The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Fay Berry 2013 © – Chapter 25 – 19560320

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday and our present thoughts build our life tomorrow.  Our life is the creation of our mind, Marcus Aurelius – “A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.”

William James,  The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

Mark 2:24, What things so ever you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Faith has moved mountains.

Victor Frankl – his faith was his greatest strength.

Matt 9:29,  According to your belief it is done unto you.

Mental rehearsal, what you create for others you sow for yourself. Help make others successful and success will come to you.

Going with the flow of life is an extension of letting go, make your goals your dominant thoughts.

We cannot move away from being poor, we can only move toward being rich.

Focus, focus and focus again.

Happiness does not depend on who you are or what you have, it depends solely on what you think.

Tension is a habit. Relaxing is a habit. And bad habits can be broken, good habits formed.

To achieve a change from what we do not want to what we want we must see ourselves already in possession of that which we want.

You can only lose weight on a permanent basis if your focus is on becoming that person.

Mental pictures do work, they have power, so be careful how you think.

Self-talk is the way you direct yourself.

As we see ourselves so we act.

Unless worthiness and success are experienced changes to self-image are unlikely to occur.

The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between real or imagined experiences.

The only difference between success and failure is in the manner of thinking.

Creating a new habit takes approximately 21 days of continuously carrying out the thinking. You can become a new and different person by simply changing your self-talk.

Life really is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Self-talk and visualization go hand in hand and in order to improve your self-talk you need to also  visualize the type of person you would like to be.

This article made such a strong impression on me. I had been reading from the Proverbs and I had read Chapter 23:7 that “As a man thinks, so is he.” I saw that this verse summed up all that was contained in those individual “thoughts” in that article. I filed these “thoughts” in my memory bank on that day, but have spent my whole life time since then, trying to put them into practice.

Now, back home, everything seemed so boring and mundane and nothing much seemed to be happening. I didn’t even write in my diary again until June. I did receive letters from my friends in Sydney and that served to cheer me up a bit. I really loved receiving letters from Anthony Deverson. Then there was the Adelaide Conference which commenced just after we got back to Adelaide and that was fun. I had also received a number of invitations to stay at people’s places in Sydney, seven in all, and that meant there might be good times to come.

What was making me most miserable was that I was now attending a business College full of worldly, childish girls whose only subjects of conversation were boys, dances and clothes. I attended Pride’s Business College from April to June. The course was supposed to last for 6 months I think, but in June, Mrs Pride called me in to her office and told me that  I had been “head-hunted” by the the Advertising Manager of The News who had asked Pride’s to offer their best student a job as secretary to the Assistant Advertising Manager of News Limited. “Best Student?” that would have to be a first for me! I was delighted and immediately accepted their offer. I mentally put behind me my last “first job,” my abortive week at Schumann Lighting, and was happy to make my new job at News Limited my very first real job. The Assistant Manager’s name was Keith Risely and he was to be my new boss. The News Limited offices were on North Terrace Adelaide, and Keith Barrow was the Manager of the Advertising Department. I found out sometime later that he was a close friend of Dudley Hicks from the Adelaide Ecclesia, father of Ron Hicks.

My new job went well and I absolutely loved working at “The News.” The Advertising Department was on the ground floor of The News building at the  North Terrace end of the building. Mr Barrow was a big burly man who seemed to suffer a lot from gout. His secretary was a girl of about 22 years of age called Joan Schumacher. Joan was a blonde and wore her hair pulled tightly back from her face and secured in a bun. She had a tip-tilted nose and always seemed to walk nose first. She was very prim and proper but I soon found that although she looked a little haughty, she was not, and had a lovely gentle nature and a heart of gold. I could not have wanted someone nicer to be “in charge” of me in my new job.

Mr Barrow and Joan shared the first office on the North Terrace (east) end of the building and Mr Risely and I shared the office next to theirs, further west along North Terrace. Mr Risely was about 6 ft  tall, a little stocky, and very pleasant. Everything seemed to me as if it was going to be wonderful and my job “miseries” were over. The door to our office opened out into the Advertising Sales office and that was filled with a whole bunch of very sharp advertising salesmen. Their job was to go out and call on customers and potential customers and to persuade them to advertise in the Advertising section of The News and to help them design their advertisements. Joan and I were the only girls in the whole department, which of course, suited me just fine.

At home however, things were not going so well for me. I felt that Beth and Charles were always “ganging up on me,” always telling me what I should and should not be doing. I really loved Beth, but together, Beth and Charlie were making me so miserable. When I first met Beth in Sydney I was so impressed with her. She was not very tall, maybe about 5 ft 3 in, she had a sweetly curved  figure and beautiful curly black hair. She was a lovely gentle girl and I was delighted that she was going to be my sister-in-law. Charlie and I, however, had always had a love/hate relationship. He was bossy and demanding and was more the “head of our house” it seemed to me than Dad was and I felt that Dad had given him way too much power in our  family.

My Dad had a “complex” about not having had much of an education and didn’t seem to think that his amazing talent in his business and blacksmithing work counted for anything. Charlie was a “know it all.” I knew that he hadn’t done so well at school (as I had discovered when I checked his school records) but what he did have was a vast Scriptural knowledge and I think that’s why Dad seemed to defer to Charles. Charles (or Rick as he wanted to be called) was well able to hold his own in discussions with HP Mansfield and the like, but in my view that didn’t give him the right to take over Dad’s role as the head of our house. Trouble is, Dad just seemed to give him that right. When we lived back at 12 Kenilworth Road Parkside and in our last year there, Charlie used to do most of the talking during the readings and my brother Graham hated it so much that he would not stay in the room for the readings but would go into his own room and listen in to what was happening there, where no one could see him.

 

Charlie was ALWAYS interfering in my life and my relationships and my learning. I learned a lot from him but it was always painful, never fun, and in those days, I was all about fun. Charles and Beth said that I was causing people to gossip about me because I had so many “boy friends.” I would argue that I wasn’t bothered about the gossips and it wasn’t my fault that most of my friends just happened to be boys. It isn’t as if I am “going with” any of them,” I would say. I felt that I had all the right in the world to spend time with any of the young people that I chose to spend time with. I would erupt into a tirade of how people (Charles and Beth inferred) should mind their own business and stop being such busy bodies.

Sometimes I felt very lonely. At those times I would often go to the Manser’s place, and they always made me feel a lot better. Mr and Mrs Manser adored me and had told me that they would love it if Des and I ever married. They made me feel worthwhile and wanted and so very welcome.

Des and Brian and I got on really well and we would play records all evening and then they would take me home in the family car, all with their parents’ blessing. Nothing was too much trouble for the Manser’s as far as I was concerned. They were such simple people and kindly and all their younger children were such a happy boisterous bunch.

We could do things at the Manser’s place that I would never be allowed to do at home. Mrs Manser had a big lounge chair that no one ever sat in. It was where she put all the clothes that needed to be ironed. We would run towards that chair and jump on top of the pile of washing and slide down it onto the floor. One Saturday morning I arrived at the Manser’s place and Mr and Mrs Manser were still in bed because there was nothing much on that day and they felt like a sleep in. Their door was rarely locked and you could just walk in. They called me into the bedroom and they and all their kids were in or on the bed, so I jumped on too. We all sat and talked and laughed for ages before they all got up and had breakfast which, of course, I shared with them.

 

Beth and Charles criticisms of me did have an effect on me and the fact that I was so miserable had been showing and sometimes I hated myself for how I was thinking and behaving. One day, Tuesday the 8th of May, 1956 it was, and I must have been talking too much or something, and Mum told me to “keep quiet” and I angrily told her to “shut up.” Beth went mad at me and I went out in what they interpreted as a huff, but I just felt so low and so bad. I felt as though I should not contaminate them any more with my presence, with my miseries and grumpiness. Beth came in later and apologized “but” she said “you remind me so much of my sister Faith when she is cheeky and she used to get thrashed for it.” This implied to me, that what she was really saying, was that I should have been thrashed for my behavior, so her apology only served to make me feel even worse. Then Mum came and apologized too and I said, “Oh go away!” and stormed out of the room. “And I’m thinking of being baptised?” I thought.

In the meantime there were other aspects of my life that weren’t so bad. On Saturday 12th May I went to dinner at Wendy Swain’s place and once again saw her mother’s new baby. Mr Barrett was so proud of her. We went to the football and saw Norwood play against Glenelg and Glenelg won. John Bevan from school was playing for Glenelg Colts, but they lost. We talked with John for quite a while afterwards. Wendy was so funny to watch at the football. She got so terribly worked up about it. I spent my time watching her and laughing at her antics rather than watching the football.

 

On Sunday 13th May, Rosalie Foster’s pending baptism was announced and then that day the Stokes family came home to our place for dinner. Mr Stokes hinted that his son, Roger, liked me and somehow gave the impression that this should please me, immensely! Well, I was pleased in a way, but only because it was flattering to my ego, but I wanted him as a friend, not as a boyfriend. In the afternoon I went to Sunday School at Woodville and there was a new boy there named Bill Clothier. He had fair hair and classic chiseled good looks and during Sunday School I drew a portrait of him. He had come to Woodville because of his friendship with Fay Wigzell and he lived at Athelstone.

 

I had been riding the bike Dad built for me for years. Every time anything went wrong with it, Dad would fix it, so it had lasted since I was 8 years old right up until 1956 when I was 17 years old, but now, on Tuesday 15th May 1956 I went to see about buying a new bike. I finally bought one, a beautiful black and while bicycle with slim “racing” wheels. I agreed to pay 4 pound a month to pay it off. It was the most beautiful bike I had ever seen and I absolutely loved it. It had Sturmyarcher gears (spelling?) which had 3 levels. I had always ridden everywhere on my old bike but this one was the Rolls Royce of bikes for me. I was so very fit in those days and I could ride and ride for miles and never seem to get tired. I used to wear short shorts and a sleeveless top for comfort in riding. But one of the side effects of that was something I didn’t like much. Up until this time Adelaide was populated by “white” people and mostly of the English sort, and cultured. Children stood up for Adults on trams and trains and everything was very proper, but recently there had been an influx of Italian peasants, swarthy of skin, and corrupted of mind, well that’s what I thought anyway. Wherever I rode these days there seemed to be Italian road gangs, working on the roads, and there were lots of them in 1956. They now used to wolf whistle when I went by and I was so embarrassed about it and I absolutely hated it. Up until this time, NO ONE used to wolf whistle at anyone! I felt like one of the old ladies who say, “What is the world coming to?”

