Happy New Year!
Our next newsletter will be due in mid-April and I'm looking for willing volunteers to be profiled in the "introducing..." section and contributors to Mankelows abroad section. Let me know by early April if you would like to contribute, or else I will be targeting someone so watch out! Any other news items also welcome by Friday 11 April please for inclusion in next newsletter.
In the meantime, happy reading!
Milestones
- Rosemary (Tuppy) Irvine turns 60 at the end of February.
- An unveiling of Mable's Headstone is to be held on the 31 May 2008 at 2pm at the Te Awamutu cemetery and afterwards at Ngaroma Hall.
Held 26 January 2008 at Ngaroma Hall
Chrissie Mankelow
A great day was enjoyed with over 100 attending, making an accurate head count impossible. The youngest Mankelow at the meeting (to date) was Cody at just 8 days old and the oldest, Bert Mankelow.
The lunch was enjoyed by all, and there was some fabulous dishes put before us, with the left-overs still enjoyed by the 47 who stayed for tea. Thank you to Lyn and Rita for gathering up two large bags of washable plastic plates and cups, a large stainless steel urn and a highchair for the hall. Thank you also to Lorraine and Neil for helping with the clean up; we now have a new mop for the hall, thanks.
Thank you also to everyone that gave donations on the day for the hire of the hall. We had enough to cover the hire this year and the next year has been paid as well.
There was a brown hoodie left behind at clean up time. Owner let us know, you may want it for the winter.
Now to the official business; the meeting opened at 1.40 pm.
Family tree data is well out of date. Please we need to hear from you if there is a birth, death or wedding in your immediate family so we can we keep them up to date.Contact either Chrissie Mankelow, mankelow1@xtra.co.nz or Ray Mankelow, ray.mankelow@gmail.com.
Name tags: Chrissie Mankelow is putting together name tags for our meetings. If we can please hand them in at the end of the meetings so we can re-use them at the next meeting and again for the big reunion. Most of you did thanks, we are only missing five.
It was put forward that we include a financial report printed in our newsletter which was agreed by everybody as a good idea.
Finances: Finances are very slow at the moment but, a big thank you to those that have an automatic payment of $50 per month going in.
The balance in the bank at the 17th January was $1498.89
Thank you for the donations received at the meeting totalling $395.
We are looking at separating the finances into 11 branches e.g. Les, Girlie, Stan, Ivy, Hector, Biddy, Bob, Percy, Mona, Bert, Don. Each branch is to come up with $1000 a year to help with our finances.
We need to make good progress this year and re-assess the finance situation again this time next year as to whether we have enough money to run the reunion in 2012. The target amount we want to raise by this time next year is $11,000.
One of the biggest costs is going to be hireage for things like marquee's, toilets etc.
Next year there will be an election for the committee to organise and run the event from the third generation.
Book: We hope to get the book printed about 1-2 years prior to the reunion. This is the "Memories" Book which Chrissie Mankelow is collating at the moment.
Tim Mankelow suggested an auction, everybody bring something to be auctioned off or/and get donations from companies/organisations to auction off. Was suggested that maybe that could be done within the branches.
Tim also suggested asking an organisation / company for a grant to go towards the printing of our book.
Wood chopping display: Wood chopping/sawing was done at every sports day that was held in days gone by and Chrissie Mankelow thought to contact the professionals to do a display for us at the reunion. She contacted a Wood chopping / sawing association and received a letter back from them to say;
"They are at the moment checking the dates to make sure there is no competition etc on, on the weekend of the reunion and will let us know shortly to whether they can make it".
We may need to pay a donation to the organisation for them to come out. Everybody agreed that this was fair.
Other matters: Robyn who works with the Salvation Army asked if we were set up with catering equipment as they get the Aakronite plates and cups etc that they don't / can't sell. She said that their boss won't mind if they were to get rid of them.
Judy was to check out what the hall had in the way of crockery etc, but a lot will be disposables etc.
Is the reunion going to be a 1, 2 or 3 day event?
We will wait until next year and assess the finances again to decide. One thing to look at is water - will there be enough for the whole weekend. (Especially being summer)
The expected date for the reunion is Auckland Anniversary weekend 2012.
Next year will be a major planning year.
Ray and Rita cut their cake, celebrating their 60th birthdays
Meeting closed 2.05pm
Return to Ngaroma
Sarah Mankelow
My only memories of Ngaroma are of going to a picnic with lots of other people, who I can only assume were all relatives. I remember green hills with long grass which a whole bunch of us kids slid down on sacks. It’s a happy memory, if not a little vague.
I returned to Ngaroma recently in the company of my grandfather Bert Mankelow and father Bob. To my untrained eye all I could see was more of those green grassed hills that formed the back-drop to my small remembrance. Those that don’t know the place at all would probably wonder why it was still marked on maps. There was little to differentiate it from the rest of the countryside, apart from a small road sign, a rock with a plaque on it, and of course the community hall, a long way from any obvious community.
