Christophers Comment

Posted by on 24 July 2011 | 2 Comments

CHRISTOPHER’S COMMENT JULY 2011

Oh my goodness.....as mentioned at the end of my last column, we were heading off on an  adventure.  Well it certainly happened. On the 03 June we flew out to the UK for a five week holiday flying directly to Glasgow where we picked up our rental car and made our way to Tullibody, Stirling on  our first night. There Janet had people to meet with regard to migration of her Great Grandfather James Masterton Macdonald who left Scotland in 1879. Next we drove to the Isle of Skye and had four amazing days there before packing up our few belongings and beginning the trek south visiting friends and relations along the way. We followed up on some Mc Adam history in and around Ayr.

Forty years ago I worked for a time for a farming family in a little village in Cumbria called Kings Meaburn. Since then their children have stayed and worked with us in NZ. Those ‘children’ are now all married with families of their own and we spent a wonderful few days catching up with them all and being thoroughly spoilt into the bargain. Sadly the Patriarch, Steele passed away  a few years ago but it was lovely to catch up again with Margaret  and get her take on how things were going. Thank you so much to Chris and Caroline, Johnie and Janet, Rob and Wendy and Karen and their families - you all made our stay there so memorable. A little further south to Bob and Audrey and another warm welcome,  a good walk in the English countryside ( with Audrey anyway )and a lesson from Bob on the intricacies of being a professional potter. More lovely items to fill our bags and we are off again to contact a cousin of mine in Thirsk. Mary refreshed us with tea and cake and we proceeded on our  way to Gomersal from where we once again visited the Red House (the Taylor Museum ) and the Bronte Parsonage. My late mother was a Taylor and  the Taylor’s had a connection with the Bronte family hence our special interest in that part of the country.

Our next stop was at Leamington Spa where my Great Grandfather Richard Gardner lived and worked as a solicitor in the town. We found where he lived but at this stage have not been able to find where he and his wife were buried. A lot of the family originally lived around Oxhill, Warwickshire, so we spent a couple of nights there where we lucky enough to meet up with another Janet Gardner and  two of her three sons Brian and Nick. Her third son Chris was not able to meet us but we had a very enjoyable morning piecing together  some new parts of the family tree. It does seem quite amazing to travel all that way and find another Janet Gardner and another Chris Gardner, all related. The Gardner’s have lived there for many decades – James Gardner was baptised at the St. Lawrence Church in the village in 1792. We found his home, Church Farm,  and that of his father William Gardner – nothing seems to have changed in the two hundred years or so since they lived there.

We then made our way through many lovely villages to finally arrive at Bradford on Avon. There we were looking forward to staying with Sue and Pete. Sue is a relation of Janet’s and an avid genealogist  and she and  Janet had only recently discovered each  other so there was great excitement when we all finally met. And what fun it was. While poor Pete was hard at work we three took day trips to Cheltenham ( where my grandparents are buried ) and to Gloucester where Janet had relatives who once lived there. Janet and I also made a day trip to Fromebridge near  Whitminster to see Mike and Sheila who we first met 40 years ago through the late Snow Feisst.  We went out to a lovely pub for lunch with them and then went and looked at the canal and the boats where one of their grandsons  works actually building the boats. Fascinating. Thank you both so much. We also made a day trip to visit my cousins, the Edges. Kate had stayed with us in NZ while travelling with a girlfriend, then a few years later she returned but this time on her honeymoon with her husband Tom and now we see them and the family is four plus one dog - amazing. But another lovely visit all over too quick and a promise we’ll stay longer next time.  All this time Pete and Sue were spoiling us rotten, we met several of their  friends and also their son Ben and his lovely family.  But like all good things it had to end and it was sad for all of us when we finally had to say good-bye and resume our travels.

