Arthur Dewhurst and Annie Marsden.

William (Bill) standing. George and Charlie (baby).

The old farm house where Annie Marsden lived at Mawheraiti.

George and Cicely (nee Wallace) Marsden on their wedding day January 1952

L- R: Brothers William (Bill), George and Charlie Marsden.

Photo taken January 1985.

Annie Marsden with her grandchildren Margaret and Wallace Marsden.

L- R: Arthur (junior), William (Bill), Charlie and George with their Mother Annie holding baby Margaret Marsden

Wallace and Joy Marsden (nee Blair) on their wedding day

with Wallace's parents, Cicely and George Marsden.

August 1991

Wallace Marsden my Memories

I worked on the farm from an early age. When I was about 8 Mum stuffed sugar bags with hay so I could sit up higher and see out the window of the truck and drive it around the

paddock for the men picking up the hay. A couple of years later we made some wee bales to help elevate me.

Dad sometimes came and got me from school so that I could lamb a ewe as I had smaller hands.

We used to enjoy trips to Westport to catch up with family and always looked forward to them coming to visit us. It made a great change to the usual routines on the farm.

Uncle Charlie used to take us out spotlighting for Possums. He also took us deer and pig hunting. On one occasion we sat and waited for the pigs to come out - he went to sleep and

started snoring. I thought he was a good decoy as it did not scare them off.

lloved going to Nana Marsden's and helping her make pulled toffee and boy did you need tough hands to work with the hot toffee. She offered icecream to anyone who came to visit.

Dad and Uncle Charlie were concerned about her (Nana) chopping wood in her later years so took the axes away. However, this did not stop her as the local travelling store was able

to supply a replacement.

The phone was put on in Nana's and Uncle Charlie's house and as Uncle Charlie was deaf and Nana didn't understand one or the other would come running over to our house yelling

"George where are you "? ? " the phone"

One of our dogs raced into Mum and Dad's bedroom, saw Dad's teeth on the bedside cabinet raced off and buried them somewhere. A few years later I was digging a hole and

came upon the teeth.

Lynley Alice Haller-Marsden 19.9.1953 my Memories

I was fortunate in having a wonderful relationship to my Grandmother and Uncle Charlie. Like Arthur, Bill, Charlie and my mother I have great joy in gardening, I enjoy fresh vegetables and fruit, growing up in such a healthy atmosphere was a privilege.

Memories of our family are still with me, card playing, making toffee, bread and cakes, picnics in the hay fields and pulling together in difficult times such as floods and earthquakes. One of my favourite memories of Nanna was her reaction to the Beatles, her mantlepiece was an array of their photos and each time the radio broadcasted them singing, the joy on her face listening to 'their wonderful Liverpudlian accents' was fun to behold.

At the time of our childhood Mawheraiti was a sole-charge primary school, my mother was the teacher when Rex was a senior pupil. Wallace and I caught the bus to school each morning, all lessons for the 18 or so pupils were all in the

same room, aged 5-13. We then returned home about 4.30, it was a long day for young children. Riding horses, bicyles and cutting firewood were all part of our lives. Visits to Christchurch where Mum's parents lived were made once or

twice a year, driving through fords was an adventure, the journey used to take about 5 hours. Usually Mum's parents

came over by bus, a whole days travel.

Summers with Uncle Arthur's visits were always looked forward to . Ron came as a teenager in his summer holidays

to spend time working with his uncles.

Margaret, Rex and family were much closer to us as they lived in Mawheraiti, I liked babysitting for them on the occasions when they had an evening out. The Westport family we saw once or twice a year, Bill and Ray came some summer holidays to help on the farm.

Generally town visits were made once a month, so trips to Westport were seldom, the roads were not so good, cars and fuel were expensive and time was needed to be spent working and not on 'gadding about' as Nanna said. Mawheraiti may have seemed far away from the rest of the world, TV only came when I was sixteen, we had newspapers, radio and books. That was enough for me, with the encouraging support of my teacher mother I was open to other worlds through reading and listening. My contributions on the farm were mainly with animals, rounding-up, tailing, feeding dogs and in the shearing shed when the family did the shearing. I also drove the truck attacted to the bale loader in the haymaking season, that system is now well out of date, Rex was often on the back with Uncle Charlie.

On the 4th of April 1922 Arthur and Annie returned to England for a holiday with Arthur aged

11, William (Willie) aged 9, George aged 5 and Charlie aged 2 ?. UK incoming passenger

list has them departing from Brisbane Australia via Suez arriving at Southampton 14th June 1922. Ship was "Omar" Orient Steamship line.

At some time, Arthur had discussed with his younger brother Joseph and his wife Elizabeth the benefits of immigrating to New Zealand. Joseph and Elizabeth had passports issued in

July 1922 and they all travelled to New Zealand arriving 24.10. 1922. It is believed that during the trip Arthur and Joseph had a disagreement and when they landed in New Zealand they

went their separate ways, Arthur, Annie and family returned to Mawheraiti, Joseph and Elizabeth settled in Waitoa.

In 1926 a severe flood left much of the farmland at Mawheraiti under water and Arthur and

Annie bought Stenhouse's grocery store in Blackball which was a thriving town at the time.

After 2 years in the shop there was a miner's strike in Blackball, and they returned to the farm.

After leaving school young Arthur worked for NZ Railway, Bill stayed working on the family farm until he was 24. He joined NZ Railways working on the maintenance crew from

Blackball to Inangahua. In 1927 he transferred to Westport doing work of a similar nature. Charlie and George remained on the farm.

Alice Bridge (Mother of Annie Marsden) was born on 19.02.1865 in Farnworth England. Her

parents were William Bridge born 1841 and Alice Ann Bridge (nee Bennett). They married in Farnworth in 1863.

William and Alice Bridge had 2 further children Sarah born 1868 and died 1940 and

Elizabeth born 1871. Alice Bridge was 25 /26 when her daughter Annie was born in 1882. It is believed that Annie's father was called David Openshaw who owned a Cloggers shop in

Little Hutton on the outskirts of Farnworth. They never married. Alice owned a confectionary shop in Farnworth where Annie worked as a young girl.

It is not confirmed what year Alice immigrated to New Zealand, however in the 1911 UK

census the following information is recorded: Alice Bridge head of house. Aged 46 single, confectionary shop keeper, no staff employed.

Mr and Mrs George Batiras were the first owners of Batiras Hotel in Mawheraiti. After arriving in New Zealand Alice lived and worked as a housemaid for them at the hotel.

Wallace Marsden