MEMBER PROFILES

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.

In 1955-56 I moved to South Canterbury and trained for two years to become a Marist Brother. Training was very strict and not everyone who started the course completed it. Some left of their own accord and some were told to leave. We rose each morning at 5.30 and our time was taken up with prayer, study and work. Breakfast and lunch were eaten in total silence and we were not allowed to speak to each other until mid-afternoon.  At 3 pm we played a game (soccer, softball) then it was more study. There were no phones, no newspapers or magazines and no radios ... although once we stole a radio from the milking shed to listen to the Springboks play the All Blacks in 1956 ... and got caught! I reckon if anyone could survive those two years they could survive anything. Training College in Auckland came next. After that I taught in Auckland, Hamilton, Masterton, Lower Hutt and Christchurch.

I left the Brothers in 1969 from Christchurch and came to Colenso High School where I taught science for seven years. In those days Colenso had a roll of 1300 so it was one of NZ's biggest schools. I transferred to Sacred Heart College in 1977 and spent 25 years there before retiring in 2002 ... then I took up bowls.

Colleen and I were married in 1971. She had been widowed in '69 (Graham died of a heart attack in his early 30's) so I began with a ready made family of five and later Colleen and I had another five. Our kids have all done well for themselves, all are usefully employed and five have university degrees. As far as sport is concerned Michael was selected to play goalie for the NZ roller hockey team, Carl played volleyball for the North Island, John was a Hawkes Bay 3rd Grade rugby rep, Chris was athletic champ at St John's College - the rest did OK. Colleen played basketball for the West Coast after she left school. I told my kids that I too represented the West Coast ... at rugby. If they pushed me I told them I was an under six stone rep - and if they really pushed hard I told them I was reserve!!

As you can imagine when all the kids were at home life was pretty busy. I worked at the TAB every Saturday for 13 years. Because I enjoyed a beer and a flutter on the horses I built and sold about 200 dog kennels and after that sold a computerised racehorse selection system (necessity is the mother of invention). Four of our kids live in Australia, one is in London, one lives in Wellington and the remaining four are here in Hawkes Bay. We have 13 grandchildren and early next year the first of them gets married.

Now ...  life is so quiet and peaceful!!! 

Asked to stand, for Braw Lad in 1959, was picked as one of the four attendants, was given about 15 riding lessons. then rode over the hills to many border historical places, border towns and different ceremonies with around a hundred supporters on horseback. A small example, rode across the river Tweed to Sir Walter Scott's house, and received a whiskey from the butler, then back across the Tweed to Lord Scott's house and another whisky and so on, nearly drunk in charge of my horse Mussolini.

At the time I was a keen badminton player and downed a few of the Scottish players, took an all-England Junior Champ to 3 sets. I entered the Border Counties badminton champs senior and junior and I got through to six finals, winning 4 of them lost the senior gents doubles and had to default the junior mixed because I knotted up with cramp.

At 20 got a job with a Carpet firm at Durban South Africa. Flew out on the Comet 4. London, Rome, Khartoum, Nairobi, Salisbury, Joberg, and finally Durban. I worked days one week and nights one week. On nights I was the only white person in charge of around a 100 Zulu and the same amount of Indians. The guy who I replaced used to walk around with a 38 pistol - I had a big torch. At night I used to go to work by train at Reunion station. I got off the train and crossed the bridge with about 500 Zulu, who lived in huts near the station. I used to run with my torch looking for snakes about half a mile to the factory. I am sure I hold the unofficial world record for that distance.

When the Zulu half hour break came, they used to bury themselves in the wool, at the top of these bins which where about 50 feet high. I used have to climb the ladder of all 4 bins, go in the man hole, walk across the wool and black arms and legs would appear. I would chase them back to work. One cold night I went to lay down at my break and suddenly this black arm shot up, one I had missed, I nearly crapped myself. Anyway too much to tell.

Went back UK by boat. The Pendenis Castle at Cape town went up Table mountain and climbed down the front. The boat a week in front had an explosion killing 9 engineers so we sped up to Las Palmas to take most of the passengers.

A few years later went to Yorkshire to run a mill, met Valerie and got married in March 1965. We have 3 kids, Paul, Mark and Samantha, and 8 grandkids. The reason we came to New Zealand started with the miners strike in 1973 which went on for months. Factories could only get electricity at allocated times. We would fix machines in freezing cold, go home in snow, no tea, TV water off, etc. So through the trade I was offered a 3 year contract as production manager at UEB, got up to General manager in one takeover, in charge of marketing and production. I retired as manager for Cavalier, about 7 years ago having survived numerous takeovers. When heads roll, I learned to duck the sword twice or it would get you on the way back. Anyway I guess I could write a book on trouble at the mill. Badminton - member of HB team who won NZ 2nd Division in 1977, never won by HB since.
All the best, Lawrie

CRAIG ENNOR  (Nov 2010)
Born (not created) 1941 in Napier. Lived my whole formative years at Westshore. An amazing place for a young lad to grow up. Spent untold hours on the beach following my lifelong passion for the sea and the pursuit of its inhabitants. Supposedly educated at Westshore School, Napier Intermediate and Napier Boys High. Left school at the end of 1958, theoretically to go and work on a farm for the school holidays, but "forgot" to go back for my 6th form year. Spent the next few years as a single shepherd on relatively big properties before getting married to the "Duchess" in 1964 where I worked as a shepherd on the Lagoon Farm at Westshore, before taking on a farm manager's position at the back of Takapau/Norsewood. Spent nearly 10 great years there before the owner's sons returned home necessitating me to move. Farming was heading in to a major downturn which, in a nutshell, forced us, now with two children, to move back to Napier where I started a new career in the wool scouring trade. This occupation lasted for 10 years involving a shift to Wellington. We moved to Hamilton in 1985 to embark on a new venture in the tourism arena, however this saw me made redundant in 1987 and after several months of being told I was "too old" to be employable, at the grand old age of 46, I might add, I finally went into the insurance field. This career move worked very well for me until in 1995 when family circumstances necessitated a move back to Napier. It had always been our intention to return "home" to Napier anyway, but was just forced on us about 5 years earlier than planned.

I officially retired in 2001 and still regard Hawkes Bay as a wonderful region and am extremely grateful for the friends and fellowship I still enjoy.