Kia ora
Here in Aotearoa winter is on its way out the door and Spring is knocking to come in! Daffodils are blooming here in Christchurch – how about with you! The warmer weather does wonders to lift the spirits. Hope this newsletter finds you all well. You will see from this edition’s profile – Introducing Graeme Mankelow – that this newsletter is reaching family members far and wide beyond the borders of the Long White Cloud. Its so interesting to find out what makes us all Mankelows… read below to find out.
Christmas is fast approaching and I hope to have a final newsletter for 2008 produced just before the holidays. So please, I’d appreciate anything you’d like to contribute for the next edition of Mankelow Korero by November 30 – anything and everything please! Births, deaths, marriages, trips and holidays, memories and fantasies, marathons run or game shows survived, invitations to Christmas festivities - but be warned if you win lotto we might hit you up to contribute to the reunion funds!
Sarah
Chrissie’s report
On Queen’s Birthday weekend, Uncle Bert with Judy, Lynette and her family, and Royce and I had a drive around Ngaroma. Uncle Bert showed us where the early pioneers lived and I was able to take photos of the places they lived. We also watched Uncle Bert remove the plaque from the memorial rock so as we could update the death dates.
The updates have been done and we have made a date for Uncle Bert to replace the plaque. This day will be Saturday 20 September. We will have a shared lunch at the hall and all are welcome.
We hope to also hold a grocery raffle on this day to help raise funds. Please bring an item to add to the raffle and a $1 or two to buy a ticket. Bye for now
Chrissie
Financial report
Our account is looking good as at the 8 August the ballance was $5906.56; thank you everyone. Judy and I put $5000 into a term deposit to get higher interest. Reminder to put your contribution into this bank account - 'Ngaroma Reunion Account', Account no. 123-134-0034760-50. Don't forget to insert your name as you make your deposit so we can keep track of who it's from.
New Mankelows
Attached to this addition of korero are the new additions to the Ford branch of our family tree. The baby in the Santa suit is Lexi Anne Ford, born on the 9 July to proud parents Dan and Melissa. Lexi weighed 4100gr (9lb) and was 53cm long; she is a bonnie girl and already sleeping through the night. The other second photo is of Rebecca and Damian's Legion Frederick Mark Bennett-Ford. Born on 28 of July weighing 8lb 14oz, he is a bonny lad. Lexi is my granddaughter and Legion is a great grandson and aren't they two good birth weights - it must be their heritage good stock that they come from! Judy.
Newsworthy Mankelows
A photo appeared in the Weekend Sun on April 24 2008 featuring Margaret Mankelow (second from left), as part of a story on the achievements of the Merivale Community Centre, where Margaret does volunteer work.
Jocelyn Mankelow also featured in Tauranga’s community rag in a story about her success with joining a local walking group and losing weight. Congrats Mum – but you still haven’t sent me a copy of the clipping!
From a conversation with Les Mankelow…
It was you that got the detonator blown up in your face wasn't it.
No, powder.
They figured they had to get you to the hospital and there was only one man in the district with two horses and a buggy. And he said no for a starter, he had no shoes on his horses and he would not go. Your mother had to beg and pray for him to go and I think he must have come and had a look at you first and then decided that maybe you did need to go to hospital.
Here in Aotearoa winter is on its way out the door and Spring is knocking to come in! Daffodils are blooming here in Christchurch – how about with you! The warmer weather does wonders to lift the spirits. Hope this newsletter finds you all well. You will see from this edition’s profile – Introducing Graeme Mankelow – that this newsletter is reaching family members far and wide beyond the borders of the Long White Cloud. Its so interesting to find out what makes us all Mankelows… read below to find out.
Christmas is fast approaching and I hope to have a final newsletter for 2008 produced just before the holidays. So please, I’d appreciate anything you’d like to contribute for the next edition of Mankelow Korero by November 30 – anything and everything please! Births, deaths, marriages, trips and holidays, memories and fantasies, marathons run or game shows survived, invitations to Christmas festivities - but be warned if you win lotto we might hit you up to contribute to the reunion funds!