I used to ride my bike with a map book in my bike basket. I had a very good sense of direction and knew my way around Adelaide and its suburbs so very well. One day I went for a ride somewhere around Unley Park and discovered the most beautiful street. It was near a creek and there had been a gate across the creek when the surrounding land was privately owned. The gate was still there but it was now open all the time so traffic could go through. The street I rode upon was soo beautiful. All the houses were mansions set in beautiful gardens and on either side of the road there were beautiful elm trees and they formed an arch and so the whole street was mysteriously shaded. I was entranced and so loved that street, but when I went for a ride and tried to find that street again, I could not remember where it was and so for the next few years, every now and then I would go looking for “my street.” When one day I found it again, I spent an hour just riding up and down and looking at each of the houses in turn and wishing that one of them was where I lived. It was at this time that I had been reading one of my old childhood picture books called, “The house that beckons” and in my mind this book could have easily been set in the gardens of this particular street, creek and all. “The house that beckons” and “Shy the platypus,” have always been favourite books from my childhood, along with another book that I loved called “The other side of Nowhere.”

 

When I first started in my new job at The News, one of the salesmen had been away on holiday so I didn’t meet him until he came back from his holidays. On this day he was back at work. I thought he was not bad looking, if a bit ‘Casanova-ish’. But David Stone was the one that made my heart jump every time he spoke to me, he had the loveliest manner, but sadly he was engaged, and so not available to me. On Wednesday night, 16th May, Rosalie Foster was baptized. Rosalie began coming along to Young Folk’s initially for the tennis, and I think it was Phyllis Matthews who brought her along, but then she got interested in the Bible and finally decided to be  baptized.

On Thursday,at work, I’d had a lot of filing to do but finished it and was feeling quite pleased with myself. One of the men came past and said,

“Hello Fay” and I said,

“Hello?”and he then told me his name was Roy Benton. He seemed quite nice, but I thought that David Stone was simply wonderful. David gave me an envelope to type for him that day and while I was doing it I stuck up a part of the enclosures that were ripped for him and he thanked me so nicely that I felt I would like to do more for him. He rang me up on the intercom that afternoon and I loved listening to his voice.

Wendy Swain didn’t have a boyfriend at this time and was wishing that she did and so I rang her one day and told her about one of the boys at work, Ian Foster? who worked in the Sales Department. I suggested that he was so nice that she ought to go out with him. I called Ian into my office and asked him if he would like to take Wendy to a dance. He was terribly embarrassed at first, but he agreed to come with me to Wendy’s place on the following Saturday to meet her. I thought it was awfully funny and felt quite proud of myself for my “match making.”

All of this time I had still been going to Pa Harris’ place to learn about the Bible and finally had decided that I should be baptised, so on the 27th June I was baptized at the Adelaide ecclesia. HP Mansfield gave the talk. It was all very exciting but I don’t remember much about it now. It seemed to pass in a flash. What I did notice was that after being baptized, there were so many temptations  that seemed to come my way and my behavior really wasn’t as it should be and I was not happy with myself, not one little bit.

 

 

One of the men in the Advertising Department was a man called Bob Wiltshire He was tall, slim and blonde with an English complexion and I found him very, very attractive. I watched him for some time and it soon became apparent to me that he liked me too. One day he invited me to go with him to see a movie. Christadelphians were not supposed to go to movies, I thought, and since I had just been baptised I felt I could not accept his invitation so I said “No,” and gave him no explanation. He kept on inviting me, time and again, but I always said, “No.” In the meantime he still kept coming into my office for any number of made up excuses and we would chat about this and that. Then one day he came into the Advertising Department and announced that he had got engaged over the weekend to a girl from his church.

I was devastated! How I wished I had agreed to go to the movies with him or that he had asked me out for a drive. My crazy thinking at that time was that if he had asked me to go for a drive I would have gone with him, but because he asked me only to go to the movies I felt I could not, should not go with him. I really wonder at myself, looking back on the confusion I often felt in those days. What was worse than his engagement was that it didn’t stop him from pursuing me and flirting with me and I found him such a temptation. As the days passed I could see that if I didn’t do something to put a stop to what was happening, then I was heading inexorably towards being “the other woman,” in a three-way relationship.

At the same time, there was also another man from the Circulation section, called Stan Dickson who was about 30 years old and he too really liked me. I liked talking to him and playing table tennis with him but that was all. We went swimming together one day at the Olympic Pool and I will never forget that day.  He was chasing after me around the pool and to get away from him I dived into the pool at the shallow end of the pool and scraped my lip on the bottom of the pool. It jagged the top of my lip and simply poured out blood and hurt like anything. When it healed I had a scar on my lip. It doesn’t show any more, but to this day I can remember what if felt like when I first did it.

There was another man who began to pursue me. His name was Trevor Griggs, and he was one of the bosses in the Circulation Department. He would have been over thirty years old. He was tall, dark, and, well, sleek! Black hair and a certain cynical way with him. He took me out to dinner one day and I felt quite intimidated because he would tease me if I did something not quite right, used my knife or serviette in the wrong way and how I hated his teasing. He used to call me “stinky,” and I hated it.

One day I went for a drive with him in the lunch hour and Stan Dickson followed us in his car and we could not seem to shake him off. Stan didn’t like Trevor and was worried about me being out with him. He used to warn me about Trevor. He knew that we were aware that he was following us but he didn’t care. He told me afterwards that, “He would do anything to stop me being with Trevor.” Trevor wanted to take me for a drive one weekend and I really wanted to go, but I somehow knew that he was dangerous and that I was not wise in going with him. I decided to tell my mother that I was going to go for a drive with him and I asked her to stay at home in case I needed her. Poor Mum. She would have known that if she tried to stop me going I would have gone anyway so she chose to just trust me and hope everything would be all right. Trevor drove me up into the hills and then stopped the car in an isolated place. As he reached for me, I said,

“Take me home now, please, my mother’s expecting me to ring right about now.” He looked at me in disbelief,

“You told your Mother you were out with me?”

“Yes,” I said, “and I also told her who you are and how to find you if she needs to.” So that was that. He never said another word, but drove me home and I had nothing more to do with him after that. Then one day we all heard that he had disappeared with a large sum of money that he had stolen from News Limited. He was also married and had two children and he had left his wife when he stole the money.

On Friday, 29th June I wrote in my diary,

“I feel terrible! I’ve just been baptized and yet I’m doing terrible things already!”

I was standing by Bob Wiltsire’s desk talking to him and he asked me if I did much drawing. After a bit of back chat, I told him that I would draw him. Then I started scribbling on a pad and I wrote “I love Bob” (in shorthand) on it. A childish thing to do and then I tore it up. He had seen it and was curious about it. He asked me to write it again, which, of course I wouldn’t do. He kept on at me so eventually I wrote something of no importance down and when I looked up I found he had some shorthand on his pad and for a minute I thought he had been able to read my shorthand and could do shorthand himself. I went as red as could be but then realized he had just copied my shorthand, I was very relieved. I went over to David Stone’s desk and talked to him for a while and told him about it, though I didn’t tell him what I had written in shorthand.

All the rest of the afternoon, Bob kept at me to tell him what it was that I had written, but I wouldn’t tell him. I think Bob had guessed what I had written but wanted rather badly to know for sure. When I wouldn’t tell him he pretended to be in a bit of a huff, hoping that might influence me. Eventually he went home and after he had gone I got ready to go home. I said goodbye to Joan and Mr Barrow and then went to the block room to get my bike.

I felt depressed and miserable because my relationships with the men at the News were complicated and confusing. While I was in the block room getting my bike, David Stone came looking for some papers and I stood talking to him for a while. David noticed that I looked rather miserable and wanted to know why. I guess I was looking for a bit of sympathy and so I told him that I “just felt miserable.” He asked what was making me miserable and then he put his arms around me and hugged me very close to him. I thought he was just trying to comfort me so for a short while I let his arms stay around me. But then he kissed me and then kissed me again. His kisses didn’t just seem like sympathy to me, so I tried to push him away and I said,

“David, what are you doing?”

Then he kissed me again. I felt so confused because David had helped me so much since I had been at The News, but he had never been anything but friendly to me up to now. I began to struggle in earnest. I hated myself for getting into such a predicament and felt sure it was all my own fault. Just as I had managed to free myself from David’s grasp, Keith Ossenton came into the block room and stared at us. I couldn’t tell how much he had seen and I had such a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew he would never keep quiet about it, and what must he think? David tried to cover up but it was futile, so then David literally fled out of the block room. I felt absolutely dreadful and felt I had to speak to someone so I went to my office to see if Joan Schumacher was still there. Joan was still in the office. By this time I was crying and couldn’t stop. Joan suggested we go into Classified in case Mr Barrow came in and I told her everything there. She was terribly surprised that David should have felt that way about me but she advised me to just to carry on as normal but make sure that David didn’t have an opportunity to be alone with me again.

I got myself together and was about to leave when Mr Barrow came in. He saw that I had been crying and wanted to know what was wrong. Joan said, “Nothing’s wrong, Mr Barrow,” and I just fled. Mr Barrow went to follow me but Joan stopped him. I wondered what would happen tomorrow if Keith chose to say anything about what he had seen, but the incident in the block room seemed to pass into history without any real consequences. Joan told me that when she told Mr Barrow what had happened he said,

“That girl is more trouble than Queen Victoria herself!”

