The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Fay Berry 2013 © – Chapter 30 – 19570410

The 1957 Youth Conference was the high light of my year.  It was a wonderful experience for me and it came right at the time I was struggling with the fact that Bob Wiltshire was now engaged and yet he was still pursuing me and asking for a relationship with me. My will power was not strong enough to refuse his continuing advances and so the conference interrupted everything and removed me for a period away from temptation. I met new people and had new experiences and with my long talks with two of the hosts, Stan and Sheila Bailey,  helped me to make what was obviously the “right” decision and give Bob his “marching orders.” This, of course, didn’t happen until my return from the Conference.

About 6 months prior to the Youth Conference, Meritta Spencer from Melbourne had spoken to me about her brother, Barry Spencer, and suggested that we should become pen pals.  Meritta gave me his postal address and  I wrote to him and he wrote  back  to me. Letters came  every couple of weeks.  Now it was time for the conference and I was so excited, it was my first flight in a plane. I flew to Sydney first and was met at the airport by David Pogson and my brother Charles (Rick as he now wanted to be called).

We checked in my luggage and then went to the airport lounge and had a coffee because there was a wait before the plane left for Coolangatta. Well, we sat there and we laughed and we talked. I really, really liked David Pogson. It was David and Wendy Pogson who had introduced Rick to Beth Joseph and so Rick was to end up in Sydney to live and I was to stay in Adelaide.  As we sat there talking we saw a plane take off and David  joked with me that “there’s your plane, taking off without you with all your luggage.” Well, it turned out that it actually WAS my plane and it did take off without me and with all my luggage!! We had missed the call to board.

Well, we rushed around and got a flight on a plane that left a half an hour later than the original plane. I boarded and worried myself all the way toCoolangatta that I would miss everyone else at the Coolangatta airport, but because the plane was a Lockheed Electra, it is apparently faster than the earlier plane and we arrived  at the airport at just about the same time, so that was good. We had a bus to take us to the Conference at Southport.
There were two complexes booked for the Conference, one complex was called Belleview and the other was called Chelmsford. Belleview turned out to be a lovely modern building with almost new facilities, and Chelmsford was an old two story building and it was not modern and had few facilities. The food at Belleview so we heard during the week, was wonderful, the food at Chelmsfor was not!!

When we arrived at Chelmsford, I didn’t wait to unpack but  went downstairs and found a group of young people in a shed playing table tennis. There was one boy there called Bill Boyd, and he was a red-haired Scottsman. Every time he hit a ball off the table, he would say “There’s a ho’ air current oop there” as the reason for his shot going off the table. That became one of the many Conference “sayings” that we all thought were extremely funny and used in all sorts of inappropriate contexts from then on.

Merrita Spencer came looking for me and found me playing table tennis, and she had brought her brother Barrie along to meet me and because we had been Merrita pen pals for some months it was as if we had known each other for ages already. Of course, the fact that Barrie was very good-looking boy Helped too. We went for a walk and in no time at all were holding hands as we walked together down the main street of Southport. I heard from the other girls in my dorm that Wendy Jolly had told one of them that she “hadn’t even unpacked my bag, and there’s Fay O’Connor walking down the main street of Southport holding hands with the best-looking boy at the Conference.” I remember feeling quite smug about this at the time, Ah, the vanity of youth!!

 

Chelmsford!! Chelmsford was an old two-story building at Southport. While at the conference. This photo is how Chelmsford should have looked at the time, and this is how Chelmsford DID look.

 

 

The other building where all the “lucky” Conferencites were billeted was called Belleview and it was a modern building with modern facilities.

 

Our meals at Chelmsford were in a dining room on the first floor of the building. I shared most of my meals with the same group of people. Some of the ones at our table were Eric Mansfield (Jr), Malcolm Kirkwood and Barrie Stretton(whose son would marry my daughter in later years). Our meals were hilarious, mainly because the food was soo bad that we just didn’t eat it most of the time. We soon found that if we returned our meal, it would be served up the next day as “bubble and Squeak” or some such, so we decided we would have to get rid of our leftover and discarded food another way. We began throwing it out of the window onto the bull-nosed verandah below.

This proved NOT to be a good idea, and later we had to drag the garden hose from downstairs upstairs and use it to hose down the verandah below because the material in the gutter had begun to smell. We hung Malcolm Kirwood out of the window while Eric Mansfield and Barrie Stretton held his feet and then handed him the hose, turned the tap on and Malcolm squirted the food off of the veranda. I lost so much weight at the conference because of the lack of food, and Eric really lost weight because there seemed to be nothing at all that he was prepared to eat. Meanwhile, at Bellevue, the food was glorious. We were so envious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went to the beach at Southport one day and we all went swimming. The water had rows of surf coming in and looked as though it would be great fun. In Adelaide, because our coastline is protected, we do not have much/any surf at places like Henley Beach, Grange etc, and the water is usually quite calm water. Here at  Southport it was very different. I really enjoyed the water and managed quite well, but one time I got caught in a “dumper” and got dumped from high up and suddenly went down and hit the side of my head on the sea floor. I ended up with a sore head and neck, but no actual damage done. I felt very grateful for that and decided that I was not sure I wanted to swim in that water any more for the time being. We went on a number of outings during the conference, and this day we went out on a launch on the water at Southport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also liked Colin Hill and remember spending some time with him and Merrita who also liked him on a hike we went on in a rainforest one day.

