Only ten months to go until the joint Mankelow Family Reunion and Ngaroma District Centennial.
Mark it on your calendar 27 – 29 January 2012. Go to www.ngaromacentenary.co.nz for more information and to register.
Caroline reports from th
e Mankelow reunion committee:
Please – we would like to see as many descendants of Sarah and George Mankelow as possible. We will be celebrating 100 years since Sarah obtained the ballot for Ngaroma Farm. We are all looking forward to meeting up with family and friends whom we haven’t seen for years. It will be a huge weekend and hopefully the turnout will be better than any of us can imagine.
We are still hav
ing trouble contacting some people so if you have moved or changed your email address please let us know. We are happy to post information if you don’t have email.
There has been lots of work going on behind the scenes and the Ngaroma community have really got behind us. They have done a wonderful job organising the District Centennial which our family reunion merges wit
h at 3.00pm on Saturday 28 January.
We would like to thank all those who have donated money to the reunion account, which got up to $20,000. We have given $10,000 to the Ngaroma Centennial Committee to go toward the marquee hire, which will be used for events throughout the weekend.
The Ngaroma Centennial Committee has set up a website, and while this is still a work in progress, you can use this to get the latest updates, and the registration forms for the dinner and dance on Saturday night and the Sunday events. You can also order the book here. Go to www.ngaromacent
Camping: there will be facilities available for those who want to camp in tents or campervans for the weekend. There will be a chiller for food but only very limited facilities for reheating or cooking food. Toilets and showers will be available at the camping area.
Parking: to keep th
e area around the hall free, we will provide parking in a paddock nearby with a shuttle van to ferry you to and from the hall.
Memorabilia: Photos and videos will be set up in the hall during the weekend for you to view. If you have anything relevant to the time and place that you are happy to lend, please let Chrissie Mankelow know and she will arrange pick-up and delivery back to you.
Refreshments: a tent with tea and coffee will be available all weekend, and another for parents to feed or settle children. After 3pm on Saturday the Ngaroma Centennial Committee will be running a cash bar, so no BYO.
Book: As many of you know, Chrissie Mankelow has put together a book called 100 Years – Memories of Ngaroma. This book will go to print in April and we would like to hear from those interesting in purchasing a copy so we know how many to print to avoid disappointment. Price is yet to be confirmed, b
ut should be $30
or less.
Programme - Mankelow Reunion January 2012
Friday 27 January
3pm – 9pm – Registration begins, followed by a get together and barbeque dinner.
Saturday 28 January
9 am – registrations for those arriving today. Meet and greet, tea and coffee.
Midday – shared lunch, speeches and cutting of the cake.
Afternoon – sports activities, bouncy castle, bullock team rides.
Programme –
Ngaroma Centenary
Saturday 28 January
3pm – registration,
cash bar and mix and mingle
6.30 – 8.30 pm – Buffet dinner in marquee, speeches, and cake.
8.30 pm - midnight – Entertainment with DJ and supper served from 9.30pm onwards.
Sunday 29 January
10 – 11 am – Church Service held jointly with NZ Army
11.30 am – lunc
h and cuppa
1.30pm – 5.30pm – bus tours leaving at half hour intervals, plus other acitivties at the hall including bullock team rides, wood chopping display. The bar will reopen at 2pm.
6.30 pm onwards
– An informal barbeque dinner.
Go to the Ngaroma website to download the registration form – www.ngaromacentenary.co.nz
HOW MANY ARE COMING?
We only have months to go before the weekend kicks off so now we need an indication of numbers so that we can
arrange things like toilets etc.
Let us know number of adults and children attending from your family, whether a campsite is required and how many copies of the book you would like.
Please contact Caroline Hirama – email hirama@farmside.co.nz
Experiences of the Christchurch earthquake
Sarah Mankelow
There’s nothing like a natural disaster to make you remember how important family is.