Sarah
Chrissie’s report
On Queen’s Birthday weekend, Uncle Bert with Judy, Lynette and her family, and Royce and I had a drive around Ngaroma. Uncle Bert showed us where the early pioneers lived and I was able to take photos of the places they lived. We also watched Uncle Bert remove the plaque from the memorial rock so as we could update the death dates.
The updates have been done and we have made a date for Uncle Bert to replace the plaque. This day will be Saturday 20 September. We will have a shared lunch at the hall and all are welcome.
We hope to also hold a grocery raffle on this day to help raise funds. Please bring an item to add to the raffle and a $1 or two to buy a ticket. Bye for now
Chrissie
Financial report
Our account is looking good as at the 8 August the ballance was $5906.56; thank you everyone. Judy and I put $5000 into a term deposit to get higher interest. Reminder to put your contribution into this bank account - 'Ngaroma Reunion Account', Account no. 123-134-0034760-50. Don't forget to insert your name as you make your deposit so we can keep track of who it's from.
New MankelowsAttached to this addition of korero are the new additions to the Ford branch of our family tree. The baby in the Santa suit is Lexi Anne Ford, born on the 9 July to proud parents Dan and Melissa. Lexi weighed 4100gr (9lb) and was 53cm long; she is a bonnie girl and already sleeping through the night. The other second photo is of Rebecca and Damian's Legion Frederick Mark Bennett-Ford. Born on 28 of July weighing 8lb 14oz, he is a bonny lad. Lexi is my granddaughter and Legion is a great grandson and aren't they two good birth weights - it must be their heritage good stock that they come from! Judy.
Newsworthy Mankelows
A photo appeared in the Weekend Sun on April 24 2008 featuring Margaret Mankelow (second from left), as part of a story on the achievements of the Merivale Community Centre, where Margaret does volunteer work.Jocelyn Mankelow also featured in Tauranga’s community rag in a story about her success with joining a local walking group and losing weight. Congrats Mum – but you still haven’t sent me a copy of the clipping!
From a conversation with Les Mankelow…
It was you that got the detonator blown up in your face wasn't it.
No, powder.
They figured they had to get you to the hospital and there was only one man in the district with two horses and a buggy. And he said no for a starter, he had no shoes on his horses and he would not go. Your mother had to beg and pray for him to go and I think he must have come and had a look at you first and then decided that maybe you did need to go to hospital.
Who was that man, it didn’t say his name?
No, it didn’t say his name
No, it didn’t say his name
I think I remember rightly, father was chopping bush with Dave Pretty at that particular time; he wasn’t home.
You remember the incident fairly well?
Oh I remember it all right; you don’t forget those sorts of things.
What was your memory of it, what was it like while you blinded that sort of thing?
Well it was a weird sensation I’ll tell you this because you could hear people walking and you didn’t know whether it was day or night. You see. And ah, the nursey used to come in and my face was all bandaged up, all the hair was gone off me head, I was blind and I had two slits in there, like cut.
This nurse came in one morning I never spoke, and she said can you see me, and I said just a little bit out of one eye. And she rushed over and she put both hands over me eyes like that. And (….) put me in a dark room. They kept me there for several days there in this dark room and when me eyesight got more light, things got better and I could see they said, would you like pull the bed up by the window so’s you can look out at the traffic cause it was right out on the main street coming down here, Alexander Street going towards the railway station on the other side, right opposite … road was the hospital there and boy I got ear ache and I don’t know which was the worse, being blind or having ear ache in both ears.
From all the traffic noise?
No no, the cold draft coming in cause they opened up the window you see. I remember that ear ache, I never forgot that. When you have your sight and been blind, well you know what it, you hear people talking about being blind well I know what its like to be blind.
How long do you think you were sightless for?
Oh for about three weeks I think.
It must have been awful, to see you come in like that.
Yeah … flung a match. And when, on a very hot day a match like, you sort of can’t see the flame you know, and I threw it …. you get me. And I’d just realised that and it went off in me face aye, foof! And they said I was lucky that my face was never scarred and left .. left disfigured aye. So that’s how I pulled though that one.