 

 

 

 

I spent quite a bit of my time at the conference in the company of Merrita, Lyn, and Judy Spencer. Lyn had taken up with Ray Tutticci and I was quite envious because I really liked Ray. It was a bit on again off again with Lyn and Ray and I did go out with Ray on one evening. A group of us went to a fairgrounds, but it soon became clear to me that Ray had only asked me out because he was “paying Judy out,” as Joey Brown told me later in the evening. He was very kind and took me back home because I didn’t want to be with Ray if he didn’t want to be with me. Where Barrie was in all this I don’t remember but he was not with us that night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the conference was drawing to a conclusion, all the young people got together to plan a midnight feast. Midnight feasts were always and ever the joy of “Youth Conferencers” and the bain of “hosts of said Youth Conferences. Unfortunately for us the hosts got wind of the impending midnight feast and put the word out that it was “not on.”  Says who??  Well, I didn’t go to bed, not did I change into my PJs that night.

I stayed in bed until about midnight, fully clothed and then in the “wee small hour of the morning” began my stealthy progress up and down stairs, in and out of cupboards and under beds, being hidden by giggling girls who were not game enough to join me. I couldn’t seem to get down the stairs because there was always a host at the top of the stairs guarding the way and preventing any downward progress for the likes of me, but with patience and a “loo break” for one of the hosts and I was down the stairs, and into the boys dorm. Oh dear. It was a very big dorm and it was full of boys and beds.

I jumped under the nearest bed, which happened to be Des Manser’s and he gave me a bottle of coke and a banana!!  Then the realisation dawned that I was the only girl down there!! Then some of the boys began to call (in whispers) to the girls who were in the dorm above on the next floor. It was Rhonda Bowen and Judy Mansfield who answered their call. The boys told them that “Fay O’Connor is here, ” and this was sufficient to persuade them to risk dire punishment to come down and join me. .However, they had barely walked into the room and been handed something to eat  when in walked Bro Harry Pearce, one of the hosts. He was furious! He roused at the two girls and sent them back upstairs in a big hurry, and then he gave all the boys a good ticking off.

Where was I? Well, I was still under Des’ bed. Harry said he would give them all 5 minutes to get into bed and then check up on them. After he had gone, I began to crawl along the floor towards the door. There was a small passageway outside the dorm and I crawled along to its entrance and peaked around the corner and there were two tall legs with Harry at the top of them. Oops. I stood slowly up, caught! I received a severe dressing down from Harry. . “What do you think you are doing?” said Harry, “Waiting for you to go,” said I. I was sent up to my room with a “flea in my ear,”: but was I sad? Not likely, I had beaten the establishment I had got down to the midnight feast, even if it consisted only of a bottle of coke and a banana. I got up to my room and all the girls excitedly, with squeals and giggles asked me to tell them all about what had happened.

Then in came Sis Pearce and she began to give me a tongue lashing. I wasn’t really listening to what she said at first, but then it what she was saying began to filter in my ears and it dawned on me that she was questioning the morality of me being in the boys bedroom and 1.00 am in the morning. I looked at her in amazement and then began to tell her what I thought about her particular “mindset ” that she should suggest that my being in the boys’ bedroom at 1.00 am was with anything but with the most highly moral intentions on my part. Well, we all finally went to bed and slept for a few short hours before bleary eyed we staggered out for another abominable Chelmsford “breakfast.”

After the Conference was over and tearful goodbyes had been said, it was time for home. When I arrived back in Adelaide and began my first day back at work at News Limited, it was as if 100 years had passed. Bob Wiltshire came into my office and began running his hands up and down my back as he was wont to do, only this time, everything was different. I practically snarled at him to “keep his hands to himself.”  And so it was that my potential affair with an “engaged to be married man who still wanted to have his cake and eat it too,” was over, permanently and for good. It wasn’t that easy though and soon I decided that the only and best way to keep from temptation was to leave my job. So I left the best job in the world that a girl could ever have to get away from a man I might not otherwise resist.

DIARY ENTRIES
19570114 – Received a letter from Barrie Spencer. He spent the Sunday in Inverell swimming in the river there. He is going home on 26th January for the long week end. Allan Hawkins visited Barrie’s cousin Allan Spencer wo is brother of Marion Spencer.

19570128 – I received a card from Nancy King.
19570204 – Received a letter from Merrita Spencer.