Not very nice of him I thought.

Things went back to normal but on Friday 27 July 1956 on my way to work I nearly had a crash on my bike which shook me up a bit. At lunch time Bob Wiltshire had arranged to play table tennis with me but then had to cancel. I got a game anyway, pretty well straight away with a new man from the paper delivery section. He beat me 21-18; 21-14; 21-18. Then one of the men from the main Editorial section of the building who had asked to play with me, partnered me in a doubles against two other of the Editorial men. We won 3 sets to nil, and the loser bought us all cokes. It was a great game and I thought I played well and was happy with my performance. The table we played on was the table all the good players use and consequently we had a large audience especially as there was a girl playing – me!

There were only a few girls who came to the rec room to play table tennis and two of those were girls who were just “hit and gigglers.” One of the girls was the daughter of one of the bosses at The News, but she was a bit backward, “one brick short of a load,” in fact, but she was very, very pretty. She had a beautiful figure, black curly hair, scarlet lips and wore beautiful clothes and very high heels (and played table-tennis in them!)  The men used to get tired of these two girls hogging the tables because they never played a game (they couldn’t) and they took so long on the tables. To liven things up when one of the men would be playing with the “one brick short” girl he would lob the ball onto the opposite side of the table from where the girl was standing so that she had to totter over to the other side on her high heels in order to try and reach the ball. They treated her like a circus act and then they would all laugh and make jokes behind her back. It was not very nice. I think seeing how they interacted with her showed me that looks are not everything, it is the mind that makes a girl attractive. I suspect that if she hadn’t been so pretty, however, they would not have put up with her at all, unless they were scared of offending her father.

On Saturday 28 July 1956, I played table tennis at the Adelaide hall and had some good games. I went for a ride with Lewis Osborne in his car in the afternoon and had a look at the new Holden’s, at Woodville. It was Young Folks that night, and Peter Mansfield and Roger Stokes gave short talks on Galatians. Peter spoke well and I thought he had a better speaking voice than his Father, HP Mansfield. He soon seemed to get over his shyness as well. “One day he’s going to be a good catch for someone,”  I remember thinking. We gave about eight young people a lift home in the car, including a lad that Don McColl brought along.

 

On Sunday 29 July 1956, Des came to see me and gave me the number of his seat at the Olympic Games in Melbourne.  I needed the number because I was going to try to get a seat next to him if I could. Don McColl’s friend, the boy we gave a lift home the previous night had taken up my invitation to come to Sunday School the next day. Des and Max and some of the others from Adelaide went with us to Glennis’ Lawry’s place for tea and it was pretty good. Rosalie and I clash a bit. She has a rather “high-handed” manner at times but I think it is just because she has a very competitive nature and I simply have not. Everything she plays she plays with great dedication, whereas I play for fun, and it annoys the daylights out of her.

On Monday 30 July 1956, I went to Myers and bought two tickets for the Olympic Games and I was so happy because I managed to get them right next to Des and the others. I asked both Mr Risely, my boss, and Mr Barrow if I could have the week off in November and they both said “Yes.” I am so glad. I don’t know what I would have done if either of them had said “No.” I was sitting with Bob W. waiting for a table when he asked me if I knew the Hicks family. Then he said that he knew them well and that he used to play with them when he was younger and go on picnics with them. Small world! I wish he had been a Christadelphian, then he would have been inviting me to go for drives with him instead of asking me to the movies. I have no idea, looking back, why I didn’t just tell him and ask him to invite me rather to go for a drive with him.

 

Movies had always been a problem for me. Our Christadelphian culture frowned on going to pictures, but I loved them. When I was about 8 years old I went to the city one day with my two cousins, Bobby and Shirley Candy. We went to see a film called “El Paso” and in the middle of the film there was a song called “the Man on the Flying Trapeze.” It was one of those bouncing ball songs where the words of the song are written at the bottom of the screen and a ball bounced on the word you are next to sing. I loved the song and wanted to learn the words. When the movie finished, I told my cousins that I was going to stay and watch the next session of the movie, so I stayed and they went home. I watched the movie through and listened to the song again trying to remember all the words.

Once I was happy, but now I’m forlorn,
Like an old coat that is tattered and torn;
Left in this wide world to weep and to mourn,
Betrayed by a maid in her teens.

Now this girl that I loved, she was handsome,
And I tried all I knew, her to please,
But I never could please her nearly so well
As the man on the flying trapeze.

Oh, he floats through the air with the greatest of ease,
This daring young man on the flying trapeze;
His actions are graceful, all girls he does please,
My love he has purloined away.

He’d play with a miss like a cat with a mouse,
His eyes would undress every girl in the house.
Perhaps he is better described as a louse,
But the people they came just the same.

Oh, he’d smile from his perch on the people below
And one day he smiled on my love.
She blew him a kiss and she hollered, “Bravo!”
As he hung by his nose up above.

Oh, he floats through the air with the greatest of ease,
This daring young man on the flying trapeze;
His actions are graceful, all girls he does please,
My love he has purloined away.

Oh, I wept and I whimpered, I simpered for weeks,
While she spent her time with the circus’s freaks.
The tears were like hailstones that rolled down my cheeks,
Alas, and alack, and alacka!

I went to this fellow, the blackguard, and said,
“I’ll see that you get your desserts!”
He put up his thumb to his nose with a sneer,
He sneered once again, and said, “Nertz!”

Oh, he floats through the air with the greatest of ease,
This daring young man on the flying trapeze;
His actions are graceful, all girls he does please,
My love he has purloined away.

One night to his tent he invited her in,
He filled her with compliments, kisses, and gin
And started her out on the road to ruin,
Since then l have known no repose.

But e’en now l loved her, I said, “Take my name!
I’ll gladly forgive and forget;”
She rustled her bustle without any shame,
Saying,”Well, maybe later, not yet.”

Oh, he floats through the air with the greatest of ease,
This daring young man on the flying trapeze;
His actions are graceful, all girls he does please,
My love he has purloined away.

One night as usual I went to her home,
And found there her father and mother alone,
I asked for my love and it soon was made known,
To my horror, that she’d run away.

Without any trousseau she’d fled in the night
With him with the greatest of ease,
From two stories high he’d lowered her down
To the ground on his flying trapeze.

Oh, he floats through the air with the greatest of ease,
This daring young man on the flying trapeze;
His actions are graceful, all girls he does please,
My love he has purloined away.

Some months after that I went into a hall,
And to my surprise, I found there on the wall,
A bill in red letters which did my heart gall,
That she was appearing with him.

Oh, he’d taught her gymnastics, and dressed her in tights,
To help him to live at his ease,
He’d made her take on a masculine name,
And now she goes on the trapeze.

Oh, she floats through the air with the greatest of ease,
You’d think her a man on the flying trapeze,
She does all the work while he takes his ease,
And that’s what’s become of my love.

After the movie was over I walked down Hindley street toward King William street to catch the tram home. Along the way I passed another movie theatre and saw that the film, “Little Women” was showing. It was a hot summer’s day and as bright as could be. I had no idea of time and so I thought I had all the time in the world to see this movie and still get home and not be too late.

So I paid my two shillings and bought a ticket and went into the movie theatre. I was really enjoying the movie, but sometime towards the last quarter of the movie I began to feel uneasy and worried and began to wonder what time it was. I got up and went up the aisle and tried to open the door but it was too heavy for me. I ran down the front of the theatre and up the other aisle to try the other door. At last, when I couldn’t open it, someone opened it for me, and I ran outside and found to my horror that it was dark, no longer was the sun shining. I ran as hard as I could down Hindley street, but then found I was going in the wrong direction, towards West Terrace and not toward King William Street.

I turned and ran back the other way, by this time I was crying because I was so worried about being so late. I caught a tram and sat with my face pressed to the window looking out onto the streets as we drove along. I finally got to our street, Kenilworth Road and ran home and into our front door. I will never forget the sight that met my eyes when I got inside the door. My Mum was sitting at the kitchen table, crying her eyes out and they were all red and blood shot. There was a policeman there and my Aunty and Uncle and my two cousins, who were learing at me, quite happy that I was in trouble. My Dad yelled at me, “Where have you been? Your mother’s been so worried about you!”

The policeman left and Dad grabbed my arm and took me into the next room and got out his strap and began to give me a thrashing. Mum was begging him not to hit me, telling him that I had been punished enough already, but Dad kept on thrashing me. Suddenly I wet my pants and a big puddle appeared at my feet and I was absolutely mortified. Then Mum put me to bed and I cried and cried and cried. That was such a trauma to me and it was years before I went to see another movie. In fact the first movie I ever saw after that was the film “Jedda,” and although I enjoyed that movie I felt very guilty for going.

I was rather excited when I received a letter from Anthony Deverson from Sydney. I so enjoyed his letters. On Tuesday 31 July 1956 I played table tennis again with Bob Wiltshire and he beat me 2-1 (21-14, 14-21, 21-15). The man who partnered me in the doubles we played last week had said that he would coach me in table tennis. He worked in the Commercial Department. When I got back from lunch Roy Benton came up and said that I must be a Christadelphian because he had seen “Elpis Israel” on my desk.

On Wednesday 1 August 1956 and I had morning tea with some of the men from Circulation. They asked me to play a doubles with them in the lunch hour and I did and it was a good game. The lad from Berwen Paine Advertising was there as well and he gave me a letter and books from Roger Griggs my friend from school. He had asked me some questions in his letter and wanted me to go out to lunch with him and answer some of his questions. In the evening it was the Abraham class at Woodville and Bob Martin gave the resume and Roger Stokes was chairman. Perce of course was leader. The new boy Keith Noble was there and I spoke to him afterward. I showed Roger Grigg’s letter to Roger Stokes but to my annoyance when I came back Keith Noble had gone. Bob went to see if he could catch him up but he was gone. Brian Wigzell has been showing interest in me lately. We were standing by Bob’s car when he put his arm around me.

