Work in progress
Previous | Contents | Next James (Sonny) After Angus was demobilised he went to work for Sonny, and to begin with business was good. “Heather was just born and things were going well,” Angus writes, “when for some reason Sonny decided to sell up and buy another place in the Balham markets”. This was much closer to the…
Previous | Contents | Next Wartime service Angus’s first job was in a drawing office with a heating and ventilation engineer in Kingsway, London, but after some eighteen months he decided to join the Royal Air Force. “This was accomplished by buying six months extra National Health Stamps to falsely increase my age, and after a medical…
Previous | Contents | Next Heather was bringing in most of the family’s income, which I’ve already admitted wasn’t great for the male psyche — and one reason why I look back to what I was doing then with mixed feelings. Excitement at what we tried to do, guilt for walking away from it. Amazement at what we thought we…
Previous | Contents | If you landed here from the outside world, understand that this page Is part of a bigger, personal project. I’ve tried to keep my personal engagement with Brian Donovan in the 1970s to a separate page, where you’ll find more about him and his work. Another article relates to the NZ Ferro Cement…
Previous | Contents | Next § Brian Donovan was our guru when we started building our brigantine at Span Farm, but ferrocement was one of those collaborative 1970s subcultures, centred around designers like him and Richard Hartley, a few industry figures and the New Zealand Ferro Cement Marine Association Inc. Pretty much every right-thinking boatie…
Here I was minding my own business and Adrienne decided to post about my latest on Facebook. Suddenly I have readers! Thanks Adri, the feedback was encouraging. Must try it again some time. Here it is — Heather, handcrafts and Earthworks in the 1970s and early ‘80s
Previous | Contents | Next There were two tanneries in Auckland. The first, Astley & Son, was one of three substantial manufacturers in New Lynn, along with Crown Lynn potteries and Cambridge Clothing. All three are long gone. The other tannery was Lea and Arlington in Otahuhu, which is where we bought our leather. They were an excellent source…
Previous | Contents | Next Put something in front of Heather and she’ll do it. Organise it. Make it happen. I’m just a bit lazier than her, the sort that used to say that I had no interest in farming if it meant getting up early to milk the cows. I wanted to be a…
Contents But most of us kept on keeping on just the same. Started a career. A profession or a trade. Lawyer, accountant, doctor. Plumber, carpenter, electrician, nurse. Academic. Drain layer. Home maker. Turned on, tuned in and dropped out, but only at weekends. What Heather and I lacked was that sense of career. Not aimless,…
Previous | Contents | Next My teachers changed my life, and one of these days I’ll sit down with Ken and recall our teachers at Northland College — Mr. Holmes, Mr. Rowe, Mr. Lee, Mr. and Mrs. Moss, Mrs. Lyons, Mr. Ballantyne, Mr. Matley, Matron Faugie, Matron Laing and the rest. I know Ken will want to…