Herbert Letter 1976

Box 387,
Havelock Nth.

19/5/76

The Secretary,
Rotary Club of Hastings.

Dear Sir,

I wish to acknowledge & thank you for the $250 which was delivered in cash to my Aunt Jean by Mr Crist. She will use the money to help support my brothers over the next few months while things like probate & Social Welfare Benefits are sorted out.

We are most grateful for the money, as our mother’s sudden death left my brothers without much ready cash & I am only a university student. We all got jobs to earn some money these holidays as well.

The Rotary Club is obviously an excellent institution if it can supply such prompt & useful help to people who need it &, yet

are not anticipating such straight-forward help.

Yours faithfully,
Peter Herbert

Box 387,
Havelock Nth.

18/5/76

Dear Frank,

Thanks very much for getting so much help for us from the Rotary Club. I think that if I were talking to you in person you would say something like; “Oh, its nothing!”, but it is a lot & it means a lot to us to realize there are people who are willing to help so readily just when a little help is really needed.

We were, in fact, rather short of ready cash because no one was expecting Mum to go so quickly, or suddenly. (Apparently a secondary tumour somehow closed off & burst an abdominal blood vessel). As a result all Mum’s money & orchard income is frozen for the time being, & as I am only a student I haven’t a large amount of spare cash. But the Social Welfare Dept. is going to come up with some benefit in due

course, and some relatives contributed a little, and I will have worked 3½ weeks at the Freezing Works by the end of the holidays & Andrew & Philip managed to get jobs contract picking apples & at the Fruit Packhouse. As there are no large expenses to be met, this and the $250 so generously given by your Rotary Club will enable our Aunt Jean to look after my brothers for the next few months while things get sorted out.

I don’t think my brothers and I have any real problems ahead of us. I’m completing a B.Sc. this year at Auckland University by doing 2 years in 1 more or less. I’m taking it easy on the academic work (though everything is under control) and I’ve done a bit of diving & running & have joined various clubs to go tramping, canoeing, play soccer etc. as well as the usual university social life. Hopeful of getting into a learner

rowing eight this term, but I miss the South Island for its tramping, climbing & skiing (not that I did much skiing). Next year I’ll be back at Otago for 3rd year medicine. I’m in a good flat – at least my flatmates are good while the flat is definitely on the seedy side & a railway goes past the back door. Andrew is looking forward to next year when he intends to head off to Otago to do medicine. He can be a bit indolent though, so I warned him to do enough work this year to get preference for entry to the Med School. That gives a really easy, no-worries, enjoyable first year at university. We’ve been playing a bit of golf & squash recently, which is fun although where Andrew is disappointed with a bogey, I’m quite happy with one (good play for me!). We biked up to Lake Tutira & back weekend before last & last weekend I discovered that I can get there & back on a 750

in less than an hour & a half. Philip is going to University after 7th form but is not sure what he will do, He does next to nothing in the way of academic work but is enjoying himself & that’s the main thing. He won’t be at school for 10 days to 2 weeks because of a cartilage operation on his knee. Then he’ll be able to play soccer again.

Thanks again for all your help

Peter Herbert