used to bike with a girl two streets away her name was Judith Malcolm and I have since met up with her as she works at the Cossie Club in Wanganui. I hated having to bike so far in all weathers. Part way through my first year there we shifted to Paekakariki where we stayed for about four years. While at primary school there we had a trip to Christchurch a class trip. The ferries sailed only at nights we went down on the Hinemoa and back on the Maori. I remember we tried to smuggle back some cheese to our cabin from the dining room and we were at the top of the stairs and the teacher was at the bottom and he yelled at us what were we doing and we got a fright and dropped our hands and the cheese fell out of our tops onto the stairs. We went to a hotel for our lunch and I am sure it was called The Savoy. I quite liked my college years for bits of fun I had but not for schooling as we since found out I had a hearing loss and no one picked it up. I didn't know either as I didn't know how to hear properly I just thought I was dumb. That is another whole story I will file later. I hated sport, so the easiest option was to take cross-country and with a few friends we would set off from the school on the run through some lupins that were higher than us and once in the middle we would go off track and hide for the hour and just sit and talk, after the hour we would come out and huff and puff back to the gym to get changed. We were never ever caught. I had my first job while at college. At Paekakariki we had this big tearooms restaurant - I can't remember it's name, but it is now called "Fisherman's Table" - and when you first started there you were put in a little backroom (all concrete) and you peeled and peeled sacks of potatoes and carrots. If you stuck this task out when someone left you moved up the ladder to dishes. You felt grand when you got the job doing dishes. When a waitress left you then moved up the ladder to that job. I loved that job and I think that set me on my path for future employment. I used to go to dances on the train to Pukerua Bay in the scout den. We had to pay 2 shillings (20cents) to get in or take a plate. I used to go with Gail Marshall and she lived in a new subdivision with all these bushes around. Our families in those days did not have a lot of money, we both came from a family of five, so our mothers insisted we take a plate of pikelets, how uncool was that? Therefore about a week before we would keep a watch on our mother's purses and when there was a lot of change in them we would steal 2 shillings and hide it. Come dance day they would give us the money to catch the train to the dance and give us our plates. I would walk up to Gails we would wrap our pikelets up in the greaseproof hide our plates in the bushes go on the train and eat as many of the pikelets as we could throw the rest away, take our two shillings and go to the dance. When we got home pick our plates up out of the bushes and no one was any the wiser. There is one thing about all these naughty things I did I have a clear conscience today because as Mum and I were so close in her later years I confessed up to all my naughty tricks. But Mum being Mum never hung onto things we were best buddies right up to the day she died. Gail and I used to go to the pictures in Paekakariki and our parents would drop us off and we would go inside and after a couple of minutes look out to see if they had gone and out we would go and meet up with boys and go for drives or to Queen Elizabeth Park just to sit and talk then when the movies were due to finish we would go back inside and come out with the crowd. While we were living in Paekakariki the first T.V. came about. Our neighbours were the first to get a T.V. set in our area and we used to sit up on the bench so we could see over to their house and watch it through the windows. Sometimes we were invited over and Bewitched was my favourite along with The Jetsons. Dad hired a T.V. when the Olympic games came on. We lived in a railway house in Tilley Road that backed onto paddocks and across the first paddock was the main rail trunk line from Wellington to Auckland and a group of us kids used to go over and sit under the bridge going over a stream and dare each other to see who would stay there the longest. As the trains in those days were big steam locomotives no one would stay the full time. There used to be what they called jiggers go through on the rail line to check the track and we used to wave and call out to the man on it. A jigger used to be like a small cart with a man or sometimes two men on it and a motor drove it. We used to go mushrooming in this paddock - once a bull chased Mum. Mum used to quite often go over for the cow manure. We also used to go through a series of paddocks to go up to MacKay's Crossing as up by there, there was this pond that had frogs and tadpoles and many a time we would have a