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!"

More childhood memories

Barbara's
birthday
1921.
Apart from
Nancy and
Barbara I
recognise
Hilda Winstone
front left






Below- Nancy and Barbara playing at sailors. 1920?
The little boy may be Hugh French.















There were several families with young children in Clifton
and Hauraki Roads and along Takapuna Beach
and Nancy remembers lovely birthday parties with fairy
bread and cakes and homemade sweets made by the aunts.
Parties aside, they were quite strictly brought up. We
were often told about how grandpa used to say "piece of
dry bread?" when the children said they were hungry, and
when they refused it- "Well, you can't be really hungry."
Nancy also remembers the day she complained that she
didn't have enough porridge and she was given her father's
large soup plate of cold porridge with salt, no sugar or milk,
and she had to eat every bit.
She also told us how grandpa wouldn't let them cry when
they were hurt- they were expected to be stoical and not cry
from the pain.
Tom's cousin Carpenter, his wife Ruby and their 4 children
lived at 10 Clifton Rd so there were cousins to play with- a bit
younger than Nancy I think. I remember Elaine, one of their
daughters, reminiscing with Aunty Barb about how they used
to pull up young carrots from the garden and use them to skim
the cream off the pans of milk in the dairy.
There were also the French boys, the 3 sons of gran's sister Rose
French, who died when the youngest was a baby. Jack, Hugh and
Graham came to live with the Arthur family for several years until
their father was able to care for them- presumably he remarried.
Another story mum used to tell us was how Graham, the youngest,
used to scoot around the upstairs hall on his potty and scooted
over the edge of the stairs where he hung precariously, wailing
"naughty potty, tip Graham over."
There was also a live-in maid and at some stage a man to help with
the heavy work, who had a room at the back of the woodshed,
and Mrs Joyce who lived with the family and did the sewing. She
may have been later on but it certainly must have been a very full
household.
Ethelwyn went as a boarder to Solway College (Masterton?) when
she reached secondary school as Takapuna Grammar had not yet
been built. However, cousin Kathleen Miles, the daughter of gran's
other sister Kate, came to stay with the family so that she could attend
Auckland Girl's Grammar.

Rahiri, the house at 24 Clifton Rd, sat across 2 sections with a
tennis court beside it and rosegardens, orchard, vegetable
gardens and henhouse behind it. As outbuildings there were
a dairy, a woodshed and garage. Next door at 22 Clifton Rd
(Te Kopua, named after the mission station which Thomas
Buddle helped to establish) was a smaller house which was
originally the Arthur family holiday home.
T.B Arthur's mother, his brother and 2 sisters lived here.
The colour painting, done by Aunty Joan, shows the house
as it was in about 1930.














This photo shows the 2 houses when No. 24 was first built,
before the rockery was built in front. Number 22 is in the
background and Arthur Cres now runs down where
the lawn was that separated the 2 houses.



The view
from the
aunts' house
below shows
the lawn
where Arthur
Cres is today
and shows
the bedroom which was added to the side of the house when Nancy was a small child.