On Saturday I worked until 12.00 noon and then went up top to play table tennis. Stan Dickson was there even though he wasn’t working. My table-tennis games were good on this day. I tend to be a bit erratic in my game, sometimes really good, sometimes not so good. Stan Dickon was beyond me, somehow. I never knew where I stood with him. He was evidently very interested in me, but he never over-stepped the mark of friendship but I never knew what he was thinking, I just couldn’t work him out.

The Woodville YF class was on in the evening and the film ‘3 minutes to 12’ was shown. It was a totally useless film and I had no idea why they wasted our time showing it. Sept 2, 1956 was the day I started my new diary.

DIARY ENTRIES FOR CHAPTER 25

19560101 Sunday – Today dad took us to Mt Compass and as usual my heart did a couple of back flips when we arrived at dear old Glen Shera. The kids and I went down to the shearing shed and I kept them amused down there for a while. I think I’ll always remember the shearing shed and all the good times I have had there. We had afternoon tea, and Uncle John and Auntie Ronda are just the same as ever. Coming home I had a bit of a cry to myself because of Glen Shera; because I know I won’t be going there again soon.

19560102 Monday – I rode out to Bev River’s place today and kicked around there. She’s a lovely girl though a bit weak-willed. Her brother is a nice kid too (nine years old) and he seemed to take to me straight away. By the time I left to go home it was about 9 o’clock and I rode up Sturt Rd though I didn’t have a clue where it went to. I seemed to be up in the hills though how I got there I didn’t know. Eventually I found myself on the South Rd so I wasn’t lost after all

19560103 Tuesday – This morning I went to the Manser’s to have a look at the new baby Graham Charles Manser. He’s a beautiful little thing, and it looks just like his father, bald head and all. I paid a visit to the dentist in the afternoon and he drilled my tooth for the new cap with his instruments of torture. It’s usually fun going to him but it wasn’t too good this time and I’ve come to the conclusion that drilling’s no fun.

19560104 Wednesday – Bev had to put up with me again today, poor girl. Bev and I are trying to arrange an outing with the members of our class, so she asked Kirk out to help and Lynton (her brother). I took Lynton out with me into the school yard so Kirk and Bev could talk without him interrupting them. He ‘s quite a bright lad. I stayed to tea and afterwards David, the boy across the road, came over and he was good fun. When I got home I found Graham had had and accident in the car with Barbara Etherington his girlfriend, and Dad was not a “happy chappy.”

19560105 Thursday – Must have been a boring day because I don’t remember much of it. But I do remember that we had some photos taken today, one of me, one of a group of the boys and one of Gunta Vitolins and me posing with our hockey sticks and one of Colleen Robjohns as well.

19560106 Friday – Graham’s girlfriend Barbara Etherington who is staying with us from Sydney went to the beach with me this afternoon and we didn’t swim because she didn’t want to, so we just lay on the beach and sunbathed. Barbara went up to the phone box and rang up her beloved Graham, just to let him know she was alive! We went home early and then Graham and Barbara went out. I’m not sure what I feel about Barbara. There is a photo in my diary here of Wendy Swain.

19560107 Saturday – Stayed home this morning for a while until Bev rang up to ask me to come to her place. We talked about our outing on January 8 1956 but we just couldn’t do much because it was too late for anything to be done. I took a letter to Al Kalnin’s place and left it there hoping that he’d get it in time. I went to see “Blackboard Jungle” with Mum. Crummy film.

19560108 Sunday – When I arrived at the Mitcham station for our fabulous trip to Loftier Park, Al Kalnins was already there and Bev and Kirk arrived soon after. We got tickets to Mount Lofty and started off. We had great fun in the train but poor Bev didn’t like the walk to the Loftia Park Swimming pool but we got there eventually. I had beaut fun, diving and swimming with the boys. Bev couldn’t go in though because it was “that time of the month” which was bad luck. We left a bit late and so missed the tram and consequently arrived home late.

19560109 Monday – I got up early this morning and went job hunting. I tried for one at 61 Flinders Street, but I doubt whether I’ll get it. I had left my reference home, so Barbara Etherington brought it in and to my relief I got it on time. The man was nice enough but I messed up the shorthand test. Oh well, there are other jobs. I forgot to give him my address, so I was pretty certain I wouldn’t get the job.

19560110 Tuesday  – I rang up the fellow about the job and he said that he would send me a letter in the post. So that job has gone west. I was too young for it anyway. Mum rang up Muirden’s and Charters about their courses, so it looks like I will be going to a business college instead. I wish I could just go back to school. Still it’s just too bad. You can’t have everything.

19560111 Wednesday – I went to a place called the “Comprehensive” today to get myself a job and after a typing test he told me I could start at Colton Palmer and Preston this afternoon. I turned up in time and went to see a Mr Blackwell who told me where to go. There were about seven girls in the office and we all typed invoices. They are a nice lot of girls, in fact pretty good considering. I like the job as a temporary job, but I’d hate to work here permanently.

19560112 Thursday  – Work again today. I get on well with the girls and they all reckon that they wished I would be working there permanently but I wouldn’t want to. Besides, there’s my trip to Glen Shera coming up. How I am looking forward to that. There’s a boy working there who the girls call their ‘pin up’ and just for fun I called him a bodgie and I think that if I were staying on much longer there’d be murder done.

19560112 Letter from Walter Pearce – 2 Ilfracombe Avenue, Burwood,

Dear Fay,

Your last letter was dated 16/12/55 and this one is dated 12/1/56. Please accept the following reasons for the delay. It so happened that……..and……so and with Xmas and…..

The results of the L.C have just come out over here, but of course they don’t include Interstate results. Will you let us know how you went and we would be interested to know if anyone else over there sat for the exam, though I can’t think of any off hand. I thought you might be interested to hear some more of your character profile, but there is not much of interest in the style of handwriting of your letter, except perhaps that your typewriter needs a new ribbon and your rubber has torn into the paper in parts, proving conclusively that your typewriting standard is not much better than mine.

You appear to have reached a few conclusions about my character profile from my style of prose. I have not been told before that I have a keen wit, but I know that I am underlaid with a heavy sarcasm. (Somehow I think the grammar in that last sentence went astray). I will not commit myself as to whether I adjudged you to be emotionally stable from your writing or from personal observation. You can concentrate on a thing if you want to despite what you said in your first paragraph, it’s just that you can’t be bothered getting down to work like 99999999 out of every 100000000 Australians. If your room is untidy you should be ashamed of yourself, just like I am ashamed of my room.

True, as you say, frankness can be cruel as I can tell you from my own experience and it is a problem to display kindness to all we meet in an effort to follow the example of the Master. I am writing this letter on my morning off from the shop and I had best be getting ready or the boss will wonder where his apprentice has got to. ‘Still your friend (I hope)’ (copyright),

Walter Pearce, XYZ enemy of enemies of all tape recorder operators.

19560113 Friday – I’ve failed my Leaving Certificate!! and I feel awful and I didn’t even get an English Credit either. Wendy did though! I am so upset. I finished off work at 11 o’clock today and went home and packed for Glen Shera. I caught the bus and arrived there just in time for tea. Uncle John was supposed to be going to RSL but first he had to get some fish which he was going to put in the dam. I went with him and after he had got them we went down to the dam. On the way there and back he stopped the car and we got out and chased rabbits which had been dazzled in the glare of the lights.

19560114 Saturday – I went for one of those “short” walks this morning and ended up at Ellis’s farm some four miles away, and stood behind some coke bags and waited for Mr Ellis to come out to milk the cows. When he came out and I stepped out from behind the coke bags, the poor fellow practically fell over with fright. I told him who I was while he gaped at me like a landed fish. When I was walking down the paddocks after saying goodbye to him, he was still staring after me. These country men! They’re not used to seeing strange girls step from behind coke bags at six o’clock in the morning.

19560115 Sunday – His Honorable, Majestiggle Highness, Tom Simpson and his fabulous wife Bardy Simpson, nee Barbara Penfold Highland visited the station today and from the moment they arrived until the moment they left, they fought and squabbled like a pair of spoiled children, which is in truth, no more and no less than what they are – in my estimation anyway. Poor Uncle John, I pity him having to work under Tom. He has a terrible job getting money for the station from the Simpson family’s tightly held purse strings.

19560116 Monday – Uncle John took me out on the horses today and I had a terrific time. At first, as usual, I felt rather strange on a horse, but soon I got my “sea legs” and I went all right. We took some cattle to the dam where the fish are. Every time I mounted my horse, Uncle John would laugh at me, because I took such a long time to get up. We went to have a look at the dam near the place Uncle John and I had ridden last time I was at Glen Shera. We went to the side of the dam and Uncle John pretended to push me in and we both nearly fell in. It would have been funny, because I can swim but he can’t.

19560121 Saturday I woke up this morning feeling awfully sad that I had to go home.

19560123 Monday – I went back to the ‘Comprehensive’ today and Mr Hergstrom sent me to Mr Schumann of Schumann Lighting Ltd of 42 Halifax Street, same street as The Temple is located. He told me what the job and that I would be the private secretary of Mr Schumann. I was to start work tomorrow. Mr Schumann is a big, tall, arrogant type of man and seems to me to be rather haphazard in his ways. I certainly hope I can do the work all right.

19560124 Tuesday – I reported at work rather early, so Mr Schumann showed me around a bit before I started and introduced me to Mr Rowe and Zenda, two assemblers in the factory. Zenda seems very nice and so is Mr Rowe, but Mr Schumann scares me a bit. I cleaned up the office this morning and did a bit of filing but apart from that, there didn’t seem much to do.

19560125 Wednesday – Mr Schumann had me typing price lists today and I had to do twelve copies of each page. Then he informed me that I had done them wrong and I would have to do them all over again. He said it was my fault but it most certainly wasn’t because I had done everything he had told me to do and it was the prices that had changed which was not my “mistake” but he wouldn’t admit it. Why couldn’t he just say, “I’m sorry but the prices have changed and you will have to type them again.”

