Knight, Jean Elizabeth Interview

I’m Erica Tenquist from the Hawke’s Bay Knowledge Bank. I’m going to do an interview with Jean Elizabeth Knight who lives at Hastings, and the date today is the 7th of March 2018. Now over to you, Jean.

I am Jean Knight and I was brought up in a country town.

Which town was it?

Puketapu mainly. I was born in Dannevirke and then was brought down to Hawke’s Bay … down to Puketapu … when I was three years old. And I lived out in Puketapu ‘til I was thirteen and then came to Hastings and went to … one year [of] high school; and left there and went to Te Uri as a land girl and spent eighteen months out there. Came back to town and became a shop assistant at Sutcliffe’s music store. I’ve had softball as my sport; I was in the Girls Brigade. That was about my lot as far as sports went.

Te Uri, where is that?

Te Uri is out past Ormondville, and it was called Te Uri Farm; and my father and I both went together out there. He became a shepherd and I became a land girl. And he took sick and had to come back to town; I went back and worked there for a little while longer. He came back after six weeks and he told me it was time I came back to town. I think he was sick and couldn’t do the job. So I came back to town with him.

And then where did you meet Owen?

I started at Sutcliffe’s when I came back into town, and he used to come in and buy his reeds for his saxophone, and his music; and I would sell it to him. And then when he turned twenty-one he walked into the shop and bought himself a brand new saxophone, and I shook his hands and wished him happy birthday. And ‘bout a month or six weeks later, Mr Sutcliffe went down and asked Owen if he would work for them, so he came and worked with us. And [chuckle] it took him about two or three months before he asked me out, so [chuckle] yeah. Yeah, so that’s how I met him.

Excellent. Sutcliffe’s was a music shop?

It was, yeah.

And where was it at that stage?

It was a very narrow shop next to where the State Theatre was. There was the State Theatre, a jewellers’ shop, and then there was Sutcliffe’s; and then there was McCready’s. And we stayed there; we built a new building in 1956 where we finished. We sold the building in the end and BJ’s now is in there.

Did you buy it from Sutcliffe’s?

Sutcliffe’s … there was Mr Barden and Mr Sutcliffe in business together when I started, and Mr Mullany … John Mullany … was a tuner. And he finally bought some shares in the building and the business; and as Mr Sutcliffe passed away we bought some shares, Owen and I. And then we bought some from Mr Barden, and John Mullany and Owen were then in business together.

The owners.

Yeah.

Where were you living at that stage?

We were living in Caroline Road, just out of the borough; we bought a house just out of the borough. And it was very pleasant down there, ‘cause there was [were] empty paddocks – it suited me very nicely, with sheep in it. [Chuckle] Yeah – so we lived in Caroline Road, which is quite handy too, to town, mind you.

And you had the two children?

We had two girls, Kim and Carey, and they grew up from Mayfair School and then the Girls’ High School, and they worked in Hastings most of their time before they were married. My youngest daughter went to Auckland for a while, but finally came back here. Yeah.

And did they become part of the business at all?

No, no – they weren’t interested.

So then you started off at the Mayfair, did you?

Yes, the ten o’clock closing came, and Mr Franssen asked Owen if he would organise some music for the Mayfair [Hotel] at night. It was only I think Thursday, Friday and Saturday in those days. And so my husband had a band called ‘The Blue Revellers’, and he started playing there every week. And it was very good – got crowds of people ‘cause they loved music. Then we decided to have artists come.

How much would they have to pay, the patrons?

They didn’t pay anything to come in.

They just bought their drinks at the bar?

Yep.

Did they have food as well?

No. No, no – they could buy chippies of course, and things like that if they wanted them but no we didn’t have food. It was in the big Carousel Room at the back.

And what year would that be?

It was in the 1970s, and we went through to somewhere in the eighties – I’m not too sure just the dates of that, unfortunately. But we were there probably about twelve years doing that. And then of course, we wanted to get artists in from other towns, and so Mr Franssen got together with – I think there was Selwyn Cushing and Owen and himself, and we started up Knight Entertainment. I didn’t want to go to work because I had children at school, and he said I could have my office at home. So I worked at home, and I booked local bands to different functions here – weddings, 21sts and things like that – and also got the artists in for the Mayfair Hotel for the weekend, and they were only there then, at that stage, the Friday and Saturday night as well. And then we would also sell them to the Top Hat in Napier.