19570216 – My brother Maynard and Roma Dawn Wilson were married at the Temple in Adelaide.
19570221 – I wrote a letter to Bob at Campsie one week after Maynard and Roma’s wedding. Only Graham is left and he is going very strongly with Barbara Etherington. Uncle Perce gave one of the talks at the wedding and dug up numerous family skeletons. As he spoke I thought about him, how that I believed that without the truth he would be an insignificant little man, but although small in stature, he’s anything but insignificant. I have just washed my hair because I went swimming in the Torrens last night and mud and weeds are not the best things for hair. YMIC class is being held at our place tonight. I will have to help with the supper. Daniel Class started on Tuesday night. About 60 Young Folk were there. I had to do the resume. Phyllis Matthews also asked me to do a magazine article for the Adelaide Young Folk’s class.

19570222 – Wrote a letter to Barry Spencer and received a letter from Merrita. We are getting new floor and new carpets for the office because of white ants. The office is a mess and Mr Barrow is a stickler for neatness. Joan Schumacher is trying to take shorthand from Mr Barrow in the middle of all the mess. An important visitor from Sydney walked in to see Mr Barrow and tripped over two volumes of the Oxford dictionary. I laughed and so did Mr Briton Jones. Mr Barrow was not amused! I don’t think he has a sense of humor. A boy from one of the agencies came in today with a list of Bible questions for me to answer. Woe, I met up with this boy in rather a strange way. There is a lad who comes around to our department from one of the Adelaide advertising agencies who is a real gossip and he asked me one day if I knew a boy by the name of Roger Griggs. That was the name of a school friend of mine, so I said “Yes .” Next visit this lad told me that Roger Griggs was going through the courts as a Conscientious Objector. Naturally this got me interested. I decided to ring him up as we had been good friends and arrange to see him. I rang him that afternoon.

19570227  – Received a letter from Anthony Deverson from Sydney.
19570302 – Received a letter from Bruce Smith.

19570305 – Dad received a letter from Anthony Deverson. The letter was to Dad but  with mentions  of me throughout. They live at 142 Loftus Avenue, Loftus. He wanted me to send photos. Bruce Philp came to their house and said he had a letter from a sister in America who had a letter from Fay O’Connor. They thought that I must be quite a big correspondent for my letters to go that far.

19570312 – Received a letter from Bob from Campsie thanking me for notes I sent him, to 55 Moore Street, Campsie.
19570318 – Letter to Anthony Deversen. Anthony has been baptised. I asked him whether he was looking forward to the Conference. He has taken up photography. Perce Mansfield gave me the address of Allan Eyre for me to write to him and also the address of a girl called Rowena Rickets who lives in Jamaica. I go to Woodville Sunday School where Perce is teaching us “The events subsequent to Christ’s second coming. We studied Galations last year.

19570320 – I received a card from Roma O’Connor thanking me for the statue of a horse I gave them for their wedding.

19570322 – Today was the day I was to meet Bob Wiltshire. In my lunch hour. Well, it didn’t come off. I told him yesterday that if I hadn’t made that promise (in a moment of “weakness”) I wouldn’t be agreeing to the drive. Today, he must have had an attack of conscience too, because he asked me if I wanted to be freed from my promise. I told him that was for him to decide. He decided to call it off for now, though he might still hold me to my promise at some future date if he should meet me in a less planned way.

I went around for the rest of the afternoon feeling much happier because my conscience didn’t feel quite so heavy. Don’t know whether that made him change his mind or whether he just wanted to get me out of his system, the sooner the better, but he asked me to ride along North Terrace and he would pick me up and take me for a ride. I agreed. That also did not come off. At 5.00 Mr Briton Jones asked me to go up the street to the nearest book shop and get a game of “Housy Housy.”

I couldn’t get it at the corner shop, so I tried Sands and Macs, then Rigbys. By that time it was a quarter past five and still I hadn’t got a set. I came back to work. Bob wasn’t there. I started to pack up and Bob came back on some pretense or other and as I passed him, I whispered that I’d be ready as soon as possible. He told me to leave it for this time. I agreed. I felt a bit let down in a way, because Bob is in my system too and the sooner I get this “promise “ out of the way, the sooner I can settle down to forgetting him and doing the right thing, namely, interesting myself in the Truth only, and if Id must have boyfriends, then only boys in the Truth. The trouble is, I’m so attracted to Bob.

This evening Lewis Osborne rang me and reminded me of the pamphlet distribution and also asked me if he could pick me up. Although I had intended to say “No,” I ended up saying “Yes,” because he sounded so miserable. Another boy would take the hint, but when I say, “I’d rather not,” to Lew, instead of saying, “All right, see you later” as most other boys would, he would always just said nothing and look miserable. Out of guilt and pity for him I would say, “Yes.” So when I heard myself say “Yes, I could have kicked myself.

