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 BERT FALLOWFIELD
Gladys and I met in 1956 – in Hamilton New Zealand – we were both
Leaders in the Scout movement. Aged in our mid twenties our respective
friends had given up on either of us marrying. Despite our vastly
different upbringings we clicked immediately and were married just ten
months later – I hasten to add our first child arrived a further ten
months later.
Gladys grew up on a backblocks farming property in northern New South
Wales. Her father was a tenant farmer struggling to make a living on
pretty rough virgin country that he was trying to bring into
production. They had no close neighbours or family, no electricity,
running water or telephone and were miles from the nearest town over
rough roads.
Gladys was the eldest and she had three brothers to boss around. For
the first few years they were home taught. They made their own fun, as
kids always do but the whole family were expected to help with farm
chores from an early age. Gladys at age five had her first horse and
by nine or ten was pretty conversant with farm work. She could also
handle a rifle. This all made her a very practical, down to earth, get
on with the job sort of person.
Holidays were sparse but consisted of going to the beach camping rough
for a few days and sleeping on sacks stuffed with dry seaweed.
Attending the district school Gladys did well and eventually became
Head Girl. She went on to work in the bank, did a bit of travelling,
played tennis, surfed and watched all her friends get married.
In 1956 she decided to go to Canada for year or so but her mother
persuaded her to try New Zealand first in case she got homesick. She
never got any further than New Zealand although many years later we
did go to Canada with her parents.
Meanwhile I was born in Ham near Richmond, Surrey, England, a very
late addition to the family, my parents both being close to forty. I
had two older sisters aged 11 and 15 when I arrived and by the time I
was five they had left home and gone into service in the big houses
that are scattered through Southern England. My father was supervisor
of building maintenance of Government properties – a regular job with
steady income.
Ham is a lovely place close to London, very picturesque, big old
houses around the common, the Thames close by, along with the
Petersham Meadows, Richmond Park and not far away Kew Gardens and
Hampton Court all well established for 100s of years. We had lots of
family close by whom we frequently visited. Father was busy at work
and mother mostly looked after me. Our home was nicely furnished and
in a good neighbourhood.
I went to the local primary school just down the road. In my spare
time I read a lot of children's books. At age seven I was given a brand
new child's bike, but it was subsequently confiscated after I was found
many many miles away from home cycling along main roads out in the
country on my way to see my cousin who lived in Farnborough. At
Christmas I received lots of presents and was taken to the pantomime
in Kingston and all in all totally spoilt.
For holidays mother and I went to Bournemouth and stayed at a guest
house. In 1938 both my sisters got married but thereafter had very
different lives – the elder had five children, a sickly husband and
lived in poverty for the rest of her life. The younger one had a
hardworking husband who had his own business and provided her and her
children a good living. He became involved in politics and she met
many interesting people including the prime minister and other members
of parliament. Both marriages lasted full term. My parents on the
other hand divorced in 1942 and I was sent off to live with the elder
sister despite her somewhat straitened circumstances – my father paid
for my keep which possibly helped my sisters finances but she still
had to scrimp and scrape to feed the family.
Interestingly
Gordon Netley (who was also born in 1930) and I went to school and
worked in the same town (Chichester) for 10 years from 1940 – we very
likely passed in the street but never met. His war experience and mine
were very similar – it was an interesting bit of excitement on the
side – we watched dog fights in the sky – got to recognise makes of
aircraft (theirs and ours) – collected war souvenirs – and probably
learnt involuntarily a bit of geography by sticking pins in maps. We
never came face to face with the deaths, maiming, destruction and the
total horror of war. We had blackouts, rationing, shortages and the
occasional air raid siren but these were things you just accepted and
then got on with your life.
My father enrolled me in a private school where my subjects included
Latin, French, German, English Literature etc. I was only average at
school although good at maths.
I became very involved with Scouts and stayed in the movement for
twenty years.
Aged 17 I left school and joined the civil service as a clerk in
Chichester County Court office – very boring work and in 1951 I had
the opportunity to emigrate to New Zealand to a job with the NZ Public
Service – this was my chance to get away from my sister and her family
and I took it with my fathers blessing – I think he was well aware of
my sisters circumstances.
In New Zealand I completed my two year contract with the Justice
Department and in 1953, realising I needed qualifications if I wanted
to get ahead, I signed up for a three year correspondence course for
the Professional Accountancy Examinations passing which enabled you to
be admitted to the Accountants Society as a Registered (now Chartered)
Accountant. It took me four years but opened the way to progress to
good positions. I reached Head Office Accountant with Wright
Stephensons Motor Division but that meant moving to Wellington which
neither of us enjoyed so I took a position with Robert Holt and Sons
becoming Company Secretary, and after the merger with Carters held a
senior financial position in the merged group – at all times very
challenging and interesting work
Gladys and I got married in 1957 and we had three daughters.
From then on it was a normal married existence for us – kids,
illnesses, serving on school committees and the like. We moved to Hawkes Bay fairly early in our marriage (1961) and have been here ever
since except for a year in Wellington and two years in Auckland. We
have become very involved in the community and served on committees in
various organisations – sports, art, education, gardening etc etc.
Gladys played tennis whilst I played cricket, then we both moved on to
golf which we have played for the past 40 years. I was finding golf
just a bit hard (the fairways seem to have got longer, the greens and
the holes smaller and the bunkers and trees just huge). So in August
2011 at age 80 I switched to bowls which I am finding interesting,
challenging and the club members very welcoming and helpful. |
PROFILES
THE
NONCHALANT HUSBAND
VIDEO
SHOWING HOW BOWLS ARE MADE (repeat from last
week)
LIFE
IS NOT FAIR – GET USED TO IT