So you arranged for them as well?

So we had them come to the Mayfair, do their little bit at the Mayfair; then Owen and I’d get in the car and take them to Napier to the Top Hat, and come back and drop them at the Mayfair to go to bed.

So Mr Franssen would’ve organised the accommodation for them?

Yep. They all stayed at the Mayfair Hotel.

And did you get paid for taking them in the car?

No, I just … no. We just did it, yep.

Did your children have [a] part in any of this?

Yes, they used to come and meet them on the weekends. Quite often the likes of Craig Scott, and some of the others that were more just everyday type of people – they would come round home. Like Maria Dallas – I used to do her hair every day for her [chuckle] …

Lovely!

… and those sort of things, you know. It was like a family really. Yeah, we were pretty good.

And what about that other lady, Eliza?

Eliza Kyle?

Yes.

No, I didn’t have a great deal to do with her, just the normal at the hotel. But a lot of them came round home. Robert Gennari would come to town with me if I was going to town; they were all everyday people.

And happy?

Happy people.

Did they get paid a fee?

Yes – we actually paid for their fare down here by plane. I would go and pick them up and bring them to the hotel for practise before they went on. And then I would run them back on the Sunday to the airport, and put them on the plane to go back to Auckland or Wellington, wherever they came from.

Have you any recollection of how much the fare then would be?

No I haven’t – what a shame! [Chuckle]

[Jean shows photos etcetera, discussion about those photographed]

These are all local boys, these ones, yeah.

Did they all play in the band at the same time?

There was a few actually, in this one – these two boys played with Owen every night at the Mayfair. The drummer isn’t in sight here at the moment, but …

This one is from the Blossom Festival, which was taken in the street down by Bon Marche somewhere I think; and they’re all dressed up in sort of different types of clothes and different make-up. Now there’s three of his band members in this. The rest of them were our fill-ins that played with Owen from time to time. We just made up a band to play for the [Blossom] Festival. Yeah.

And that would be about ‘72?

Yeah, something like that. Yeah – we had a lot of fun. I’ve got a lot on movies of the Blossom Festivals with these guys playing; but that’s the only one I’ve got still of them.

To go back to the Mayfair … the entertainers coming in … how often would you be entertaining? Every week?

Every week we got an entertainer in; different entertainer. It was a busy life. We had to arrange a rehearsal for them, and that was a bit hard because the boys all worked here. But we did manage to do that, and we usually did it on a Sunday. I’d drop one lot to put them on the plane in the morning to go back to Auckland, and I’d go back in the afternoon and pick up the next lot.

[Chuckle] And the Top Hat, who was running the Top Hat at Napier at that stage?

Bernie Meredith. Yes, we used to sell them to him, for the Saturday night.

You said you were organising the entertainment for weddings and 21sts and things … where would most of it be held? Would it be in the Mayfair?

No – different halls; different places altogether.

Can you tell us a couple of the most favourite ones?

Oh, well there was … we’re going back … [of] course the Premier Hall was here; there was the Oddfellows Hall; there was the Labour Hall, all those type of halls that some wedding dances were held at. Then some of them were held at their own place in a marquee, so that was quite a …

And would you’ve been paid, what you would call today, well?

Oh, I don’t know; I don’t know whether we worried about what we were paid as long as were paid. [Chuckles] Actually you know, the people paid me for the band, and then I paid the band. So we’d make, I don’t know, ten or twenty percent – I really can’t remember what I did. We did make …

Something.

… on each, yes. Organising it was in the fee.

And to go back to Owen … where did he grow up?

He was born in New Plymouth and came to Hawke’s Bay when he was fourteen, and he didn’t go back to school – he went straight to an orchard and worked. And when he was eighteen he wanted to play the saxophone, and his parents weren’t that very well off and couldn’t afford a saxophone, so he rented one and went to Sid Kamau, which [who] was a great musician, and he taught him how to play the saxophone. He lived at Bridge Pa; a very, very well-known gentleman … very nice guy. And by the time … oh, I suppose a few months, Owen was out playing in a band.

As quick as that?

Mm-hm.

He must have had that in him.

He had music running through his body. Never failed to pick up the instrument any day – if he didn’t, he was sick. It was in his body.

So the saxophone was the main thing?

That’s what he started on, and he played that beautifully. He did then go to clarinet and played both. But in the end he sold his saxophone and just played clarinet.

What about you for music?