At 7.20 he picked me up and drove me into town. There was quite a crowd there, including Jeff Berry and Keith Noble. From that moment on I did all the things any self-respecting girl should not do. I asked Dawn Lawrie if she was interested in Lew, and tried to palm him off on her, she didn’t mind, but unfortunately Lew did. When Lew asked me to partner him for the distribution, I said, “Not tonight, if you don’t mind, Lew.” He looked as if I had dropped a ton of bricks on him. I hurried on to explain that I liked him a lot but also liked other people too.

Keith Noble came up to our group later and asked if we were all fixed up and was anyone coming in John Knowles’ car. Again I was forward and said that I would like to go in John’s car which was a surprise to them because they had assumed I was going with Lew since I had arrived with him. So we started off in John’s car. Those in the car were Jeff and Ngari Strudwich and Wendy Jolly and Keith Noble and John Knowles and me.

I really don’t know what got into me this evening but I must have gone mad. I decided I wanted to go with Keith Noble and did everything in my power to partner him, but he ended up going with Wendy Jolly. Usually I’d be too proud to behave as I did. In the end I just wished I had stayed home. I ended up being John Knowles partner for the distribution. We discussed quite a few things on the way in a kind of stilted way, but when we had finished delivering our pamphlets we chatted a bit more easily. When Keith Noble and Wendy Jolly arrived back, we talked about everything that had happened on their part of the distribution and we joked about Jeff Berry and his “harem of girls.” John has a wry sense of humour and so has Keith. At one stage I said to Keith, “Keith, what is Jeff Berry really like?” and Keith answered, “What’s Jeff Berry like? Oh, he’s absolutely terrific. You ask him!” I laughed so much.

When Jeff Berry and Ngari Strudwick arrived back, I thought Ngari looked a bit “up in the air.” “Another conquest for Jeff,” I thought.

Then it was time to go home. John drove Keith home first, then Ngari, and then Jeff and then instead of taking me home next, because my house was closer than Wendy’s, John drove Wendy home first. After he dropped Wendy off I got into the front next to him and we started for my home. He stopped in front of my place and turned off the engine. I was surprised that he had stopped because I knew that his car engine took some starting. I hoped he didn’t stop just to be polite. Anyway, we started to chat, but all the time I was worrying about whether he wanted to stay and talk or whether he was just being polite.

John is the type of lad who however much he wants to do a thing or not do a thing, he will do what the other person wants, rather than hurt their feelings and I was not sure whether he wanted to be sitting talking to me or not. We ended up talking for about half an hour and then he said he had better go as it was late. I felt terrible then because I had the feeling that he had wanted to go ages ago, but hadn’t out of politeness to me or some such. I helped him start the engine then went inside, hating myself completely and not feeling happy either about the things we had talked about. I had told him about Lew and our “ups and downs” and questioned him quite extensively about Jeff Berry and Keith Noble.

I took five aspirins, went to bed and endeavored to say my prayers. I didn’t make a very good job of it.
It’s funny but while I do the “right thing” at work, do my readings each evening, do the work in the Truth everything is fine. As soon as I slip up at work, behave as a Christadelphian should not do, then things start to go wrong. The more I learn about the Truth, the more things I find are banned for me. “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

19570323 Saturday –  I woke up this morning in a foul mood. Mum asked me how I got on last night. I ignored the question. I got ready for work and started out, late as usual. Every time I thought about last night, I shuddered and when Mum asked me if I was coming home for dinner, on the spur of the moment I decided not to. I had intended to go to tennis but as Keith, John and Jeff would be there and I didn’t want to see any of them at the moment, I decided against it.

There was hardly any work to do at work this morning, so I started this diary, hoping that if I write things down, they might become clearer in my mind and help me to make decisions. I went over to the other building at 12 o’clock to take over some things for the bag, and got into a conversation with Roger Thompson, “Candles” Thomson’s brother. He asked me if I’d seen anything of Merve Schiaparelli lately. He said it with a bit of a quirk to his mouth, which made me answer airily that I hadn’t seen him for months, and I hadn’t, not since I stopped going to the beach with Stan Dixon.

I spent the afternoon typing in my Diary in between talking to one of the lads from Editorial who kept coming over every now and then to chat. He asked me to go out with him this evening, but I said, “No.” He promised to bring his tape recorder to work Saturday week so that we can muck around with it for a bit.

Lenny made himself a nuisance as usual. He got onto my typewriter and I couldn’t get him off of it. I would have lost “dignity” if I had tried to force him away. I managed to remove him finally with the help of one of the men from Commercial. Lenny’s such a delinquent. I caught him walking off with my bike this morning. “Going for a ride” he said. If Mr Waters finds out, he will be out on his neck for sure, because he has already had his “last warning.”