We drove on down to Salisbury then  Shaftsbury and ended up at Fovant where Kate’s parents William and Marieke live. William is my 2^nd cousin and although we have all emailed over the years we hadn’t actually met for 40 years – we met Lizzie & Ric and little Lily too. Mary, William’s sister from Thirsk completed a family weekend in the country.  We arrived just in time to be part of an Indonesian Supper Marieke was hosting for 18 guests - an entertaining evening was had by all and a quiet day was observed  the next day to recover! Once again we were overwhelmed by the hospitality we received and after extracting a sort of a promise that a reciprocal visit to NZ could be forthcoming  we proceeded on our way to Tunbridge Wells via Guildford and Shalford  Church where we were married 40 years ago this month. This was a brief stop to inspect the alterations to the church and for one of us to shed a few tears.......has it been that bad? Fortunately a funeral was just about to start so the vicar assumed  that the shedding of tears was for the one who had died, whoever it was,  and therefore quite appropriate.

Tunbridge Wells - where shall I start? Debs and Martin, we met this couple on the Abel Tasman walk last year and with a surname like Cambridge, they had to visit us. Martin should have been a travel agent judging by the way everything was organised to the last minute. Anyway come they did and it was so nice to be able to visit them on their own territory - Debs and Martin and their lovely daughters Lyndsey,  Franny and Hannah made us so welcome we could have stayed there a month...

we did a day trip to Sissinghurst, another day trip to Chartwell ( Churchill’s  home ) the girls had a morning shopping while Martin and I played the Wimbledon final ourselves (can’t remember who won!) and the rest of the time we just relaxed in good company. A great visit and one we both all need to repeat sooner rather than later. With that last thought ringing in our ears it made it easier to leave and move on to our final visit with Christine and Terry who live at Orpington, Kent.  Janet used to work with Chris at Hobart Manufacturing 40 years ago so this was another exciting visit. Imagine our shock when we found Chris on crutches (she had just had a foot op) and did not tell us because of the  thought we might not come. We did a day trip with Chris and Terry to William Morris’s home, another Red House,  then Janet and I trained to London and went on the London Eye and saw “Much ado about Nothing “ at the Globe theatre. Truly amazing. And thanks to Terry for taking us and meeting us at the train each time. Another easy day with a memorable lunch at a typical English pub and  then with a promise they would visit us in NZ and a promise they would wave when we flew over their house when we departed  from Heathrow we headed to a little B & B in Shalford.

The realisation was starting to dawn we were into  our FINAL few days. A lovely service at Shalford Church , a couple of sherries with Joan, now aged 91 years,  who hosted our  reception all those years ago followed by  a visit to my Aunt and Great Aunt’s grave in the Shalford cemetery. Then an all too quick reunion with another lovely cousin Faith who we hadn’t seen for  all those years. Fay and her husband John travelled from Maidenhead to visit us in Guildford and it was so good to renew that contact again - we keep  our fingers they will one day  visit us in NZ.

Next day carrying the absolute minimum we trained into London and visited all the old haunts from our previous visits. We stayed in London that night, did some shopping at Hamleys  (the greatest toy shop in the world ), Libertys, and visited the V&A Museum. It was a real highlight to visit another cousin Elizabeth who, when she could be forgiven for thinking Rest Homes, is living on a beautiful house boat under Battersea Bridge on the River Thames. We loved seeing her again and son Jeremy who has the dubious distinction in our wedding day memories of falling, fully clothed, into the pool at our reception. He was eight. Back to Shalford. Pack weigh. Pack reweigh. Pack reweigh again. Next morning a quick trip to the Post Office to post a few things that had made our bags too heavy, then the drive  (nervous anticipation ) to the rental drop off on the Northern Perimeter Road at Heathrow. All went well - good navigator, who needs a GPS?   

So our 40^th wedding anniversary trip finally came to an end at 11. 30 am on the 6^th July 2011. Hugh was at the airport to pick us up. He did an amazing job of management while we were away – we didn’t worry about a thing on the farm. Thank you too, to all those friends and relations who made this trip so memorable.  It’s good to be home, despite the weather – at least we missed five weeks of it!

Finally, the birthdays we missed on our travel -  Harry,  Alexander and his  Aunty  Ellen on the same day, Thomas  and Charlotte. What a lot of birthdays.......  Happy birthday and lots of love from both of us.