I’m not musical; but when I started at Sutcliffe’s, of course I had to learn a little bit about music. I was very shocked that I got the job because I had no music in my blood; I wasn’t brought up with music. And any rate, I got to work and I went through all the music and learnt what keys were what keys. I had an old piano at home that was there when we bought this house in Hastings and I used to take a sheet of music home at night and pick out the notes. And I got to know when a teacher came in [and] she wanted it in C – I could tell her what it was. So I learnt that way but I never played an instrument.

What about singing?

To myself. [Laughter]

And what about the girls?

Kim has got a beautiful voice but she won’t go and join anything.

And what about Carey?

Nup. No.

So it hasn’t gone on. But it might – have you got grandchildren?

I’ve got grandchildren and I’ve got great-grandchildren, so we’re hoping some of them might pick up, yeah.

[Break – interview continues with Erica having asked about Jean’s work]

Right. Well I started at Sutcliffe’s coming home from the farm there; very green. There was only one other lady in the shop and that was Molly Hickey, who worked in the office; and there was [were] two men behind the counters; and the two bosses. And that was it – Bardie and Mr Sutcliffe. And I started in the record department and they were 78s in those days; put the old needle over the thing. And I got to know different singers … being out on a farm you don’t hear a lot of music, so I was a little bit green in that sort of way, but I soon picked up different singers, what sort of singers they were; what they sang. Then I moved into the office and did some office work with Molly and we got another lady in the record department. And then I decided I’d like to learn about the music and that’s when I went out and got the sheet music and kept up with music. Owen had started while I was in the office, then he was in the musical instrument department and I went to the music department. And Mr Barden helped me along with the music – he was very good, and I soon learnt keys – what they were in, and what they weren’t in, and I could tell if someone was out of tune on the piano – things like that, so that was good.

And then they decided they needed a bigger shop so 1956 they bought land which was a taxi stand between the two banks, the Bank of New Zealand and the one that was on the corner. They bought that land and they built a building there and then we had to get more staff of course ‘cause the building was huge.

So there must have been a real interest in music in this area?

We were flat out all the time with music teachers; people wanting musical instruments; we sent music away to different towns – even down south, people would send to us for music. So we were very busy there. So we got two other girls in, one for the music department, another one for the record department. I helped out in the office. I could then do every department because I had gone through, so I was called in to any place that needed it. And then of course when I got married I gave up work and …

Did you give up work straight away?

No, when I started having children; the first child I said, no, I wasn’t going to work. So I stayed home ‘til they went to work. [Chuckle]

That’s unheard of now.

I know, but I wanted to be with my children. And then I went back, and that’s where I stayed till I retired.

Marvellous.

Right – now I’m going to talk about my craft life. At eight years old when I was at Puketapu School a teacher started there called Phyllis Steele, and for some unknown reason she picked on me and got me to do some sewing. And every spare moment between school classes and things she would grab me and we’d do bits and pieces of sewing, which I thoroughly enjoyed but didn’t realise that I had it in me. And then on school holidays she would take me home to her place in Hastings in Charles Street, and for three days we’d do nothing but sew.

Goodness! What sort?

Then she would take me home. Smocking, crocheting … every type of craft that you can think of she taught me, and then she’d take me back to the farm for the rest of the holidays. So this happened just about every holiday, she would bring me home here, to her place. And from that day on, by the time I was twelve I was making clothes for myself and my sisters. My mother was not a sewer – she was a darner and a mender, but she never sewed. She did fancy work but we never picked it up from her; it was just one of those things. We knitted; she taught me to knit, my mother. So from that day on I kept my hands busy with craft and as I got older I got more involved in cross stitch, all that type of work; black stitch … black work. And so I started putting it in the Show [Hawke’s Bay A & P Show] and I won top prizes, [chuckle] and I was feeling quite proud of myself … [chuckle] didn’t realise it was as good as what it was. So I really did thoroughly enjoy my craft and I don’t think I’ve spent a day without my craft in my hands.

Did you teach it to other people?

Yes, I run … at the moment, I still do it … I run a craft group and anybody who wished to learn any type of craft, I hand them to whoever does the best work in that field. And I still do it – even though my eyesight’s no good and I don’t do it myself now – I still run that craft group.

And did it extend to making most of your family’s clothes?