I left The News at about 5.00 and rode to the tennis courts where I talked with Beth Kennett and Ray Frankham for a while. Ray wants a job for Saturdays and asked me what it would be like at The News. I advised him to go to The Advertiser because they pay better. Beth is thinking of buying a bike and I did my best to persuade her to buy one. I told her how much money it saved me because I not only saved on fares, but there was also no temptation to buy a drink or anything on the way home. Naturally, just as I had said this, Elaine Luke had to comment that she had seen me going into a shop after work on Friday and coming out carrying a bottle of drink. You can’t win! It seemed to strike Beth as very funny, because she laughed until she cried.

Lewis came up then and queried something in the notes I had typed for him and I spent time explaining things to him. He walked with me to my bike and we talked for a while. He asked me what I had been saying to Dawn Lawrie the other night, to which I replied, ever so sweetly, “That’s none of your business, Lew.” From there we both began to discuss what had happened that evening and I explained in nicer terms the reasons for what I had said to him and he thanked me for telling him why I didn’t want to go on the distribution with him. He said that he understood and had taken it in the way that I had intended it. I told him that although I liked him a lot, I also liked being with other young people as well. He agreed that’s how it should be and told me that he realised that he had been “gluttonising” my company (what a word!).

Evidently, he had not intended asking me to partner him for the distribution last night, but when he saw Jeff Berry with his arm around me and me laughing up at him he was terribly jealous and that was why he changed his mind. When we left in John’s car he thought I was sitting with Jeff which made him more jealous than ever.

I told him that Dawn was very interested in him and that even if he was not interested in her as a girlfriend, it wouldn’t do him any harm if he took her home from time to time as well as taking me home now and then if he still wanted to. I said that whatever he chose to do, the fact remained that I did not want to spend ALL my time in his company. Ruth Eakins pulled up in her car at about this time and she gave Lew a lift and I rode home. It was getting rather late when I arrived home and after I had dressed for Young Folks, I decided not to be bothered with buses and trams, but rather to ride my bike.

It was a wonderful ride, tailwind all the way, and a lovely evening to top it off. I arrived on time (wonder of wonders). I was a bit hot though. I washed my face and plastered some “Gemey” on so that I didn’t smell too much as though I had ridden halfway around the world. I walked in first with the other girls coming after, and there was Lew sitting in the seat next to the one I usually sit on, with his file of my notes on his lap and showing them to Ron Hicks. Nancy King and I got talking after the meeting about our memories of “Shipton,” Cobbitty, Camden, in other words, the Josephs. Nancy still feels rather strongly about the Joseph family, because it brought tears into her eyes just thinking about them.

Dean Pitt came up while we were talking and he joined in our conversation. He’s a nice lad, bit shy, though. Robin Mansfield is nice too. In fact the whole crowd of the Woodville contingent are awfully nice. Judith Mansfield is getting excited about the Youth Conference and it even made me feel a bit excited too.

It was so pleasant riding home, though there was no tailwind. As I went, I thought about “The Affairs in the Middle of the Woodville YF Class,” or “Signs of the Woodville Times.” Lew followed my advice and took Dawn Lawrie home. She was thrilled to bits. Ron Hicks took Glennis Lawrie home and Don McColl took Nancy King home. All of them are girls who have complained that the boys took no notice of them. Just goes to show that things will turn out all right in the end. Nice boys will always be attracted to nice girls.

19570324 Sunday –   I woke up to Mum, and breakfast in bed. Yum. When eventually I managed to crawl out of bed, I decided to wash my hair. Did I rush. As usual at the last minute, Beth and I were still asking each other’s advice about what we should wear whether to dress to suit the season or the temperature. We eventually dressed to suit the season. The reason? Well, we didn’t have anything else to wear anyway.

Bro Malcolm Wauchope exhorted this morning using Luke 16 as the basis for his talk. I sat next to Dad and Mum as usual but this time Ron Hicks was on the other side of me and also Keith Noble and Jeff Berry. Ron reminded me that I had some typing to do for him (which I had forgotten). I promised to get it to him in time for Sunday School. Brother Eagleton gave me an Essay to typewritten by the late Sister Cooper. I am going to be busy.
Charles is developing into quite a reckless driver. He is so impatient. He simply can’t wait for anything. That must sound strange coming from me. If I drive a car like I ride a bike, he wouldn’t have anything on me. We left for Sunday School at a quarter to three and consequently, we were going like mad. We stopped outside the Temple and I was out of the car almost before it stopped. I shoved the papers into Lew’s hands and asked him to give them to Ron and then tore back to the car before poor Lew knew what was happening.

We arrived at Woodvllle, late as usual and so did Deane Pitt. Deane and I sat together under Fay Wigzell’s watchful eye (she was playing the piano). The class is getting bigger and bigger and since I left Adelaide to go to Woodville, there have been an awful lot of Adelaidites who have transferred. There’s Jeff Berry and Keith Noble, Rosalie Foster, Dean Pitt, Judy and Robin Mansfield, Barbara Foulis etc. Half way through the lesson, Uncle Perce told Rosalie Foster that he had finished the subject that she was doing the resume for and that someone else would have to continue from there.

