Grainger, Kelvin Interview

Good afternoon. Today is Tuesday 26th October 2021. I am Lyn Sturm and on behalf of the Knowledge Bank I have been given the privilege of interviewing Kelvin Grainger, of Hastings; Wairoa born, ex teacher. Over to you.

Thank you. Thank you, Lyn. I was born on 17th November 1939 in Wairoa, and it was a wonderful town back in those days. My mother’s full name was Jessie Lambert, and she was born in 1905, and I’m not sure of the date of her birthday. She was born in Wairoa. My father’s full name was Reginald Charles Grainger, who was born in March 1908 at Kiritaki, or Maharahara, near Dannevirke, the foothill[s] of the Ruahines. [Ruahine Range]

My grandparents were the Graingers from England, from the north-east; from the county of Durham, and the city of Brough. My great-grandfather emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Dannevirke, in that area, and later moved to Napier where he was an engineer for the Harbour Board. His wife had three maid servants in her huge house in England, and she came to live in Dannevirke, or in that area, in a mud hut with a dirt floor.

I have eight siblings, four brothers and four sisters, and we’re all still living. Their ages range from seventy-one to eighty-seven – my brother will be eighty-seven in November.

And whereabouts do you come in [the] line?

Number three. I have three brothers in Queensland, a sister in Christchurch, two sisters in Auckland and a sister in Waipukurau.

My father worked in the telephone exchange after leaving school, and started off in Ōtāne, and then he moved up to Wairoa where he met my mother, at a church function, I think it was. And in the early 1940s we moved up to Waikaremoana and lived there for two or three years when my father worked on one of the power houses, Piripaua; the middle power house. We then moved back to Wairoa and he became an accountant. He was a very clever man who could turn his hand to anything. He milked cows, made hay, had bees, fixed cars, did the plumbing … did everything; a very clever man, very domesticated.

My grandparents … my mother’s father was Thomas Lambert, and he was the son of William Lambert who was the first Church of England minister in Wairoa; and they emigrated from Dublin. They had both attended Trinity College University in Dublin, and then my great-grandfather decided to emigrate and it disrupted my grandfather’s education. He was working to become a doctor, a physician, and when he moved to Wairoa he became a journalist, and a chemist and an author; and he was editor of the ‘Wairoa Star’ which in those days was called ‘The Guardian’, and it’s just celebrated a hundred-year anniversary, that newspaper.

My mother was one of seven and there were six girls and one boy. The little boy died just after birth. One of my mother’s sisters was caught in the ‘Wahine’ disaster; she was in the water for three hours. Her name was Ruby Doig, and her husband died in the ‘Wahine’ disaster. She survived, and lived for another four or five years.

My father was one of four boys and his father died at Pourerere Beach, or Blackhead Beach, after a Sunday School picnic. They’d been haymaking during the day, and it was very hot so they took to the sea, and he died, I think of a heart attack after coming out of the water, at a fairly young age. His name was Arthur Grainger.

Yes; as I was saying, Wairoa was a wonderful town to grow up in, and we lived near the beautiful Wairoa River and we spent many hours making hydro stations and dams along the riverbank; and underground huts, flying foxes in the trees. We spent many hours in that lovely river, and even swam across in the widest part and always accompanied by a boat.

So what was the Māori population in Wairoa then?

It was probably only about twenty percent. Many of our friends were wonderful Māori families – the Shaw family to name one.

The highlights of the year were the A&P [Agricultural & Pastoral] Show; the Carnival, which was held on the Marine Parade just where the swimming complex is now; and in 1956 one of the highlights of my time in Wairoa was the New Zealand Rowing Champs [Championships] on the Wairoa River where a thousand rowers came to town.

Wow!

That was before the days of [Lake] Karapiro and Lake Dunstan and it was a wonderful day.

In 1945 I started school at Wairoa Primary, and absolutely loved my school years and had many wonderful teachers. We lived in the old family home that my grandfather had built, and it was warm and comfortable. And for nine of us, we all seemed to fit in somehow or other.

And is it still there?

It’s still there, still standing today.