I did all my family’s clothes. I made all my own clothes. I made my sisters’ clothes when we were home. When I got married my daughters never had a bought dress ‘til they went to work. Their underwear was even made ‘til they went to school, but they didn’t like homemade underwear when they got to school. Yes, I never made men’s shirts or anything, I just kept to the ladies. And I made my daughter’s wedding gown, and things like that.

Did you go into decoration of cakes and things like that?

No.

Just actual crafts? [Speaking together]

Just the cotton and wool craft, yeah. I enjoyed it very much, and of course my husband was very keen on my work – he made sure everybody saw everything that I made. [Chuckles] He was quite impressed I think, so it was nice to feel that he enjoyed it too.

How many years were you married?

Fifty-eight years.

So any other subject we should touch on? You were going to come back with a bit more on the Blossom Festival …

Yes. I’ll come back with the Blossom Festival and Sutcliffe’s; I think I’ve got more to say about Sutcliffe’s too; I’m waiting to get some more information on that. And maybe my little life out at the farm, and my animal life, I love animals.

So tell us a little bit about one of your favourite animals.

Oh, my favourite animal is a dog. Dog, horse … you don’t make pets of horses unfortunately, but I love them. They were my friend out on the farm because that’s who you talk to, out when you’re riding around you talk to your horse mainly. You’re telling the dogs what to do but you’re talking actually to your horse, because the dogs were more working dogs when you’re out on a farm, rather than pets.

Did you go to shows, horse riding?

No, I didn’t go to any – no. We never missed a Show; all our life I don’t think we missed a Show ‘til the last few years here.

And you came here, you and Owen?

In 2000. And we had sold our house in Havelock and we had nowhere to go and we were going to rent, but unfortunately I ended up in hospital and was on crutches. And Atkinson said I’d be on them for two years, so Owen said, “I’d better buy”, [chuckle] so he bought this with the thoughts that if we didn’t like it we’d be leaving in two years. But we’re still here, so that’s where we’ve stayed.

So that was really my life; it was farm life mainly I loved, and then when we got into town I went to Sutcliffe’s, and that was my two different lives.

The date today is 28th of May 2018, and this is the second interview with Jean to cover other points that we didn’t cover before.

Right. Well I’ll start with when my grandfather first came from England; he left England at the age of twenty-three with his wife of twenty, on the 24th of September 1874. They arrived in Napier on January the 3rd 1875.

Now Mr Cooper, who owned Mt Erin Station in Havelock North, picked him up from the boat and took him out to his farm and gave him a job. He brought his wife with him and they had three children; and Emma, the wife, died after the third child. Now Henry remarried, and that would be my grandmother, in 1885. And she was Janet Carswell, and they had nine children and my father was the eighth; and my father was born then on the 26th of April 1901 and he died on the 30th of July 1955. Now my father was born at Mt Erin Station actually, and he was called Frederick James Hallgarth.

Now he married my mother, who was Evelyn Joyce Ireland, in 1930, and they had four daughters, me being the youngest; there was Margaret, Kathleen, Doreen and myself, Jean. I was born on December the 16th 1935 in Dannevirke. At that time my father was managing a farm called Te Uri Farm – that’s out the back of Dannevirke. Then I was three years old when we left Te Uri and went to [the] Puketapu farm. Now, my father was brought back down there to look after the farm because Ewan Ballantyne, who owned it, was going to war; and Lew Harris was in charge of looking after the farm but he put my father into working it.

And is that the big house?

No, that’s the little … the smaller home. And then Lew Harris coming down to the farm could see my father apparently did a good job, so he wanted him to come and be manager at Brooklands Station. [In Puketapu] So he went and got another fellow to look after Mr Ballantyne’s farm and took Dad up to Brooklands Station where we lived in this big home of twenty-two rooms … only half furnished of course [chuckle] – couldn’t afford to do the whole lot. So that’s how we got to Brooklands Station, and we had an awful lot of fun up there. I started school while we were at [the] Puketapu farm, and we walked three miles to school. And that was quite interesting because – you know what kids are like – leaves lying on the ground, you walk through the leaves; you walk in the gullies; and we had lots of laughs and fun walking that distance. But then when we went five miles – Brooklands Station was five miles there from Puketapu – Mr Harris bought us a horse and gig. And the four girls … us four girls … went to school in this gig, and we had fun; laugh, sing – we didn’t care whether it rained or not, we were all in good weather gear, in the old oilskins, and we were covered over. And we’d sing most of the way there and most of the way back. [Chuckle] No, it was good fun, we always enjoyed going to school.