I suggested that it was about time a boy did the resume and was going to suggest Jeff Berry and as he said afterwards, he could “feel my thoughts boring into him.” However, Uncle Perce looked straight at Robin and though he tried to shrink out of sight he didn’t have a chance. So Robin’s doing the resume. Afterward, as I passed Robin I said sweetly, ”Dobbed you in, didn’t I Robin?” “Yes,” he grunted, “I ought to make you do it.” Uncle Perce told me that while he was searching around for a typewriter for himself he came across an Olivetti portable going for 25 pounds and in good condition. He told the owner that I might like it. Charles took me around to see it after Sunday School, but the man wasn’t home. I’ll have to ring him tomorrow.

We arrived early for the night meeting which was a change and out the front of the Temple there were two boys standing looking sort of lost, and I guessed they could be intending to go into the meeting. Jan Randell asked Jeff Berry to go across and speak to them and for a while, Jeff was surrounded by girls all trying to persuade him to do his good deed for the day. I decided to “steal his thunder” and while they were still debating about it I went over and spoke to the two boys. They said they came from Clare and were down on holiday. When Jeff saw me talking to the boys, he came over and stood beside me. The two boys were really hard to talk to, they just stood there and looked dumb. They told us that if they were to come into the meeting they would need to go back to their hotel and change into some decent clothes. It was pretty plain that they would leave and not return, and they didn’t.

After the meeting, Mum came up to me and said that one of my cousins, Len Dangerfield had been shot in a shooting accident. I didn’t even know that I had a cousin called Len Dangerfield, but it seems that Sister Dangerfield of Woodville is his mother. He was baptised but drifted away. He was sports mad, like all of the Dangerfields. All the Dangerfield clan were talking about it after the meeting. Evidently they all knew him. I really don’t know any of the Dangerfields that well.

I talked to Lew Osborne for a while. He says he still likes me. I do wish he would get over it. Why is it so very difficult to have boy “friends?” I talked to Rosalie Foster and then Jeff came up and cast one of his famous “looks” at Rosalie. I think he is a bit “struck” on her, though you never can tell with Jeff. He has a habit of looking that way at a girl just to make the others jealous. Half the girls are crazy over him. He teased me a bit about going over to the two boys and talking to them. Jeff has such an ego, but he’s doing a good job in the Truth.

I moved off after a while and went over to Nancy King and Lew Osborn, Dean Pitt, Brian Wigzell etc. Then Nancy told me that I was invited to go to an evening at Marge Wigzells place to see her trousseau. Then Dean piped up that I had to take a boy. This evidently took Nancy by surprise because she hadn’t told any of the girls she had invited that they had to bring boys and consequently, she was a bit worried that she’d have to go and invite each of the girls again and tell them to bring a boy.

I could see Lew looking at me hopefully. I’ll have to be careful not to give him any fresh hopes, though he would have been the easiest one for me to invite. I thought about asking Des Manser, but he was surrounded by all his girlfriends. I was still trying to decide who to ask by the time Dad came to take me home. Mum had got sick of waiting for me to decide on someone to go with and had decided that Des would do as my partner, and so she went up to Des and told him that he would be taking me to the evening at Marge’s place. Des said, “Okay, I’ll go quietly without Bro O’Connor having to hit me over the head and drag me there.”

19570325 –  Late again this morning! It’s a wonder Mr Barrow doesn’t say something. I must be on time in future. I think I might have been on time only the bag on the back of my bike burst and my Bible, letter file and diary were spread all over the road. Did I feel foolish!

Bob Wiltshire stopped me as I passed through the office this morning and said, “Hey did anyone tell you it was my birthday Saturday?” Then he asked me what I was going to do about his birthday. “Remember you promised me that on my birthday you would give me a kiss?” Seems he is going to hold me to my promise. He asked me if next Friday would do. I said, “Yes.”

Des Manser rang me this morning and we made arrangements for him to pick me up at 7.30 this evening to go to Marje Wigzell’s trousseau evening. He told me that his boss had been killed in a car accident. He crashed into a stationary PMG truck which was parked six feet from the kerb. Poor Des, he liked his boss very much. When the first edition came out there on the front page was a write up about Len Dangerfield’s death ad also Des’ boss’ death.

Nancy King rang me up at about 6 o’clock and told me that she wouldn’t be going to Marge’s place because she had to work back. She was a bit upset about it. Of the eleven girls, Nancy had asked only three agreed to come. It is not too nice of them, I don’t think. I think they should have made an effort. My brother Graham said he would come to make up the numbers but I didn’t think he should since he hadn’t been invited. Des arrived about then and he talked to Mum and Dad for a while.