But through Grand-dad Bert’s eyes, the place came alive with stories and memories triggered by things as simple as a stream, a hillside and the remains of an old homestead.
“When I left school, I went to work at this farm on the left,” said Bert as we passed more of those green hills.
“It was owned by a bachelor called Marlow. Every now and again it was my job to take the single-shot 22 and go and shoot two wood pigeons – one for him and one for me. They would be eating all the berries in the trees and if I missed one shot, they just sat there for you to have another go. It was illegal then too and a bit cruel when you think back, but bloody nice in a camp oven!”
“It was dry stock and sheep – that’s where I learnt about explosives – sodium and sugar. It’s a wonder I never blew myself up. I used to ride the horse home in the weekends.”
We called in on Judy, whose house stands on a piece of what was once original block that Sarah Mankelow obtained by ballot in 1912. It was originally two blocks of 196 acres. The farm is long sold, but Judy bought back 10 acres and now lives there, having come back home to Ngaroma.From her front yard Bert points out the spot where Sarah would have first pitched her tent, and the stream where the wash house used to be. His memory is of an orchard here, and raspberries in the hollow.
“That was ‘stump hill’,” he said, pointing up behind Judy’s house. “Mum would take the alarm clock up the hill and put it down in one spot. We were clearing the stumps from the land, using a grubber. Once you reached the alarm clock, it was time to knock off.”
“And that knob over there, covered in tea tree – if I cut it once then I must have cut it three times!” said Bert.
“That front paddock was always the hay paddock,” said Bert. We used to walk through it and cross the stile at the bottom.
“That was where your dad gave me some trouble – the first time he’d got lost. He’d got scared by some cows and went to sleep in the long grass. He was missing for a couple of hours – everyone was out looking in wells, in the drains. I came walking back up the drive and up pops this head out of the long grass – he would have only been about 5 or 6 then.”
We called in on Rosemary ‘Tuppy’ Irvine who, with her husband lives just down the road from the house where she was raised by adopted mother Ivy Mankelow. Their almost reverent treatment of ‘Uncle’ bought home to me just how precious Bert is, as the last remaining child of Sarah Mankelow.
Tuppy was a child in Ngaroma during it’s hey day, when the local mill was running. It had its own village with store, hall and married men’s quarters on both sides of the roads. Tuppy remembers up to 40 students at the school at that time, with two teachers.
Bert’s memories of the school were not so grand; “When I went to school we never had enough boys to play rugby, so we had to play netball with the girls.”
There’s not many Mankelows left at Ngaroma. Most left to find fortune elsewhere like so many of the settlers in the region. A few remained and a few more, like Judy and her family, have returned. Once upon a time Ngaroma was the nucleus – home to everyone. Now it’s only home to a few. But while Mankelows are here, Ngaroma will always be on the map.
Introducing … Judith Anne Ford
Where do you live?
Ngaroma
Where do you fit in the family tree?
Hector’s daughter (youngest of four)
Current employment / study
Mowing lawns and pulling weeds! I sell plants at boot sales for a bit of pocket money.
What keeps you busy?
The garden - Delphiniums are my pride and joy.
Most memorable life moment
Coming back to Ngaroma to live
My favourite part of NZ and why...
Ngaroma! Peaceful, unpolluted and the neighbours are within earshot, so you know who’s out working and who’s not.
Who/what would you be for a day?
Couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather be.
Currently in my CD player...
I don’t own one but Rebecca’s (grand-daughter) one is here temporarily and I have Boney M Christmas songs.
Where will you find me at 10pm on Saturday night?
In my bed
Favourite quote?
Don’t dwell on things, move forward, to better yourself.
I am inspired by...
Sunny days, crystal clear and the hills around me
If I could give you just one tip, it would be...
Behave yourself and think about things before you do it.
Introducing … Chris Mankelow Chris was supposed to feature in our December newsletter but he missed my deadline, forcing me to profile myself. So instead of making you all wait until next time, I thought I’d include this second intro as a bit of a bonus!
Where do you live?
Hamilton
Where do you fit in the family tree?
Son of Robert and Jocelyn Mankelow
Current employment / study
Police Constable currently attached to the Tactical Policing Unit
What keeps you busy? (interests)
Work, Work oh and more Work (it never ends) and sometimes on days off my partner makes me work (slave driver)
Most memorable life moment (to date)
Graduation from Police College
My favourite part of NZ and why...
Well like my sister (Sarah) I would have to say Arthur’s Pass was a very inspiring place.
Who/what would you be for a day?
I would be me but not rushed off my feet at work
Currently in my CD player...
Elephant by the White Stripes
Where will you find me at 10pm on Saturday night?
Guess what, at work, walking through the bars and the nightclubs in Hamilton City
Favourite quote?
Two really make me smile;
"If you've got something to say put your hand up and cover your mouth" & "Let me guess, you had an extra bowl of stupid this morning."
I am inspired by...
The thought of going home to bed after a long hard night shift at 6am
If I could give you just one tip, it would be...
Don't try to steal a policeman's hat when he's walking the beat in it.