19560129 Sunday – I went to the Temple in the morning and in the afternoon I caught the Henley bus with Des Manser, Alan Cheek and Andrew. We then got lifts in cars at the other end to West Beach where the Strudwick’s were staying. We had beaut fun at the beach and strangely enough Des Manser was doing a line for me again. Roger Stokes was paying me attention too. It’s either feast or famine! Roger’s quite a nice lad. You never know, Maybe,but again, maybe not. I got a ride back with Graham and we went to the night meeting. It’s been a lovely day and I hope there are more days like it.

19560130 Monday – It was the Port Noarlunga trip today. We went by bus and did we have fun. We swam and played keep the ball away and then Nancy King, Rosalie Foster, Dianne, Roger Stokes and I walked to the river. After dinner, we all went out onto the jetty and Max Kennett and I had some fun diving off the top of the jetty. There was a new boy there, Trevor somebody or other and we had some fun. Roger Stokes and Lewis Osborne spent most of the afternoon with me. Roger kept trying to “protect” me from the grasp of Lewis and Trevor and, well, I enjoyed myself. When we arrived back in town, Dean Pitt and Roger walked to the bus with me.

19560201 Wednesday – Mr Schuman makes me mad. He gets me to type out a price list in a certain way and then, after I have finished doing four copies of the list, he takes them and adds something else to them and then I’ve got to start typing all over again.

19560202 Thursday – I rang Comprehensive today at work to ring in my pay, and at dinner time I bought myself a case, and now I owe dad two pound sixpence. Dad and Mum and I went to the beach with my brother Graham in his car this evening and all the young folk weren’t at West Beach where we were but at Henley Beach, worst luck. Oh well, I’ll go with them another time. I walked along the beach with Graham and had some horrible cool drinks and some equally horrible ice cream.

19560203 Friday – We went to the beach again tonight and did practically the same things again as we did last night. It was a lovely lazily spent evening floating a long way out from the shore with no-one there but me. It’s strange, but whenever I’m swimming my mind relaxes and I lazily dream all my favorite dreams and a few besides. Graham wasn’t with us tonight, just Dad and Mum and me and it was lovely and peaceful. I wish it stay summer, I so love going to the beach.

19560204 Saturday – We played tennis against Gana today and as two of the girls didn’t turn up, we lost. I went to tennis this afternoon and then the crowd went down to the beach. I went in the Stokes’ car with Lewis Osborne and Roger Stokes on either side of me. We went in for a swim and then Jimmy Luke, Lewis Osborne, Roger Stokes, Barbara Foulis and I went for a walk along the jetty. Barbara Foulis was holding forth, so Jim and I slipped back a bit. Before long, Jim was holding my hand, so I caught hold of Lewis’ hand just to make it even. We went to Stokes for supper and I went in the Stokes’ car in the back with Roger.

19560205 Sunday – I spoke to Mr Colquhoun today about my being baptised and he told me to call around at his place next Thursday and he will take me through. I tried to interest myself in the lesson today, but Stephen Smith is so boring. I wish we still had Miss Porter or at least someone like John Martin. He would be pretty good I should think. It seems that David Wauchope is coming out with some different ideas about various Bible doctrines at Sunday School.

19560206 Monday – I spoke to Mum and Dad about my going to Mr Colquhoun’s palce and about my being baptised and they were tremendously pleased, but Mum thinks I am really too young to be thinking about being baptised yet. Stephen Smith is nowhere near as good a teacher as Miss Porter. He’s a lovely man but I wish Miss Porter hadn’t given up teaching.

19570207 Tuesday – I rang Mr Pederick up from work today and he told me he would coach me for he Geography exam. Maybe I might pass after all, I hope so. Zenda and I talked like anything this morning and Mrs Schuman was there. She’s quite nice. Mr Schuman has a son called Peter.

19560208 Wednesday – I answered the phone at work today and it was Mr Hergstrom. He wanted to speak to Mr Schumann but as he wasn’t in, he spoke to me instead. He told me that Mr Schumann wasn’t satisfied with my work and that he was getting a senior to do my work. I just felt stunned because I had been doing my very best and I knew my shorthand and typing had been all right. Mr Schumann had said that. I had a horrible feeling that I was going to cry and I had to fight it all the rest of the day. When Mr Schumann came in, he said, “So we are losing you, are we?” I felt as though I could kill him in that moment. He didn’t want an office girl, he wanted a manager to manage his business and take all the responsibility from him.

19560209 Thursday – I went to Mr Colquhoun’s place at seven o’clock and who should I see on the way but Anthony Jacobs. Did I get a shock, though I think he got a bigger one. We talked for a while and then he rode with me to Lindsay’s. Lindsay Colquhoun is extremely hard and it was clear to me that he thoroughly enjoys asking questions. I did all right though and he seemed fairly satisfied. I left his place at about eleven o’clock and was I tired when I got home.

19560210 Friday. – I went to Mr Pederick’s place for a Geography lesson this evening and even though we did listen, we didn’t learn much. He’s a rotten teacher. I do hope I get my Supplementary. I rode home with one of the boys fro 4P who is also sitting for Geography Supplementary. It was a lovely ride because it was a beautiful night.

19560211 Saturday – After the tennis picnic, as usual, the crowd went down to the beach. I went with Graham this time. We all went home first, that is a few of the girls and Graham and I came to our place to freshen up. By the time we got to the beach however, everybody else had gone in for a swim and now were dressed, so instead, Lewis Osborne, myself and Roger Stokes and Barbara Foulis and her sister and Grant (in that order) went for a walk along the beach. Lewis and Roger held hands with me and Lewis and I were arguing all sorts of things as we walked. I went home with Lewis Osborne in Grant Wauchope’s car.

19560212 Sunday – After singing practice Nancy King and I went up to the shop with the rest of the girls to buy our dinner and all the boys, Lewis Osborne, Dean Pit, Langdon Palmer etc came into the Black and White with us. We went in again and then I had to go back to get my purse which I had left behind. Lewis Osborne and Dean Pitt waited for us and walked with Nancy King and I to the fruit shop. I was walking with Lewis Osborne for a while and then I continud to walk with Dean and Lewis walked with Nancy King. Dean is quite interesting to talk to. I like him.

19560214 Tuesday – This morning I went to the University to sit for the Supplementary. I certainly had some luck, because there was a question on New Zealand and one on Malaya which I had read through just before the exam and consequently I knew something about it. When I got home, who should be there but Ian Wurfel. It is clear that Ian likes me an awful lot, but I’m not at all interested in him. At about five o’clock when I got home, Ken and Mrs Wurfel were there. I took as little notice of Ken as possible but he’s still got a hold over me and once again I wonder, just like I did at the show in 1955.

19560215 Wednesday – I got dressed in my red frock tonight ready for the pictures with Anthony. I waited and waited and waited and he hadn’t turned up. At last I went out the front to see if I could see him, and there he was! He’d been too shy to come in. That made us late for the pictures. These country boys! He put his arm around me half way through and it shows that I’m not interested in him because I was hardly aware of him the whole time I was there. We talked for a while after and he wanted to see me again so I arranged to see him Thursday week when I go to Lindsay’s.

19560218 Saturday – I played about three sets of tennis today which I won and once again I lost against Len Wigzell. It was Woodville Young Folk’s tonight and I went in the car with Alan Cheek and some others. Perce Mansfield and John Martin spoke and it was on the Book of Daniel. Afterward I talked to Lewis Osborne and Roger Stokes. Caught the bus home with Glennis Lawrey and Lewis Osborne. I wish this diary was bigger. I hate writing in note form because it sounds all disjointed and silly.

19560219 Sunday – After singing today I went in Denise Mansfield’s car with Nancy King and some others to the shop. I didn’t want to stay with that crowd so I got Graham to drive me back to try to meet up with the other group. I talked with Dean Pitt. Everyone decided to go to the Grosvenor Hotel for dinner, but that was too expensive for me and so Dean, Lewis and I went to the Railway Station to buy our dinner. We walked along the Torrens for a long way and then to my dismay we came upon all the rest of the Young Folk. Graham loudly called out, jokingly I guess, to all and sundry, that I couldn’t be his sister, because his sister wouldn’t be walking all alone with two boys etc. etc. I fear I am getting myself a reputation. Dean, Lewis and I walked back. We were late and I walked in and then they walked in.

19560220 Monday – Mr Pederick rang up today to tell me I had passed my Geography Exam and that means I have also PASSED MY LEAVING!! HOORAY!!!!! Now I must write to Walter Pearce in Sydney to tell him so that he won’t have a guilty conscience about keeping me from my studies whilst he was in Adelaide. Dad was certainly pleased when I told him.

19560221 Monday – I stayed home and helped Mum today and I seemed to spend all day doing dishes, getting meals and making lunch. I’d hate to be a house maid, though if I ever get married I will be . I suppose it will be all right.

19560222 Wednesday – I rode to Brighton today and took all my swimming gear. I put on my flippers and swam out to a boat by the jetty and watched two boys diving there. Later in the morning I joined up with four girls and we swam from the jetty. Then one of the two boys borrowed my flippers and then the girls and I went to dinner. Afterward we got talking to the boys and I did some diving. Later another boy came along and we all swam together. I got talking to one of the boys whose name was Steve Moore and he turned out to be a station hand. Naturally I was interested. He is coming around to my place tomorrow. Wonderful day.

19560223 Thursday – I got up early this morning and mum and I dashed around trying to get things ready for Steve and YMIC tonight. Mum and I were speculating about Steve and wondering whether he is nice or otherwise and by the time it was 1 o’clock I was getting a bit nervous. At about 1 o’clock Steve rang up and told me that he could not come because his motor bike has gone bung. He asked me if he could see me again and we arranged a date for next Tuesday. I wish he had come today because I wanted to take him to Young Folks Saturday. Oh Well. Went to Lindsay Colquhoun’s and saw Anthony before I went in to Lindsay’s.