We were the first to arrive but they soon started rolling up. There were 18 young folk altogether so it turned out all right. Elaine Luke and Ray Frankham, Fay Wigzell and Dean Pitt, Des Manser and me, Malcolm and Betty Pitt, Bob and Maralyn Wearne, Bro and Sister Pitt, and of course, Marge and Norm Pitt. Marge has got the largest trousseau I have ever seen. It’s really beautiful. Betty Pitt is still the bright spark that she was before she was married and her children are lovely. The boys went out into the kitchen and played cards and generally fooled around while we looked at Marge’s box.

Des and I left first, and we arrived home at about 10.30.We parked for a while, 1 1/2 hours to be exact. For the first hour, we just talked about the conference, Neville Munro’s impending engagement to Margaret Johnson, things with Bob Wiltshire and me at work, how much I liked him, etc. Then Des started to get a bit serious. I don’t know why he does, because I don’t think he’s keen on me and I’m not keen on him anymore. This is the second time now. The last time was at Port Elliott YF outing.

Once upon a time, not that very long ago, I would have been doing cartwheels for joy if Des had just looked sideways at me, but not now, and I feel sure it is the same for him, but I guess we both still just simply “like” each other on some level or other. It doesn’t seem to affect our normal relationship. We still talk and act as we always have, just good friends. I think he is attracted to me but not “keen” on me. It’s funny, I feel really guilty about Bob Wiltshire, but I don’t feel at all guilty about Des, but then, Des has got no ties and is free to go with whomsoever he likes but Bob’s engaged, and he’s not a Christadelphian.

Beth was awake when I went in. She would have been keeping tabs on me I guess and I could feel her disapproval..

19570326 Tuesday –  I met Bruce Smith from Creasy & Bleaney on the way to work and rode to work with him. He thanked me for running off the invitations for him. He’s a very nice lad, plays baseball and tennis.

Late again! This is getting terrible. Bruce Smith came round to the News at about 10.00 this morning and I talked with him for a while. Mr Briton Jones made some more remarks about the way the agency boys were frequenting the office since I have been working here. He never misses a thing. Neither does Mr Barrow. Whenever Mr Barrow is in a good mood, he starts slinging off at me and “all my boyfriends,” and starts citing cases when he has seen me talking with this boy or that, and where he saw me doing it. Naturally, when he adds them all up since I have been here, it sounds as though I have a …whatever the masculine word is for a harem.

I had to do some work for Bob Wiltshire today and he said, “Thanks darling.” He said it unconsciously too. Things are getting bad. Then later today I had to do something else for him and he said, “Did I ever tell you that you’re a darling?”   I had intended to go to the baptisms tonight but I decided against it because I was so tired. I did my readings and some Bible marking, had a bath and brushed my hair and then fell into bed and slept more or less. I woke up at about 2 am with a dry mouth, so I ate an apple in bed. My jaw hurts and it is getting on my nerves.

19570327 Wednesday –  Bruce Smith came again today. Mr Barrow’s gout is really bad today. His temper is matching it, or as Mr Worthington puts it, he has “gout between the ears.” I went up to Stationery in my lunch hour but Mr Blundell was engaged, so I rang up Bob (not Bob W) instead and talked to him for a while. Bob is one of the office boys. Bob told me that Lenny had been lying as usual. We talked about the gun that Len and Bob took from Michael and how they had both just missed the sack by the skin of their teeth. Bob admits now, that he deserved to get the sack and that he was mad to take it. Len lied his way through the whole affair as usual and talked his way out of the sack at least.   Then Bob and I talked about the time we went swimming at the Weir on the Torrens and how that when I had gone to change in the toilets, Lenny had followed me inside and came in when I was half dressed. (I had my pants and bra on.)

Evidently, Lenny spun a great yarn about that at work and at the time most people believed him. This belief was furthered when I didn’t deny that Lenny had come in, because he did, but I didn’t know what other things he had said to them. Lenny’s more likely to ruin his own reputation than mine.  Brian Manser came from the Advertiser at about 4.30 and reminded me of the singing practice that night at the Temple for the Conference. Uncle Perce looked really ill tonight, but he still led the class. We finished the 16th Chapter of Genesis, following the allegory through, then he showed us how to come to the correct meaning of a difficult passage in the Bible, using our concordances. Every time I looked up from writing I saw that Robin Mansfield was looking at me.

Afterward, I talked to Aunty Ivy Thompson for a while, then to Dean Pitt, then to Jan Randell, Robin and Peter Mansfield, and also Bob Martin. Robin says he is going to make me help him with his resume since I dobbed him in for it.

19570328 –  As soon as I arrived at work, I rang Mr Hinton before I forgot. The typewriter has a tab, so that seems all right. 25 pound is all right too. I then rang “Control Systems” and asked them if the Olivetti of 18 months ago was much different to the new Olivetti. It isn’t. I then asked what would be a reasonable price to pay for one, $25, and that’s just what I will be paying if I buy it, so that’s good too. All it has to be now is jolly good.