Girlie talked about all these different treatments you used to get for all cuts and bruises
Oh yes yes- the old bush remedies
Bush remedies yes. Burnt salt, burning wound, nose? sulphur, five finger leaves, cobwebs to stop bleeding.
Cobwebs? Oh yes, I suppose that would be a good idea
What were the five finger leaves used for?
Well ah, its an old Maori remedy that actually, ah, if you got a – I fell down the … years ago, and ah must of hurt the bone in my knee, swelled up like that and an old Maori come along and said oh it takes a Maori cure and he said …five miles from a quack ..
And he held them by a hot fire till they wilted and he put them on flat same as you would put a hot cloth on from boiling water, as hot as you could bear it. He piled all these leaves and then wrapped them round and in the like a poultice
It’s good for chilblains too.
I hear that a good dose of golden syrup and sulphur was a good cleaning out agent.
That’s right!
Introducing…
Graeme Donald Mankelow.
Which branch of family tree do you fit in?
Middle child of Don, who was married to Nola. I was born in 1954 and am now 54 yrs old. I have 2 kids from my first wife Pam, known to most of you as Constable Pamela Mankelow who now lives in Gisborne. My eldest child Joanne is 36, married to Toni Murray. I have one grandson Rawiri Murray aged 7. My son Nelson is 34, unmarried and lives in Denmark where he is a qualified bricklayer. I am now happily married to Lisa, a Filipino American who has 3 children of her own, and the youngest of who lives with us in Hawaii in his last year of school.
Current employment / study
Have been in the building trade since I was 15, did my apprenticeship from 15 till I was 21. I was a mailman for 2 years after that, and then was in the possum trade in Ngaroma alongside Percy and Dad. I then moved to Katikati where Dad, Percy and I had a portable sawmill for many years. I moved to Hawaii after my divorce in 1987 and have been self-employed building houses ever since.
What keeps you busy? Interests
Had a houseboat in Hawaii for many years and spent every spare moment having fun. Built a smaller version of my houseboat in Katikati last year and have my plans ready for the next one on file.
Most memorable life moment
I have several, but one dearest to my heart was the 2-month RV trip I took with Uncle Bert and Dad across the USA back in the early 90s. Every night over a couple of drinks (and some nights a couple too many) I would listen to the two of them re-living there childhoods. We had many, many good laughs and I still cherish that trip fondly.
My favourite part of NZ and why...
Ngaroma, where I had many wonderful childhood memories. My first holiday there was at Aunty Ivy's. On the first day she couldn't remember my name and asked me what it was. When I answered Graeme, her first response was "what kind of name is that? I am going to give you a real name while you're staying with me" and she decided to call me Jack. (I always believed the name was from a childhood sweetheart of hers, but that was just my take). So the name has stuck with me till today, all my cousins and family call me Jack in NZ. But in the States it is Graeme, and yes all the judges call me that too.
You remember the incident fairly well?
Oh I remember it all right; you don’t forget those sorts of things.
What was your memory of it, what was it like while you blinded that sort of thing?
Well it was a weird sensation I’ll tell you this because you could hear people walking and you didn’t know whether it was day or night. You see. And ah, the nursey used to come in and my face was all bandaged up, all the hair was gone off me head, I was blind and I had two slits in there, like cut.
This nurse came in one morning I never spoke, and she said can you see me, and I said just a little bit out of one eye. And she rushed over and she put both hands over me eyes like that. And (….) put me in a dark room. They kept me there for several days there in this dark room and when me eyesight got more light, things got better and I could see they said, would you like pull the bed up by the window so’s you can look out at the traffic cause it was right out on the main street coming down here, Alexander Street going towards the railway station on the other side, right opposite … road was the hospital there and boy I got ear ache and I don’t know which was the worse, being blind or having ear ache in both ears.
From all the traffic noise?
No no, the cold draft coming in cause they opened up the window you see. I remember that ear ache, I never forgot that. When you have your sight and been blind, well you know what it, you hear people talking about being blind well I know what its like to be blind.