Now Brooklands Station was a great place to live. It was a huge station; and I of course was very fond of my father so I spent an awful lot of time with him so I was out on the farm an awful lot. I didn’t stay home and cook with Mum, I went out to the farm. And we’d get home from school, catch a horse – and Mum would say what paddock he was in ‘cause they were all numbered – and off I’d go and spend the rest of my time with my father. That’s why I didn’t do any good at school – I didn’t do my homework. [Chuckle] I was too busy out there with the animals and all. So that was my life up there and it was really good fun. I think even my whole family, my sisters and all, they just loved being out there; great life, yes.

And then all my sisters, of course, went to high school and they were boarding in town. And so when it was my turn my father said it was time that he gave up the farm life and came into town; and so I didn’t have to go and board anywhere. He bought a house in Hastings and I went to high school for one year, but unfortunately I didn’t like town. He didn’t like town. So after I’d finished my year at high school he decided he’d go back out to Te Uri farm and get a shepherd’s job. And I asked him to see if they wanted a land girl, “’Cause I’ll come too.” So yes, they’d take a land girl.

How old were you when you left school then?

Sixteen. So off I went to Te Uri Farm with my dad, and I became a land girl. And they had a house out the back of the farm which had never been lived in, so they let us have that; and six months later my uncle and aunt … my father’s sister … came out and asked if we’d like them to come and live with us so they could do the housework and the cooking, and leave me to go out and do the work. And it was absolutely wonderful – I had the whole day then; didn’t have to worry about having to cook meals or anything. So that’s where we stayed for … I’d say eighteen months or something – can’t quite remember exactly how long it was, but it was about eighteen months.

My father took sick and I think he wanted to come back too, ‘cause he couldn’t manage the work. So I agreed to come home with him, and that’s when I got to Sutcliffe’s music store. And the Sutcliffe’s music store was then a long narrow shop beside the State Theatre; and I went for an interview there, not having any music in my body or anything, but [chuckle] I liked music but I didn’t play any musical instrument. And I thought I’d have a try and see if I could get in there. They took me; so I started there on [in] the record department, and they were only 78s in those days and that was quite interesting; I learnt quite a bit more about music being there. I had to sort of go down to the music department at times and get a reed for somebody who was playing a saxophone or something, so I learnt all that at the same time as working in the record department.

And then after a little while I went to the office, and we got another young lady in to do the record department, called Jeanette Burgess. I was interviewed by Mr Sutcliffe and Mr Barden when I went for my job; Mr Sutcliffe owned it, Mr Barden was managing it, and Mrs Hickey was in the office. Mr Barden used to look after the music department as well, and the pianos and all that sort of thing; and Mr Sutcliffe sold pianos as well. And that was all that was working there when I went there.

What year was that?

‘53 I think it was … round ‘53. And then I went to the office as I said, and worked there with Molly Hickey. And the next thing, Owen Knight was asked to come and work at Sutcliffe’s music store. And Owen used to come in and buy his reeds, and I’d go down and serve him and sell him music as well, but I didn’t know him really very well then; but just as a musician. I knew he came in. Then he came in when he turned twenty-one, and I shook his hand and wished him a happy birthday; and he bought himself a new saxophone. So that’s when Mr Sutcliffe said, “I think we should ask him to come and work here – he knows music, and he’s a pretty good musician.” So he went down; yes, he came to work there, so that was it. He was working next to me.

What had he been doing up ‘til then?

He was working in a grocery shop believe it or not, down in … the corner of Frederick Street and Karamu Road. So that’s where we stayed for the rest of our lives – at Sutcliffe’s music store.

‘Cause you bought it in time …

We were shareholders … ended up [with] three shareholders in the end when we sold it.

Then in 1956 Mr Sutcliffe decided to build his own building. There’s a taxi stand between two buildings up in the next block. I can’t think … there was a bank on the corner, and there was a taxi stand and then there was the New Zealand bank – yeah, that’s right – between the two banks. And he built the building, and it was two storeyed; and that’s where we shifted, in [at] the end of 1956 … towards the end of the year we moved into that shop. And we had to get more staff of course because it was quite a big shop. And John Mullany of course was a piano tuner, but he became a shareholder as well; and then Owen of course bought shares, so there was Mr Barden, Mr Mullany and Owen, all shareholders in the end. ‘Cause Mr Sutcliffe by this time had died. At least he saw his new shop.