19560224 Friday – I got up early and worked like mad to go the beach as soon as possible. I got a flat tyre on the way and had to mend that and then when I got there it was windy and the sea was rough. Some man or other tried to strike up a conversation with me and I was horribly rude to him but it didn’t seem to penetrate his thick skin. Mum and I went to see the Manser’s this evening and we stayed there until fairly late. Des and Brian had gone to the pictures.

19560225 Saturday – Tennis. Had to forfeit because I was absent last week. Roger Stokes, Glennis Lawrie and Don McColl went rowing on the Torrens and Roger Stokes still seems to like me. It was Young Folk’s tonight and afterward Dean Pitt and Lewis Osborne asked me to come with them to get a drink. It ended up that Jim Luke and Geraldine Stokes walked behind and Roger Stokes, Lewis Osborne, Deane Pitt and Langdon Palmer and I walked together. Roger was jealous of Lewis for walking beside me and each time he tried to get near me Lewis would push in between. They practically quarrelled over who was going to buy me a drink and eventually, in disgust, I bought my own. Dean, Roger and Lewis came to the bus with me. Dianne left and then Roger to catch their buses and that left Lewis with me.

19560226 Sunday – I stayed home this morning and Dad brought Nancy King home for dinner. After Sunday School we had singing practice and then we went to have our dinner. Deane Pitt and Lewis Osborne wanted me to go up to the shop to get a ‘jungle juice’ but I couldn’t get away because I was talking with Rosalie Foster. After the night meeting I went with Deane and Lewis to the Torrens. Roger Stokes was there with Audrey Churches. I sat in between Deane and Lewis. We talked Barbara Foulis into going on Popeye with us. I sat next to Dean. They walked with me to the Bus stop and each was trying to get rid of the other but eventually they both came with me. I think Dean does like me. He is going to have a crowd at his place when I come back. They have both made a date with me to buy me a ‘jungle juice’ when I come back and Dean wanted to know if I’d be back for Easter.

19560227 Monday – Nothing much – just dishes and morning lunches and I went into town to get this diary. I won’t to be able to fill up the first two months because I don’t know what I did.

19560228 Tuesday – It’s a gorgeous day! It’s half past one and I’m not so sure that it’s a gorgeous day because it looks as thought Steve won’t turn up. I waited until three o’clock, no half past two, getting angrier and angrier ever moment. If I hadn’t been so angry, it would have been awfully funny, me being stood up. Yes, it is funny. A girl needs to be stood up now and then just to keep her from getting conceited when boys take notice of her. I went to Brighton and went in for a swim there and strangely enough I met the same girls I met the day I saw Steve.

19560229 Wednesday – I got up late this morning and got the work over as quickly as possible and then spent the rest of the morning reading E V Timms ‘Forever to remain.’ It is a good book. In the evening I went out to Thebarton for the pamphlet distribution. I went with Max Kennett and it was beaut fun walking along the streets sticking pamphlets in the letter boxes. When we had finished we went into a milk bar to have a drink and Max Kennett bludged a twin choc from John Broadbridge by tossing for it. I went home in Robert Stokes car.

TRIP TO SYDNEY – To pick up Beth Joseph, Charlie’s fiance and bring her back to Adelaide to live.

19560301 Thursday – Packing for trip to Sydney to pick up Beth Joseph, Charlie’s fiance who is going to come and live with us in Adelaide. We finished packing today and in between times I read ‘Botany Bay.’ It was certainly a good book. I haven’t been a bit excited about tomorrow as yet and I’m glad that I haven’t. I went to the library this evening and got in a stock of books for the holiday. I must remember to write to Roger, Geoff and Anthony.

19560302 Friday – When I woke up this morning I thought of our trip to Sydney which is to start today but I didn’t have the energy to think much about it. Nancy turned up at about seven but the car had to be fixed up before we started and so we didn’t get started until about eleven. Practically all the way I lay on the floor of the car and slept. We stopped at Coonalpyn first and sent a telegram home then we stopped at Kaniva and had tea there. We stayed for the night at Dimboola and we spoke to a man who told us there was a swimming pool at Dimboola but Dad wouldn’t let us swim until the morning.

19560303 Saturday – Nancy and I went to the pool early this morning and at last plucked up courage to go into what we thought would be icy water but to our surprise it was lovely and warm. There was a beaut diving board and a diving tower, pontoon etc. all on the river. I took photos of Nan and she took some of me. We swam at each place we stopped at and Yass was one place where we swam.

19560307 Wednesday  – Visit to the Josephs farm at “Shipton” Cobbitty Camden. This is where Charles fiance’s family live. This morning I went out with David Joseph, Beth’s brother, and the rest of the Joseph mob on the tractor and we also went swimming. When we came back, I persuaded Uncle Bill Joseph to let me ride their horse. I got on and trotted off then cantered and tried to guide the horse out of the home paddock gate.The horse had other ideas. It wanted to go to its barn for food. The horse prevailed. It went towards the barn and I went towards the gate. Unfortunately there was a large gum tree in the middle. I flew out of the saddle and crashed my left wrist into the tree and then landed on my jaw. The horse with stirrups flying, cantered towards its barn and its dinner. The Joseph clan drove me to Bodalla and from thence, to the Moruya Hospital because I had broken my wrist. An impacted fracture of the radius they called it. For some reason I was put in the maternity ward and all the pregnant women told me horror stories of what was going to happen to my wrist when the doctor got hold of it. By the time they had finished with me I was so scared of the doctor that when they were putting me under the anaesthetic I tried not to breathe so I wouldn’t go unconscious.

Joseph family
David 22
Helen 20
Beth 18 in September
Faith 16 February
Peter 14
Janice 11,
Francis William 10
Keith, Timothy 8 years
Alicia 6 years
Christopher 4
Phillip 1 yr.

David’s father’s name is William. He has brothers, David and Henry, David’s mother’s name is Edna May (Ryan). She has sister, Mona (married to Jack Crews) and brother, Bert Ryan (married to Renee) brother, John (married to Vera) and sister, Betty (married to McDowell), Kitty (married to Wal Joseph) and Frank (married to Betty Heffner), Les (married to Mavis Poole), Wendy (married to David Pogson)

19560308 Thursday – Half way through the night, at least that’s what it seemed to me, I came out of the anaesthetic and did I groan. When I woke up in the morning the nurse came in and tidied me up a bit and she told me that I had kicked her across the room while I was under the anaesthetic last night. Dad & Mum took me home later and was I glad to get back. When I went inside, David smelled my breath and pretended to swoon. I was under the anaesthetic for hours after they had finished setting my wrist and it was 1 ½ hours while they were doing that. It took Dr McKie about an hour just to get the bones apart because they were so badly impacted.

19560309 Friday – Last night we were in the middle of the readings and I was feeling terrible. Halfway through my reading turn I burst out crying and everyone wondered what was wrong. This morning it was time for us to go back to Sydney. I told David that I wouldn’t kiss him goodbye unless he shaved and David shaved so quickly that he cut himself twice. He kissed me first. Why is it that all the nicest boys are either married or engaged. I think David is terrific. When we got to Bodalla we said goodbye to Peggy, David’s fiancé and in the end she was crying as well as Nancy, and I was near to crying. David was on the phone to Peggy and I could hear his conversation with her.

We are bringing Beth Joseph back to Adelaide with us. Beth is lovely. She is not very tall, probably about five foot three inches. She has a lovely little rounded figure and beautiful black curly hair. She is so obviously gentle and kind. I am sure I am going to love her very much. Don’t know how Charlie got her with his abrasive nature but he has, and I am glad. I love her family too. I am sure she is going to miss her home as well. She has had a good education and has a degree in something or other so she should be able to get a job over in Adelaide. I will be sharing my bedroom with her, but I don’t mind at all. It will be lovely to have a “Sister” of my own at last.

19560320 Letter to Roger Stokes

Dear Roger, Don’t faint, but I am actually writing to you at last. We are in Canberra now on the way home to Adelaide and it’s only now that I have found time to write. I’ve had a terrific time and met some lovely people and also I’ve broken my arm. Clever aren’t I? There’s a terrible lot to tell and no time to tell it in, so I’m afraid I’ll have to leave it for when I get back.

News in brief.

Monday 5th Arrived at Gordon Russell’s

Tuesday 6th Went to Bodalla – Joseph’s farm

Wednesday 7th Rode horse at Bodalla and broke my arm

Thursday 8th Francis Joseph’s birthday party

Friday 9th Journey back to Sydney to Bruce Philps home at Loftus and Russels at Hurstville

Saturday 10th Lakemba send off for Charles and Beth.

Sunday 11th Hurstville Meeting

Monday 12th Town to see Mr Deverson

Tuesday 13 Manley, Taronga Park, no shoes now

Wednesday 14th Lef for Katoomba

Thursday 15th Sydney, Loftus, stayed with Deversons.

19560402 Letter from, Anthony Deverson

19560411 Letter to Anthony Deverson

19560501 Your thoughts – I found this article and it has made an impression on me. I will read it often and try to keep it in my head.

• Ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you
• What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday and our present thoughts build our life tomorrow. Our life is the creation of our mind.
• Marcus Aurelius – A man’s life is what his thoughts make of it.
• William James. The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.
• Mark 2:24. What things so every you desire when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them.
• Faith has moved mountains. Victor Frankl – his faith was his greatest strength.
• Matt 9:29. According to your belief it is done unto you.
• Mental rehearsal
• What you create for others you sow for yourself. Help make others successful and success will come to you.
• Going with the flow of life is an extension of letting go.
• Make your goals your dominant thoughts.
• We cannot move away from being poor we can only move toward being rich.
• Focus, focus and focus again
• Happiness does not depend on who you are or what you have, it depends solely on what you think.
• Tension is a habit. Relaxing is a habit. And bad habits can be broken, good habits formed.
• To achieve a change from what we do not want to what we want we must see ourselves already in possession of that which we want.
• You can only lose weight on a permanent basis if your focus is on becoming that person.
• Mental pictures do work. They have power, so be careful how you think.
• Self-talk is the way you direct yourself.
• As we see ourself so we act.
• Unless worthiness and success are experienced changes to self-image are unlikely to occur.
• The subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between real or imagined experiences.
• The only difference between success and failure is in the manner of thinking
• Creating a new habit takes approximately 21 days of continuosly carrying out the thinking.
• You can become a new and different person by simply changing your self-talk. Life really is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Self-talk and visualization go hand in hand and in order to improve your self-talk you need to also visualize the type of person you would like to be.

