| Notes |
- I was born in Auckland in 1945 and lived in Kumeu until I was 10. During my time living in Kumeu my parents owned a dairy farm and then a market garden and my older sister Sally and I used to join in the activities on the farm - making hay, planting vegetables, helping harvest various crops and going with Dad to the markets in the city on a weekly basis. Sally and I attended Huapai School until Dad bought a property in Orewa in 1955. My younger sister Gail was born before we left Kumeu. We owned 2 shetland ponies at the time and I can still remember standing on the trailer with Dad as we transported them to their new home in Orewa.
I started at Orewa District High School as a foundation student in Std 4 in 1956 and left at the end of form 6 in 1962. I mostly enjoyed my years at school and I always loved playing sport becoming involved in athletics, net ball, softball gymnastics and tennis. I was appointed Head Prefect in my last year at school.
I went to North Shore Training College in Mt Roskill in 1963 and 1964. I boarded at Taranaki House in the grounds of Avondale College while I was at college. I played net ball, softball, basketball and gymnastics for the college and spent most winter weekends on the net ball courts. We had a great social life at Taranaki House and I still keep in touch with the teachers who I met there.
I graduated in 1964 and spent my first year of teaching at Te Atatu North School. I rented a flat in Grey Lynn with a friend and played first grade netball for the Extons club at Windmill Road in Auckland. I met my future husband Pat during this year. My next year of teaching was at Pukekohe East School where I boarded with a family whose children attended the 3 teacher school. I commuted to Auckland each weekend to play netball and catch up with Pat who was always my most ardent netball supporter.
Pat and I were married on January 14th 1967 in Mt Albert in the biggest rainstorm that Auckland had seen for a long time. After returning from our honeymoon in Fiji we traveled to the South Island to teach at Tapawera District High School, Pat teaching in the high school and me teaching in the primary school. We spent 3 fantastic years there and met 2 couples who we eventually traveled overland with to England leaving from Auckland in January 1970. We traveled from Singapore to London taking 4 months and having many unforgettable adventures on the way through countries such as Thailand, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Europe.
Mum Dad and Sally had traveled by ship to London at the same time so we were able stay with them for a while. After teaching in London and traveling throughout Britain and Europe for one year we were appointed to teaching jobs in Luanda, Angola (Portuguese West Africa) where we spent the next 4 years. We returned to Europe on holiday after one year and bought a VW Kombi Camper van which we owned for the next 15 years. Pat was appointed as Principal of the school - Escola Inglesa De Luanda in 1973 where we stayed until 1975.During the last year there we experienced a revolution with Pat eventually leaving in a convoy to the South African border under constant threat of being shot at. I became pregnant in Angola and flew to New Zealand where our first child Nigel was born in August 1975. He was born with Spina Bifida and had many operations during the next few years.
We got a flat in Golf Road, Green Bay while we built our house in the bush at 91 Scenic Drive, Titirangi in 1977. That was the year that our second child Moringa was born. We have lived there ever since and I have taught at the local Kaurilands Primary School since 1980, still teaching there at the present time.
When Nigel was at Green Bay High School one of his operations severely reduced his mobility confining him to a wheelchair, nevertheless he battled on like a "warrior"and excelled in sports and academic studies graduating in achieving a Bachelor degree at Massey University. Nigel flats in Glendene & currently works at the Laura Fergusson Trust in Green Lane.
Moringa joined the local Girl Guides and got involved in tap dancing and netball. She loved her sports and did very well. Today she is still active in squash and "touch rugby" She actively supported her husband Mana Ashford in his success in the NZ Sevens Rugby Team, and the Waitemata and Auckland Sevens Team. He still plays in the local Waitemata 15's Rugby Club competition in Auckland.
Moringa attained a senior position in administration at Hastie Company a few years ago and is still there today. They have two children: Sharn and Tahlia and they live in at Red Hill Road, Massey.
From 1985 to 1995 I was asked to participate in a team of Mathematics teachers from New Zealand in promoting and developing an innovative NZ ?Beginning School Mathematics Project? in the State of Michigan, USA. Over that period of time, we exchanged visits with a team of Michigan teachers. When Pat and I went over to the USA recently for a holiday, we visited and stayed with members of the American exchange team in Detroit. We also stayed with teachers and parents of children whom we taught when teaching at Escola Inglesa de Luanda in Angola from 1971-1975.
|
1945 - (79 years)