bucket with tadpoles in it at home. There was an old ammunition dump that we used to play around and now when you look back the dangers we placed ourselves in... For my tenth birthday Mum and Dad bought me this brown-eyed blonde doll. I used to love playing with dolls and it was unusual to see a brown-eyed blonde they nearly always had blue eyes. I called her Pamela and now the grandchildren play with her. Another treat which must have been costly was I always got a crayfish for my birthday, I really don't know the reason but I wonder if it was really because Mum liked it too and it was one way she could have it too?? I'll never know. When I was half way through my 3rd year at college I was only 15 and Dad was transferred back to Wanganui I said I was not going to start a new college at that age and by that time I was not mixing well I never seemed to have many true friends at school only ones like Gail Marshall that we used to get about with at weekends. Mum and Dad agreed I was going no where with my schooling therefore if I found a job on arrival in Wanganui over the school holiday period then I would not have to return to school. Once again no one knew the reason behind my loss of learning. Within two days of getting back to Wanganui there was a job in the Gonville Junction Bakery advertised. I went in to apply and landed the job. I started by icing the buns in the morning and creaming them, helping weigh flour etc or rolling the bun dough into balls on the tray and dishes, dishes, and dishes again but this time bowls. Having learnt everyone has to start at the bottom I stuck with it and eventually ended up a shop assistant. I still creamed buns and cakes etc and sometimes when we weren't busy Mr Waterson would let me help him with the baking of the slices and making the éclairs. I loved my time working for Mr and Mrs Waterson they taught me a lot and little did I realise I was depending on self taught lip-reading to hear people. My workmate Averill Soper had this boyfriend who used to visit her and one day they said we are jacking you up with a blind date for Friday night. I was scared of the idea but they reassured me it would be okay so about 4pm the two boys came in to the shop so I could be introduced to him. He was Leon Broadbridge. Little did I know that blind date would end up my husband? ? After a few dates Leon asked why I hadn't been to see about my hearing loss so with that I went off to the doctor who arranged a test and we found out I could hardly hear. I ended up with hearing aids in both ears. Eventually after 3years an opportunity came up for me to go to Auckland and have an operation that only one doctor in the country was doing it was called a stapedectomy - well known and used today throughout the country. It was a fifty fifty chance and I was lucky and got the hearing back in that ear. I remained on the waiting list for seven years and then successfully had the other ear done. This operation was supposed to have a lifetime of approx13 years before having to have it done again, to date mine has been done for 26years. Leon and I married on St Valentines Day 14th Feb
1970 at the Knox Church in Wanganui. When the children were all born I returned to the
work force at nights. Leon would come home at 5pm and I would
work firstly at a burger drive through or sit down place called
Big Tex from 6pm till 10pm. We lived at 4 Seddon St Wanganui from 1971 to 1972
the purchase price was $3950.00 we sold it for $4500.00. Since coming to Blenheim I have worked all sorts
of jobs. I picked Garlic up out of paddocks, worked in the pack
house cleaning and packing it, packed apples, packed and graded
cherries. I worked for a market gardener and planted paddocks
of potatoes; onion seed and I have harvested onion seed, harvested
pumpkins. I then went and worked in a vineyard for Mr Roughan
in Renwick for two years training grapes, pruning, lifting wires
and bud rubbing. I then went to Montana Woodbourne estate for
a season. My next job was at the Chantilly Coffee Lounge where
I was employed to wash dishes and gradually ended up being the
major person doing all the cake baking as well as helping in the
shop or wherever needed. The new proprietors each time it was
sold which was four times over the next ten years kept me on.
I considered myself part of the plant in the end. One day I woke up and decided that was it I was
going to retire and spend some time with my Mum and two grandchildren.
I say to people "when you think that's it, do it" as
I found out afterwards. I had two precious, lovely, happy and
fun years doing spontaneous and planned things with Mum before
she died. My last two years have been fulfilled with looking
after Tracey and Denis's children, my grandchildren Laura and
Matthew. While their Mum and Dad have been planting a vineyard
and building their home I have helped out by having the children
as many days as I can. |
|