19560506 Sunday – I haven’t written up my diary for so long but somehow I just haven’t felt like it. Such a lot has happened. Dad, Mum, Nancy King and I have been to Sydney and then back in time for the Conference in Adelaide. I write to Anthony Deverson of Loftus Sydney now and I’ve been offered invitations to stay at seven Christadelphian’s homes next time I go back to Sydney. But all this is beside the point. I’m miserable! Miserable because I am going to a business College full of childish girls whose only subjects of conversation are boys, dances and clothes. I wouldn’t mind this so much if I could go around with say, Roger Stokes at Sunday School without everybody gossipping!

Beth and Charles have been back in Adelaide for almost a couple of months now. Beth is lovely and I generally get on with her really well. Trouble is, Charlie and Beth together are a bit much for me at times. Charlie has always bossed and bullied me and takes too much interest, for my liking, in my affairs. Now I not only have Charlie on my back, but I have Beth as well. It didn’t take Beth and Charlie long to decide that I am a flirt and to be constantly watching me and telling me off if my behaviour comes short of their ideals.

19560508 Tuesday – I hate myself! Today in my usual form, when Mum told me to keep quiet, I told her to,”Shut up!” and Beth naturally went mad at me. I went out in what they must have thought was a huff but I just felt I couldn’t contaminate them any longer. Beth came in later and apologized “but” she said “you reminded me so much of Faith when she is cheeky and she used to get thrashed for it.” Implying naturally enough that I should have been thrashed! Then Mum came and apologised and again in my usual form I said: “Oh go away!” And I’m thinking of being baptised!!

19560512 Saturday – I went to Dinner at Wendy Swain’s place today and once again I saw the new baby. Mr Barrett is so proud of her. We went to the football and saw Norwood’s play against Glenelg. Glenelg won. John Bevan was playing for Glenelg Colts, but they lost. We talked to him for a while. Wendy is so funny to watch at the football. She got terribly worked up. I went home to bed. Didn’t go to SPL.

19560513 Sunday – I went to the meeting this morning and Rosalie’s pending baptism was announced. We had the Stokes come for dinner and Mrs Stokes gave it away to Mum that Roger Stokes is terribly keen on me and she expected me to be very pleased! Well I am in a way – yes I am, but I only want Roger as a friend, nothing else. I went to Woodville Sunday School today. There was a boy named Bill Clothier there – he has classic good looks. He is coming along because he is friendly with Fay Wigzell. He lives at Athelstone.

DIARY ENTRIES – Last half of 1956.

19560514 Monday – I hate myself. Today in my usual form, when Mum told me to keep quiet, I told her to, “Shut up,” and Beth naturally went mad at me. I went out in what they must have thought was a huff but I just felt I didn’t want to contaminate them any longer. Beth came in later and apologized, but she said you remind me so much of Faith when she was cheeky and she used to get thrashed for it.” Implying naturally enough that I should have been thrashed and as far as I was concerned, that negated her apology. Then Mum came and she apologized and I said, “Oh go away.” And I’m thinking of being baptised.

19560515 Tuesday – I went to see about my new bike today and it’s a beauty. I’m going to pay 4 pound a month on it. The boy that was on holiday was at work today. He’s not bad looking though he seems to be a bit ‘Casinova-ish.’ David S has got the loveliest manner. He makes my heart jump every time he speaks to me, but unfortunately he’s engaged.

19560516 Wednesday – Tonight is Rosalie Foster’s baptism. Roy came past this morning and said ‘Hello Fay.’ He’s the boy who has been on holidays. I said ‘Hello?’ and that was when he told me his name was ‘Roy.’ David Stone is terrific. He gave me an envelope to type for him today and while I was doing it I offered to stick a part of the enclosures that were ripped for him and he thanked me so nicely that I felt I would like to do more for him. He rang me up on the intercom this afternoon and I love his voice. I rang Wendy Swain this afternoon and talked to her for a while. I got Ian to come in and asked him if he would like to take Wendy Swain to a dance. He was terribly embarrassed at first, but he is going to come with me to Wendy’s place this Saturday. I thought it awfully funny.

19560602 Saturday – I’ve amazed myself today. Jim Luke asked me to go to Bob Wallace’s party with him and I said, “Yes.” It turned out to be a very interesting party, not at all a “Christadelphian” type of party.

19560629 Friday – Today I was standing at Bob W ‘s desk and I started scribbling on a pad and then I wrote ‘I love Bob (in shorthand) on it. A childish thing to do and then I tore it up. He had seen it and was curious about it. He asked me to write it again, which, of course I wouldn’t do. He kept on to me so eventually I wrote something of no importance down and when I looked up I found he had some shorthand on his pad and for I minute I thought he had been able to read my shorthand and could do shorthand himself.

19560626 Wednesday – This evening was my baptism.   I could not believe that I was to baptised at last. Because I was so young, Lindsay Colquhoun had opposed my baptism many months ago when I first wanted to be baptised. He made me spend a really long time going to classes at his place and  Pa Harris place. I am not sorry now that he made it so difficult for me because from this night on I will never be able to say that I didn’t know what I was doing or say that I just got baptised because everyone else was doing it.  No, I was baptised with my eyes wide open. I believed that  God required that I be baptised, and I wanted with all my heart to be baptised. Perce Mansfield gave the talk for my baptism and I was very glad of that. I was deliriously exultant during my baptism. It was the most emotional moment I have ever experienced.  The Baptism was held in the rear hall of the Temple Halifax Street.

19560627 Thursday – The day after my baptism.  I felt very flat today, probably because I had been so high and excited last night. I have wanted to be baptised for so long and now it is over and I feel a bit flat.  Probably nothing a good sleep wouldn’t fix, but  how I’m going to have a good sleep is beyond me. The funny thing after you are baptised you have been looking forward to it for so long everything else seems to be an anti climax. But I have been baptised and my sins have all been washed away. Now I have my life ahead of me and I will try to live it to the best of my ability believing and loving and trusting God and doing my very best to live in a godly manner.

19560704 Thursday – One week after my baptism.   It is such a short time after my baptism and I and not happy with myself at all. I am struggling with so many things in my life. Sin seems to come so easily to me and godliness is hard.  So many things on my mind, can’t write about them now. I need to think..think.

19560727 Friday – It has been a pretty good day today except that I almost had a crash on the way to work. At lunch time I asked Bob if he would play table tennis with me and he said he would later on in the lunch hour. I went up at the beginning of the hour, however, and got a game straight away with the new man in the paper delivery. He beat me 21-18; 21-14; 21-18. Then the fellow from the other building who had asked me to play with him today, partnered me in a double against two other men. We won 3 sets to nil, and the loser bought us all cokes. It was a good game and I played well. The table we played on was the table all the good players use and consequently we had a large audience especially as there was a girl playing – me. The other two girls were there again, hitting and giggling as usual. The men are getting a bit jack of them because they never play a game (they can’t) and they take so long on the tables.

19560728 Saturday – At table tennis I had some pretty good games. I went for a ride with Lewis Osborne and had a look at the new Holdens. At Woodville YF Peter Mansfield and Roger Stokes had to give talks on Galatians. They did an great job. Peter was extra good and he’s got a better speaking voice than his Father HPM and he soon got over his shyness. One day he’s going to be a good catch for someone. We gave a lift to about eight people in the car including a lad Don McColl brought along.

19560729 Sunday – This morning Des gave me the number of his ticket for the Olympic Games. I hope I can get a seat nearby. I read my resume today and it sounded okay I think. The boy we gave a lift home last night took notice of my invitation to come today and he was at Sunday School. Des and Max and some of the others from Adelaide went with us to Glennis Lawrey’s place for tea and it was pretty good. Rosalie got on my nerves tonight, she can be a bit “high-handed” when she likes. I kept my temper, but she can get me annoyed.

19560729 Letter from Anthony Deverson

19560730 Monday – I went into Myers and bought two tickets for the Olympic Games today and by luck got my seats right next to Des and the retst of the gang. That’ll be terrific. I asked Mr Risely if I could have the week off in November and he said ‘Yes’ and so I did Mr Barrow. You beaut! I was sitting with Bob waiting for a free table to play a game of table tennis when he asked me if I knew the Hicks family. Then he said that he knew them well and that he used to play with them when he was younger and go on picnics with them. Small world. I wish Bob was a Christadelphian. Anthony Deverson wrote to me and in he told me a lot of things that I had been wondering about.

19560731 Tuesday – It has been a pretty good day today. I played table tennis again with Bob and this time he beat me 2-1 (21-14, 14-21, 21-15). He intrigues me. I wonder if he felt as frustrated as I did when I refused to go out with him to the movies. The fellow that partnered me in the doubles we played last week is going to coach me, at least he says he is. I met him in Commercial today and he suggested it. When I got back from lunch Roy Benton came up and said that he hadn’t known that I was a Christadelphian before, but he had seen ‘Elpis Israel’ on my desk and guessed that I must be. I think I’m getting over Bob now. I hope so!