Can I ask where?

In Grey Street, down near the river.

What number?

No 6, now. And next door to us was my grandfather’s sister, Letitia. We called her Aunty Dighton; I don’t know why, but that’s who she was. And her husband was also editor of the Wairoa newspaper for quite a long time. She was a wonderful neighbour, and we had other neighbours fairly close to us over the road. And just up there road there were the Hagans; over the road were the de Lautours … well known farming families; and further up the road were the Daniels and just to name a few of our neighbours.

So I spent those years at Wairoa Primary, had some wonderful teachers like Eric Foster, Norma Glasson, Edie Crow. Then in 1953 I started at Wairoa College and spent five wonderful years there. I was Head Boy in 1958 and had many privileges being in that position. I was able to chose the songs, or the hymns, that we had to sing at Assembly. I’ve always had a great love of music and singing and I still sing in a choir today, called The Choraleers, and I’ve got a photo here to show you, of that.

And so I finished my schooling in Wairoa in 1958 and went to Christchurch Teachers’ College, and there I was in the Festival Male Voice Choir. And I spent two wonderful years in Christchurch.

Was that the closest training college to ..?

In that year, in 1959, they were sending some from Hawke’s Bay to other Colleges ‘cause they couldn’t fill their quotas. So I think there were fifty of us from Hawke’s Bay at Christchurch Teachers’ College, including Joyce Rosenberg from Wairoa and Philip Berry from Napier – two that I remember.

I was the black sheep of the family; all my brothers were wonderful tradesmen. My eldest brother, Brian, was an electrician and he was Chief Electrician at Swift Freezing Works. My three other brothers – one was an engineer in Hamilton, had his own business; that was Paul Grainger. Another brother was a cabinet maker; that was Geoffrey, and he worked for the Mohis in Wairoa before he moved to Australia, and the third brother, Terry, he was a joiner and he worked for Hedleys in Wairoa. So I was the black sheep of the family.

[Chuckle] They could’ve built a house, couldn’t they?

They could’ve. And one of my sisters was a teacher … Joyce, in Auckland. She attended Ardmore Teachers’ College and my other two sisters were nurses, Judith and Janet. Jillian was the fourth sister and she lives in Auckland.

I served my PA year, my first year of teaching, at Opoutama School; that was a wonderful experience, just down the road. It was a five-teacher school, and I was able to come home to Wairoa to a roast dinner on the weekends after [chuckle] cooking for myself all week in a lovely little bach that was on the school playground. Then I moved to Gisborne for my second year, and I was at Elgin School for three years. That was a good experience too, and I remember the death, or the assassination, of John Kennedy. I was mowing my landlady’s lawns on a Saturday morning and she came out and told me that John Kennedy had been assassinated.

From Gisborne I moved back to Hawke’s Bay and took up a position at Raureka – no, Fernhill first. And we lived in Napier in Maadi Road in a lovely flat just near the shops there at Onekawa, and we commuted to Fernhill each day.

My wife, Esther, worked in a drapery at Maraenui, and it was a great time.

By the way, we were married in 1966, and that was a lovely winter’s day in August, a beautiful, clear, frosty morning, but a beautiful day. Esther is from Sydney, from the suburb of Ryde. We have two daughters, one living in Australia in Queensland, and a daughter here in Hastings. She teaches at Karamu High School.

Anyhow, my teaching career continued, and I went from Fernhill to Raureka. I was at Raureka School for four years and then we decided to move into the country, and we had a wonderful two and a half years at Puketitiri, up in the snow. The snow fell twice during our time there, and it was on the school playground for a whole week; and so we built snowmen and had a wonderful time having snow fights with the pupils. While we were there the Puketitiri Hotel burnt down, and it was quite a sight, wasn’t it, Esther?

Esther: Yes.

Kelvin: I was away at Waikaremoana at the school camp, so my wife called on the assistant teacher, Mary, to stay the next few nights with her.

