Nancy's wedding

Nancy's 3 bridesmaids were Janey Winstone, John's sister Margaret and Nancy's sister Barbara. The flowergirl was her cousin Kathleen's daughter Judith who was also Nancy's god daughter.. The best man and groomsmen were Hugh Westwood, Ron Waddell and Paddy Kelk.

As they left the church the Takapuna Girl Guides formed a Guard of Honour

Nancy- teens and beyond

Nancy attended Takapuna Grammar School and passed Matriculation. She could have continued for another year but decided that the maths would be too hard so told her teachers that she was needed at home and left. She trained as a kindergarten teacher and as their were no jobs she started her own private kindergarten- Rahiri Kindergarten, in the downstairs area of the family home.
John Emmitt entered her life at about this time as his father, Rev E.S.Emmitt, was posted to Takapuna Methodist Church. John and Nancy used to meet at the ferry buildings to catch the passenger ferry to Devonport and were known as "the young lovers".
They were married in the Takapuna Methodist Church on 26 November 1938 by grandpa Emmitt.

                                                         Nancy and her sisters 1933

                                                             John and Nancy about 1936

John and Nancy were engaged Xmas 1937

Joan

Elizabeth Joan Arthur was born in August 1925, 10 years after Nancy, and was 20 years younger than Ethelwyn who was almost like a second mother to her. Ethelwyn had trained as a karitane nurse and was later the Devonport Plunket Nurse so was able to be a great help to their mother.

The photos show Joan on Takapuna Beach, on the front lawn at Rahiri, and with Ethelwyn, Aunty Bea, and great grandma Arthur (in the car).

Takapuna Girl Guides

Nancy was one of the first Girl Guides on the North Shore. Apparently Devonport Company opened before Takapuna but Mrs Wilson, who was instrumental in getting Guides started on the North Shore, was travelling to England and took the Takapuna Company registration with her thereby beating the Devonport registration which had been posted. Nancy was too old for Brownies and went straight into Guides, while Barbara joined Brownies. Ethelwyn also became involved and was Captain of Takapuna Company for some years, with Nancy's assistance, when she was old enough. Nancy then became a Brownie leader. She continued to take Brownies from 1933 until she married when she became District Commissioner for Waitemata District as it was considered more suitable for the DC to be a married lady. Waitemata District was part of Auckland Province and extended from Devonport to Browns Bay. Nancy retired from this position in 1955 after more than 20 years of service to guiding but was asked to return as District Commissioner for the newly created East Coast Bays District and held this position from 1956-60.
Ethelwyn kept up her involvement with Guiding as Captain of Belmont Guides. My memory, as a child, is being asked to act as patient for the girls coming to the house for their First Aid tests. One of my brothers and I used to sneak away through the orchard to avoid this but were usually spotted from the upstairs bathroom window and called back.

The photo, taken about 1927, shows Barabara (on the left) in Brownie uniform, Ethelwyn centre and Nancy, right, with Joan aged about 2.

Belmont School

Nancy went to Belmont Primary School, as did her brother and sisters and her 6 children after her. She doesn't remember her first day at school but she does remember being entrusted with taking one of the neighbour's children to school on their first day and introducing them to the principal. Her best friend was Winnie Alnutt, and they are always together in the school photos. They used to walk home together and stand at the top of Clifton Rd talking, before Nancy went home down Clifton Rd, parting with the farewell " Nightie night", Jamajama".
She enjoyed playing basketball and was a good runner, often winning races at the school sports days, egged on by shouts of "come on Fatty" or "Come on ginger!"
There was a tram, which ran down to Devonport to meet the ferry, which the girls could catch to school but it was quite possible to walk it in about 20 minutes. Nancy remembered choosing to walk and spending the tram fare on sweets but feeling very guilty about it. Where it is all housing now was market gardens in the 1920s so it was quite a different walk from today with nose to tail traffic most of the time.

Takapuna Methodist Church

The Takapuna Methodist Church played an important part in the lives of Nancy's family. The church was originally in Huron St and she didn't remember very much about that- just a man with a big black beard, and wondering what was going on when the children were excluded from the church during communion (as they still were during our childhood.) Nancy was present at the laying of the foundation stone for the building on the corner of Lake Rd and Tennyson Ave in 1923 when she was 8 years old. Sundays meant church in the morning with the family, back home for Sunday roast dinner and out again in the afternoon for children's service. There were no games allowed on Sundays, the only entertainment was to look at illustrated Bible stories. Nancy remembers their father telling them to sit still and quietly for one minute and what a long time it seemed. When she was older she played the organ for the children's service.

Tom Arthur took the Young Men's Bible Class and would take them to their house in the Waitakere Ranges for social outings. He also opened his house and grounds to the Church for a fund rasing gala day on several occasions. Nancy and her cousing Hugh were in charge of giving rides on the boat swing, at a penny a ride.

The Arthur girls began the day with a warm wash and a cold shower, winter or summer. When she was old enough it was Nancy's job to go out to the gate in the morning and check where the steam tram was as she could see the smoke. She would then warn her father that it was time to leave to catch the tram at the top of Clifton Rd. to take him to the ferry. Before he left for work in the city he had already chopped firewood and worked in the vegetable garden. As the family had cows they made their own butter and had their own supply of milk. However others in the street had their milk delivered by horse and cart very early in the morning. Sometimes the horse would fall asleep instead of keeping up with the milkman and there would be much shouting and clattering of hooves.
Bread was delivered to the pantry window and coal to the coalhole just beyond the kitchen as they cooked on a coal fired stove. There was a copper in the wash-house to heat the water for the laundry and the water supply was from tanks.
The nearest shop was Duddings general store at Hauraki Corner which is still there today- it has had a number of identities and is currently the Lone Star restaurant and bar. It sold an assortment of household goods including potties, known to the girls as mimies, presumably short for jemima. Mum recalled Frank being terribly embarrassed when his little sister drew attention to these- "Ooh Frank, look at all the mimies!"