19560801 Wednesday – Work went all right. I Played a doubles in lunch hour with some of the men from Circulation. I had morning tea with them and they asked me to play with them then. The lad from Berwen Paine came. He gave me a letter and books from Roger Griggs. There were some questions in his letter and he wants to have lunch with me. The Abraham class went off well. Bob Martin gave the resume and Roger Stokes was chairman. Perce of course was leader. The new boy Keith Noble was there and I spoke to him afterward. While I was showing a letter to Roger Stokes Keith Noble must have left. Bob went to see if he could catch him up to give him a ride home but found he had a flat tyre. Brian Wigzell and I were standing by Bob Martin’s car when he put his arm around me.

19560830 School Opera “A Persian Fantasy” by Duncan McKie at Unley City Hall.

19560901 Saturday – I worked this morning until 12 then went up top to play table tennis. Stan was there even though he wasn’t working. My table-tennis wasn’t too bad today. Stan is beyond me. I never know where I stand with him. He is evidently very interested in me, but he never over-steps the mark of friendship. It is very hard to know what he is thinking. The Woodville YF class was on this evening and the film ‘3 minutes to 12’ was shown. It was a totally useless film.

19560902 Sunday – Front page of my new diary. I am going to continue writing my diary. I found the red one with the lock was unsatisfactory as there was not enough room for me to write and my interest in it waned. This morning ‘Big Bill Stevenson’ gave the exhortation which was very good. At Sunday school this afternoon the lesson was on Abraham not Galatians as we have finished that study. As usually Rosalie rolled up late. I went for a ride after Sunday school and ended up on the Marion Rd near John Badman’s place. I still remember him, my old ‘first year high’ love.At the back of my diary are the following addresses (the little red diary) 1956

Dean Pitt, Gardeners, Paradise. Phone FU 1119

Roger Stokes, 122 East Avenue York

Ken Wurfel. Box 22 Pinaroo. Phone 115

Jeff Berry. 9 Layton St Fulham. L8029.

I was feeling very tired and dispirited today and I am afraid it was noticeable at Sunday School. I must learn to control my moods and facial expressions better than I do. I shouldn’t make others miserable just because I am miserable..

19560904 Tuesday – I played table tennis against “Nigger Hocking” today. I couldn’t seem to play for nuts. Stan wiped his hands of me – almost. He still puzzles me, he seems to like me a lot , yet one day he’ll go out of his way to be with me, but at times, he seems to try to keep away from me, as though he is determined not to be like me. This evening at Daniel, I sat next to Uncle Perce Mansfield because the place was so crowded and that was the only place another chair could be fitted. It went pretty well and my brother Charlie was chairman and he did a good job. Afterward, as usual, Peter Mansfield was first out to supper. He amazes me, he is so slight and yet he eats like a horse. I sometimes watch him and wonder what he is thinking. I often see him giving “sheep’s eyes” at Rosalie, but now and then I get a few. I’d like to be able to read his mind. Bob Martin is still going strong with Jan Randell. I hope it lasts but I’m afraid it won’t.

19560905 Wednesday – Lunch time I borrowed one of the Sunday Mail “Press tickets” giving entrance to the Show. I rode there on my bike and arrived there at 1.10 pm. I went to the “heavy horses” pavilion (naturally) and looked around. The Wurfel’s weren’t there yet, but their name was on the lockers and the Clifts name on the adjoining locker. I wonder how I will feel when I see Ken again. I think I’m over him, at least I hope so. I asked a man if the Wurfel’s had arrived and he told me they hadn’t. I rode back to work and arrived on time luckily! At about 3 pm Stan called me from the stairs and I went up to have a drink with him at the Canteen. I talked to him for a fair while after work. He seemed miserable.

19560906 Thursday – I am certainly going to find this diary hard to keep up with. It is Thursday already, and I am only writing up Monday and consequently can’t remember much about the day. In my lunch hour I went in search of a bolero for the Kitchen evening that night (for Graeme Mansfield and Joan Foulis). I bought one eventually after having tried on dresses. It’s always the same for me, I go out in search of one thing and look at everything but that thing. Ronda would not let me have the ticket today so little Fay set to scheming. I managed to persuade John Greathead to go to the Show in the lunch hour and take me with him. As there wasn’t a car available I rang the garage and asked for Number 60 and we got it so at lunch time we went off to the show in the car and with one ticket. I went in first and then handed the ticket back through the fence to John and then he came in. I went to the horses pavilion to the Wurfel’s locker. I met Jeff Clift and we talked together for a while. Seeing him certainly brought back a few memories. This Show certainly won’t be like last year’s. Mr Wurfel came along then and I went into the locker and had a cup of tea and a sandwich. Trevor was there and as usual wasn’t too badly behaved for the first day I saw him. Ken came in and said a very disinterested “Hullo.” And I did the same. You can’t affect me this year, Ken! I left shortly and went back towards the gate and as I was going into one of the Halls, I met John Greathead and Alan Gillette. Alan shouted me a drink and then we went back to the car and to work again. After work I spoke to Stan. He was miserable again. I asked him “Why?” He said he wouldn’t tell me, but I got him to promise to tell me tomorrow, though he needn’t bother because its not hard to guess. He’s lonely and feels he’s got no aim in life and as he says he’s all right when he’s acting the fool or playing sport, but in between that…..? He likes me a lot, but he knows I’m too young for him and so now and again in spasms he tries to make himself look bad, to put me off. The Kitchen evening went off fairly well. I was very tired though. After it was over I helped clear up and had some fun trying to get Uncle Perce and Peter to do something. Charles and Beth talked to HPM for ages afterward and consequently I spent my time talking to Peter Mansfield, Roger Stokes and Don McColl. Peter Mansfield takes time to come out of his shell. When he is not being spoken to, Peter seems to gaze off into the distance and then when you speak to him everything about him galvanises into action and then when he has finished speaking he goes back to gazing into the distance.

19560927 Gilbert Swan’s CV

19561023 Sunday – Marlene Grosse and I sat together in the cloakroom. Went to Cumberland in the evening. HPM was speaking. Afterward Marlene asked me to dinner next Sunday. Graham talked to Anne Davidson.

19561026 Wednesday – Softball match, we won.

19561101 – Invitation to my 17th birthday party.

19561128 Fay’s birthday – I remember my 16th birthday last year – My brothers and I as members of the Adelaide Sunday School had become accustomed to the many wonderful suppers we hosted at our place and Mum was so very accommodating to us all. Maynard or Charlie or Graham would come home from a picnic or an outing of some such, bringing with them a hoard of noisy, hungry young people. They would say to Mum, “Mum, we hope you don’t mind but everyone had nowhere else to go this evening, so we invited them to come to our place. We knew you wouldn’t mind, and that you would be able to give them something to eat, everyone’s starving.” We were all proud of our Mum and particularly proud of the fact that she never kicked up a fuss, she would just set about cooking up some meat and veggies and would bake a beautiful sponge cake and some butterfly cakes and all sorts of other goodies.

In our early teenage years, from about 1950 onwards, we were no longer “poor.” Dad’s business had flourished and he was an excellent shopper at the East End markets so there were always cases of seasonal fruit in our oversized fridge, so the makings of a good meal seemed always to be there. Mum was a great cook and her sponges were the lightest I have ever tasted. Lashings of cream and strawberries and she could produce a “feast fit for the gods.” Our house at 118 Glen Osmond Road was a big sprawling place and our lounge was very large. We had a lounge suite but no smaller chairs, so everyone used to sit around on the floor. Elaine Luke would play the piano and those who wanted to would sing hymns or pop songs. I never remember any of us worrying about how to “entertain” our guests because they just entertained themselves. Charlie would recite one of his poems, like Runcorn Ferry, or Little Albert. Elaine would sing “When You Were Sweet Sixteen” or some such. We had a great time and I for one just simply took it all for granted.

Then came my 16th birthday. By this time we had a radiogram. I was no longer attending the Adelaide Sunday School, I was going to the Woodville meeting for Sunday School so I invited all the Young People in and around my age group. We did have chairs to accommodate them. Dad had put a whole bunch of chairs around the wall. Mum had prepared a veritable feast. Walter Pearce from Sydney was there, so we had as much music as we needed, but as the evening progressed, it dawned on me that something was very, very different about this night to the nights to which I was so accustomed.

The Woodville Young people were different to the Adelaide Young People. The Adelaide Young People were loud and noisy and happy and they all knew each other so well, there was no embarrassment, no shyness, lots of laughs and practical jokes. This group that I had invited to my party, to me seemed completely different in their behaviour. They were so very polite, and quiet. I hadn’t arranged any items, just provided music and a radiogram and I had the expectation that everyone would just entertain themselves as they had always done on past occasions in our house. Well, we quickly thought up some games and played some music on the radio gram and Walter played some music, but no-one sang. I felt sick in my stomach and was sure the night was an utter disaster.

We finally had Mum’s lovely supper, and I was grateful that that was a hit, but when they all left, I went to my room and threw myself down on my bed and wept tears of utter misery. But to my utter amazement, as the feedback began to flow the following week at Sunday School, my party had been the best thing any of them had “Ever Been To,” they all said. I realised at last that I had been comparing two completely different groups of people and two entirely different sets of expectations.

The two groups of people could not be compared to each other. The Woodvilleites had genuinely enjoyed the evening because they had never attended the kinds of suppers that the Adelaideites were used to, so they didn’t expect them. As the years have passed, I have realised that what we had in Adelaide from my birth until the mid 1950s was a unique period in the history of Christadelphia in Adelaide. The main ecclesia was Adelaide and there were only two or three other ecclesias, so everyone knew each other. There were no air conditioners, no TV (mostly), few cars, everyone traveled by public transport and we lived in a smaller, kindly, comfortable world with lots of outings and sports. It all began to change when HPM came on the scene and ecclesial “wars” developed. I now look back on my life in the mid-1950s as one of the happiest periods, if not the happiest period in my life.

19561102 Friday Charles 21st birthday party

19561122-1208 Olympic games –  Fay’s tickets

These are the tickets that I had for one of the sessions

195611 Senior Class Examination paper

 

Continue Reading . . . Volume 1 – Chapter 26