I was at work when the earthquake struck – in central Christchurch – just around the corner from the CTV building. When it first started everyone froze to see how long it was but when my desk jumped up and hit me I knew it was time to get under it.
When it stopped and we all stood up you couldn’t see outside the windows for white dust. The office was a mess but it wasn’t until we stepped outside that we knew just how bad it was. Joe’s Garage café right opposite was all rubble – some of our guys ran to help as one of their staff had run out and been buried in rubble. You might have seen the security camera footage of the guy that walked away from that. Well just around the corner, someone died in that rubble. We could see fire down the alleyway – we didn’t know then it was the CTV building.
We all went to Latimer Square as it was not safe on the streets – then an aftershock hit and there were screams and everyone surged into the middle. People with bloody heads were walking around dazed or being helped by others. All I could think about was how was I going to get home to see if the kids were OK. I was about to start walking when someone came to say they were leaving in a car and I grabbed a ride. Both the children were fine – Josie at her home-carers in Opawa – William at school in Heathcote. William was in the playground when it hit – he said he tried to run but he kept falling over. Kids were crying – even the big kids he said. Of course we know now that Heathcote School was only metres away from the epi-centre. My husband Stuart got home only ten minutes after me and the kids – he’d walked from Victoria Street right through the middle of town to get to my work, then walked to Opawa where he borrowed a car to get to Heathcote. The roads were clogged with people trying to get home to loved ones and there was silt and mud everywhere.
We had no poweror water for a week. School was closed for several weeks so I and the children came up to Tauranga for five weeks to be with family. Mum and Dad, his three brothers, and my sister Robyn and her son Taylor – Nana and Bill, Aunty Bron and Uncle Mike, cousin Erin also a refugee from Christchurch where she is studying, my Uncle Brad and cousin Alana. It was great to catch up with them all and get a sense of normality that comes when you reconnect with family. We are back in Christchurch now and settling into a new sense of normality. Thanks to my family for being there for me – especially my sister Robyn.
Memorial rock and plaque
get edited. It will be re-attached to the rock in October 2011, to coincide with the scattering of Bert’s ashes one year after his passing. More details and dates will be posted out closer to the event.
This is your life - Ann, Keith and Samantha Solomon
It’s very hard to keep track of who is who, as families move around a lot more now than they did a few generations ago. I was at my mother’s place, (Daphne Prestidge) on the weekend when out came her photo album of her father’s and mother’s families.
My name is Mrs. Ann Solomon, my husband is Keith Solomon and our daughter is Samantha Solomon who now is 21.
My mother is Daphne Prestige nee Disher, her father was John Prestidge. They had six children; I am the only girl an
d
the youngest. My mother’s mother was Emily Eleanor Elizabeth Disher (nee Mankelow), best known as Girlie Disher and her husband was George Disher; they lived in Ngaromona , Maihihi area.
So this is where I fit in the family tree.
Over the past couple of years Keith and I have lived in our motorhome, travelling around, working in different places. We have a permanent home in Taupo that we rent out. It’s great living in the motorhome, meeting different people from different countries around the world, and your everyday kiwi person.
Singing is one of not only mine but my family’s passion. We have a karaoke system that we hire out along with ourselves, but we also enjoy going out to others and singing and having a good time.
I have two memories from my past that I have kept with me over the years. The first was lambing time. We lived at Kopu near Thames. I was about 5 or so and I had been at Nana and Pops, I asked my father could I bring a lamb home, the answer was no. Little did they know that Pop had put a lamb in the boot, so when we got home there was a noise coming from the boot, opened it up and “HELLO” there was my lamb.
The other was my horse ‘Black Beauty’ which Pop broke in for me, when he was not young and not well. I picked it out of a herd we went and saw, named her and the rest followed.
Over the years we have come across cousins, usually at funerals, so this time it will be nice to meet family in a different situation. We are intending to come to the reunion next year to say hi to everyone.
See you there.
Ann Solomon
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