And your father had died too?

Yeah. He died in 1955.

So then by this time Owen and I were going together of course, and we got married in 1957 and I decided I’d look for another job; seeing how we were married, we’d better not work together, you know. But anyway, I didn’t bother working but a month later I got pregnant, so I decided not to work at all, so I stayed home. And then – I just went back if they needed someone in the shop; and then I went back to train new girls coming along that came into the shop and that sort of thing, until the children were at work and then I went back to work again, and worked till we retired.

Now you know the book that you put together from Sutcliffe’s collection – can you describe what that had?

Well, I think it started with photos. I have got a few of the photos here of the windows dressed in the old shop; and of course, if there was a hit of a song that came out it might last for a year or two years, that hit; so you made a big fuss of that tune, where today there’s [there’re] no hits come out like that, you know. And so you can’t sort of dress the window … like, today you wouldn’t be able to dress the window like that. So that’s a difference in the age, the times, how they change.

Would you get window dressers in, or would you do it?

No, Mr Barden did them. One year at Blossom Week I spent a lot of time making blossoms, and we did a grand piano out of cardboard and put blossoms right over it; and we made a set of drums the same way. So … I’ve got photos of that one too. But no, he was a good window dresser, Mr Barden, and he would make a real big fuss of one particular song if it came out and was a big hit, you know. And we had a great staff – we had three that worked for thirty years for us – the staff – that was Robert Fulton, Shirley Kyle and …

Are any of them alive now?

Not Shirley. Robert is, and Michael Deslandes who is still alive. Shirley’s the only one that’s not alive now. So they were great workers; nothing was any trouble to them. They’d work on if there was a purpose of working on. When Saturday opening came, Michael always said he’d come back – he liked working on a Saturday, you know. So it was always Owen, Michael and I that worked on a Saturday, and Christmas time we worked … towards the end we opened seven days a week as you know, and of course it was always Michael, Owen and I that were there on a Sunday as well.

What was the name of the third man?

Robert Fulton.

Do either of Michael or Robert live locally?

Yes, they both live locally.

‘Cause they might have a copy.

Well they haven’t got it either. I’ve tried them too, so no.

So when did you actually sell the shop?

Oh, now you’ve got me … We were retired, and we sold the business to David Atkin and Michael Deslandes. And they carried on for a few years and then they shut the shop; and we held the building for a few years and somewhere in about the 2000s we sold the building, and were out of it altogether then.

Now I shall talk about my sports and interests I had in my lifetime. When I came back to town I went into softball and played softball here for quite a few years and then I got into craft. And all types of craft – I did knitting, crocheting, cross stitch, hardanger [whitework embroidery] … you name it, I tried it … blackstitch … and I loved it. I loved it, and I went to a craft group which had teachers at that stage and it was very interesting. And then of course the government stopped the teaching side of it so they left, and we were left to ourselves. This is at St Matthew’s Drop-in Craft group. And the girls wanted to keep going, so I went and had some inquiries about whether we could still use the hall. “Yes”, they said, “please yourself, you can use the hall if you like. So who’s going to take over?” It was left to me; so I’m still at this stage running the craft at St Matthew’s Drop-in. I’m not doing any more craft myself; I am knitting for overseas; it’s called Mission Without Borders. It’s for the six eastern countries, and it’s quite a big concern in New Zealand and my neighbour and I are in charge here at Hawke’s Bay doing the collection.

And do you send the things overseas twice a year?

Once a year. Every July, a container full goes over from all over New Zealand. We have a meeting in Waipukurau – that’s our headquarters here for Hawke’s Bay – and once a year we collect everybody’s stuff. Helen and I take up everything that’s been down [done] in this area to Waipukurau, and all of it is put into one truck and taken off to Auckland where it is baled and pressed and put into containers and taken over to Holland and so on.

Do you do some for the premature babies and things like that?

We have ladies at our craft that do, for the premature babies in hospital. What we don’t send overseas we give to either the Women’s Refuge or the hospitals around here. Last year a bale of clothing went up to the Wairoa Hospital; that’s what they were needing. So every year we give something to the locals here from what comes in. So that’s all I can do these days; I don’t do any cross stitch and that. Unfortunately my eyesight is no good any more, and that is why I’ve just gone back to knitting.

Thank you, Jean.

You’re welcome.