So from Puketitiri, after learning to play golf and badminton up there, we moved back to town. We built a house in Sunnybank Crescent in Hastings, and I took up the position at Te Awa School in Napier. I was Head of the Infant department there and spent four very good years there, and then moved to Anderson Park in Havelock [North]; and when that school closed I moved to Te Mata [School] and I finished my schooling [teaching] there; I was there for fifteen years at Te Mata, an absolutely wonderful school. Has very high standards but heaps of fun; it was a lovely school. After my retirement in 1960, [actually retired early 2000s] I spent seven years relieving at the Hastings Christian School and that was really nice … a nice way to finish my teaching.

My hobbies are gardening, singing and sports, and I think I gained my love of gardening from my grandfather, Thomas Lambert, ‘cause I spent about two or three years before I went to school helping him in the garden. And I still remember Thomas with his long grey beard and his top hat; that was a long time ago. And so I developed a love of gardening, and I still enjoy that so much today. I’ve always enjoyed music and singing. Our two daughters learnt instruments; Linda learnt the cello, and Katrina the violin and the cello, and both learnt the piano and did very well. My father was very musical – he played the violin; my oldest brother, Brian, plays the piano and the violin and the piano accordion, and he still plays in the Presbyterian Church in Wairoa at eighty-six years of age.

My father was a very good bass singer, and my brother, Brian, a very good tenor; and I sing baritone or bass. I’ve sung in choirs for many years, and during my time of teaching I took many school choirs and conducted them.

We have a great … what’s the word I’m looking for? Christian faith; my great heritage – that’s the word I’m looking for – a great heritage of Christian faith.

Especially today …

Yes; I’ve mentioned the Rev William Lambert. My father’s family who came from England were also Christians and so it’s been passed down to us. And at Riverbend Bible Church, which is a big church just out of Hastings, we enjoy the fellowship of many friends.

And I’ve mentioned gardening singing and sports; well I love cricket, and I used to coach cricket at Te Mata [School], and I played indoor cricket. And I love rugby and golf.

What’s your handicap with golf?

[Chuckle] My wife. [Chuckles] I’m a hacker but I really enjoy it, and used to play a lot with my brother when he lived in Taradale; but he found Taradale a bit too cold in the winter and he moved back to Australia, back to Queensland. And I’ve played with quite a few other people, too.

Did you ever have the fortune, or misfortune, to get a hole in one?

I think I did once, yes – in the little golf course out of Hastings … Golflands.

Well done!

It was on a Par 3, of course. [Chuckle]

My grandfather, who I mentioned was a nurseryman, planted many trees in the district; some on the road to Waikaremoana, and the mulberry trees that are to be found on the highway just north of Wairoa at Tuhara. And some of those mulberry trees are still standing today after all these years.

My wife and I have enjoyed many family reunions, and about twenty-eight years ago we had a wonderful Grainger reunion in Katikati. We used one of the kiwifruit packing sheds for it, and there would have been well over a hundred there; Graingers from all over New Zealand. Quite a few from the Nelson area, and one lady, Janet Grainger, was the wife of the Chief Justice of New Zealand, and she did the bible reading at the Sunday service. And it was really wonderful to meet her, Lady Janet Wild. And we met lots and lots of cousins that we hadn’t ever met, or even heard of.

So somebody actually done [did] the family tree?

Yes, I’ve got my whole family tree.

How many names?

Heaps – I’ll show it to you afterwards.

And then nine years ago we had a wonderful Grainger … just my family … reunion in …

Esther: 2012.

Kelvin: 2012. We had that in Hastings here. Both my parents had passed on before then. My brothers came from Australia because we said we wouldn’t have it unless they could come. And so all nine of us were there.

Wow!

And it was a wonderful time, and we have photos and newspaper articles showing it. And then in Australia we had wonderful family reunions with Esther’s family. Really big ones, and they were marvellous too, where all of my wife’s family came together. And so they have been highlights of our lives.

I can appreciate that.

One of the highlights of our married life was our visit to Britain and Europe. We spent forty-one days touring, and visited wonderful places like Henry VIII’s palace, Hampton Court, and went all the way up to Scotland to St Andrews. We walked on the Roman walls in York and Durham, and had a lovely time in Europe in seven countries there … two nights in Rome; two nights in Paris; two nights in Switzerland; we went to Austria and Germany.