How long do you think you were sightless for?
Oh for about three weeks I think.
It must have been awful, to see you come in like that.
Yeah … flung a match. And when, on a very hot day a match like, you sort of can’t see the flame you know, and I threw it …. you get me. And I’d just realised that and it went off in me face aye, foof! And they said I was lucky that my face was never scarred and left .. left disfigured aye. So that’s how I pulled though that one.
Girlie talked about all these different treatments you used to get for all cuts and bruises
Oh yes yes- the old bush remedies
Bush remedies yes. Burnt salt, burning wound, nose? sulphur, five finger leaves, cobwebs to stop bleeding.
Cobwebs? Oh yes, I suppose that would be a good idea
What were the five finger leaves used for?
Well ah, its an old Maori remedy that actually, ah, if you got a – I fell down the … years ago, and ah must of hurt the bone in my knee, swelled up like that and an old Maori come along and said oh it takes a Maori cure and he said …five miles from a quack ..
And he held them by a hot fire till they wilted and he put them on flat same as you would put a hot cloth on from boiling water, as hot as you could bear it. He piled all these leaves and then wrapped them round and in the like a poultice
It’s good for chilblains too.
I hear that a good dose of golden syrup and sulphur was a good cleaning out agent.
That’s right!
Introducing…
Graeme Donald Mankelow.
Which branch of family tree do you fit in?
Middle child of Don, who was married to Nola. I was born in 1954 and am now 54 yrs old. I have 2 kids from my first wife Pam, known to most of you as Constable Pamela Mankelow who now lives in Gisborne. My eldest child Joanne is 36, married to Toni Murray. I have one grandson Rawiri Murray aged 7. My son Nelson is 34, unmarried and lives in Denmark where he is a qualified bricklayer. I am now happily married to Lisa, a Filipino American who has 3 children of her own, and the youngest of who lives with us in Hawaii in his last year of school.
Current employment / study
Have been in the building trade since I was 15, did my apprenticeship from 15 till I was 21. I was a mailman for 2 years after that, and then was in the possum trade in Ngaroma alongside Percy and Dad. I then moved to Katikati where Dad, Percy and I had a portable sawmill for many years. I moved to Hawaii after my divorce in 1987 and have been self-employed building houses ever since.
What keeps you busy? Interests
Had a houseboat in Hawaii for many years and spent every spare moment having fun. Built a smaller version of my houseboat in Katikati last year and have my plans ready for the next one on file.
Most memorable life moment
I have several, but one dearest to my heart was the 2-month RV trip I took with Uncle Bert and Dad across the USA back in the early 90s. Every night over a couple of drinks (and some nights a couple too many) I would listen to the two of them re-living there childhoods. We had many, many good laughs and I still cherish that trip fondly.
My favourite part of NZ and why...
Ngaroma, where I had many wonderful childhood memories. My first holiday there was at Aunty Ivy's. On the first day she couldn't remember my name and asked me what it was. When I answered Graeme, her first response was "what kind of name is that? I am going to give you a real name while you're staying with me" and she decided to call me Jack. (I always believed the name was from a childhood sweetheart of hers, but that was just my take). So the name has stuck with me till today, all my cousins and family call me Jack in NZ. But in the States it is Graeme, and yes all the judges call me that too.
Who/what would you be for a day
I always envied my Dad's ability to play the guitar and sing in tune at the good old parties in the past. So I guess I would like to be me with dad's skills on the guitar.
Currently in my CD player.
Kenney Chesney – “She Thinks my tractor's Sexy”
It reminds me of the many times doing hay in Ngaroma growing up as a kid. You kids of my age should listen to it and see what you think:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2KmzFABujM
Where will you find me at 10pm on Saturday night?
In bed with the Mankelow snore, or on my lazy boy with the snore while the TV watches me...
Favourite quote?
“I'm not as good as I once was but I'm as good once as I ever was!”
I am inspired by...
Still inspired by my 2 favourite uncles, Bert and Percy; and my Dad Don, and also all of the older generation Mankelows.
If I could give you just one tip, it would be...
Cherish family and friends.