Did you go to Liechtenstein?

Yes, they collected our passports there, and luckily we got them back again. I’m just thinking of the city in Switzerland … Lucerne.

Did you go up Mt Titlis?

We did, we went up [in]to the clouds in the gondolas, and then on the railway. We enjoyed our trip down the Rhine River … our voyage down to the Rhine Falls.

Were you on an organised tour?

Yes. It was a Trafalgar tour and so we had experts showing us the highlights.

So you’d recommend it?

Absolutely. We went down as far as Naples and saw the ruins of … what’s the city? The one that was overcome by Vesuvius? [Pompeii] And the beautiful Tower of Pisa … the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Florence?

Florence and Venice – they were highlights.

Did you like Venice?

Yes. We had a week in London and that was wonderful; the weather was good. We went to Stratford-[up]on-Avon and had lunch by the river there, Shakespeare’s birthplace. We went over to Ireland of course, to Dublin, Southern Ireland, around the Ring of Kerry, and to Galway Bay where my grandfather was born.

Because our daughter lives in Australia [and] because my wife comes from Australia, we’ve had many, many trips to Australia. I’ve been there about twenty-five times, I think.

You’re part-Australian now …

Our daughter was a flight attendant for seven years, so that was a help. We bought cut-price – well I did – cut-price fares.

I think I’ve just about said enough. Normally we would have gone to Australia within the last year, but because of the Covid virus we haven’t been able to. And over there we have a precious little great-grandson, and we’ve never seen a child grow so quickly; he was crawling at six months, walking before he was one, now he’s running all over the place at thirteen months, and driving his own car. [Laughter]

But the Covid story is very sad, and I did watch a documentary on Facebook from Wuhan and it showed the scientists working there; and showed how easily that virus could’ve escaped from the experiments that they were doing in that lab in that city. And so we know today that it is causing terrible problems in our land and throughout the world, and it has upset social life, business life, sporting life, family life; and divided families, divided churches, divided people all over the world. And so the only way to stop it is by vaccinating, and we trust that many people will do that; will take the vaccination and stop the spread of this terrible virus.

I’ll mention too, I’ve always been plane crazy, and I just absolutely love aircraft and I remember Wairoa having a big air pageant; big planes came in there. There’s a nice little aerodrome there, sealed runway and night lights. One of my best experiences was flying in the cockpit of a 767, a passenger jet, all the way from Auckland to Brisbane. My daughter was working as a flight attendant and her mother stayed in the passenger area to watch her working, but I went and enjoyed myself with the pilots. But that was a great occasion.

Another time was at Te Mata School; I was on duty – or they’d put me on duty at lunchtime – and this helicopter came circling around the school. Eventually it landed on the school playground, and who should step out of it but my wife and my daughter. It was my sixtieth birthday and so they’d arranged a …

A lovely surprise!

… helicopter ride for me. Earlier, about twenty years before that I’d had a heart attack, and I nearly had another one [chuckle] when they stepped out of that helicopter. But I enjoyed that flight very much. But what a surprise! My wife had arrived home from Australia about four days early, and I hadn’t done the dusting. [Chuckle]

And the other enjoyable experience was taking over the controls of my cousin Trevor Doig’s plane. I did that on two occasions and absolutely loved it, every minute of it. And so I’m plane crazy. [Chuckle] Well, I am not only plane crazy but I’m also bionic, and so is my wife. She’s had both hips replaced. But twenty-four years ago I had a triple bypass and a titanium aortic valve fitted, and that has worked extremely well with the help of Warfarin for the past twenty-four years.

It’s amazing isn’t it, science and medicine?

Absolutely. Is there anything else I should mention?

Esther: Probably a hundred things that you don’t think at the time …

Kelvin: No.

Well Kelvin, I’d like to thank you very much for sharing your life with us and we wish you all the very, very best for the future.

Thank you, Lyn, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, even though it’s been difficult to think of all the wonderful experiences that I’ve had during eighty-one years.