“Nigger Hocking” is being married Saturday. I went over to Publishing to congratulate him and he repeated the usual, “If I was 10 years younger, it would be you I would be marrying,” depending on whether I was agreeable of course. I’m glad he’s getting married. He is a very nice man. Stan was watching me talk to him and looking jealous as usual. He’s been like that ever since I stopped going to the beach with him. He’s being the exact opposite to what he was before I told him that “I liked him but nothing more than that.” When I told him that I had been going out with Trevor Griggs he was really mad. I explained to him that he had no claim on me as I had always told him he was way too old for me (29) and that I only wanted to be friends anyway. That didn’t make him any happier.

I also said that even if I had been interested in him he would have lost me to someone else because he “was as slow as a wet week,” and while he was making up his mind, someone else would have stepped in and taken me right from under his nose. I told him this to give him a bit of a “wake up” because Trevor Griggs had told me that there had previously been a girl who was crazy over Stan, but while Stan was making up his mind, another man stepped in and married the girl. Trevor Griggs passed my office this morning and stopped at the door, looked me up and down, grinned in his most “cynical and non-endearing” way, and said,” Hello, Stinky,” which I found most irritating and annoying. Mr Bill Briton Jones heard our conversation and raised an eye-brow questioningly. I said, “Yes, that’s him,” and he replied “Oh.,” and I said “He’s the Manager of Newspaper Distributors and he’s aged about 37 years, definitely too old for me.”

Mr Bill Briton Jones sent me to Mr Bob Britton Jones desk to get some blocks and as usual Bob W. Was sitting just a few yards away. Bruce Smith came in for a chat and then Bob dictated a letter to me and put his arm around me while he did so. After work I talked to Stan Dixon for a while and just as I was leaving, I saw Bro Hicks standing across the road at the garage, waiting to drive Mr Barrow home. I talked with him for a while until Mr Barrow came.

19570329 Friday –   Well, it is over, I hope for good. Bob and I arranged to meet after work, between 5.00 and 5.30.

Not long. He had his car parked up near West Terrace and so he walked up to it on the dot of 5.00 and I left about 5 past. I then followed him to Memorial Drive and he parked and I leaned my bike against a gum tree and walked over to his car. What gruesome details, for a sister in Christ, it’s a pretty low thing to do to be meeting with another girl’s fiancé like this. Bob opened the door for me and I slid into the seat next to him. Then I fulfilled my promise and we kissed. Promise! It would have happened if I had made a promise or not.

Five, ten minutes passed and then Bob suddenly said, “You know, Fay, I’m no lady killer.” I asked him what he meant and he told me that although he had been putting on a bold front, he had been as nervous as could be about meeting me today. That makes two of us! Poor Bob I think he must like me pretty much to be doing this, just the same as I have to like him pretty much for me to be doing it too. I wish I hadn’t let all this happen. I wish there was a chance for him to become a Christadelphian, but while I carry on the way I am, there’s not much chance of that happening. He kissed me again and I put my hand on his cheek. He was as hot and flushed as could be. My hand must have felt cool on his cheek because he said, “You’ve got me all flustered, my face is burning, I must look like a beetroot.” I could tell that even though he is engaged to be married and has been going with his fiancé for three years, he’s still pretty inexperienced. We both are, which of course, is how it should be, and I shouldn’t be the one to change that either.

Just to make me feel even worse, it was just at that moment that I looked out of the car window and saw Elaine Luke pass by in her car. What are the chances of that happening? She saw me, looked surprised, and waved. I think she must be God’s angel, letting me know that I should not be here and what I am doing is wrong.   At half past, it was time for Bob to go. He kissed me one last time and I got out of the car and got on my bike and rode away as fast as I could. That’s that! I thought, and then I thought about his fiance and I hated myself. This has to be, must be, the finish of it.

19570330 Saturday – Saturday morning and I was up at 7.00. I cleaned my bike and my sandshoes and washed my tennis frock and white socks. I got mum to make a petticoat to go underneath my dress and she had it ready for me for tennis in the afternoon. My tennis has gone back very badly. The first match I played woefully. The second and I didn’t play too badly, so I won that set, but my service is hopeless. My timing is all out. When I throw the ball in the air and then swing my racquet and then put my weight onto my left foot and then hit the ball, then my timing is all wrong and I can’t seem to get it right. When I just let my instincts take over I do well but when I concentrate my mind, I don’t do so well, I wonder why that is? I should have gone to tennis this year! Still I enjoyed swimming instead of tennis. Lew was there at the tennis courts, and he doesn’t seem to hold anything against me. He is good like that, he still asks my advice and talks to me. But none-the-less, he is still acting a bit funny though, but at least he doesn’t ask to take me home every time now and that’s a relief. I think he would have liked to talk to me about something today, but didn’t because Dawn Lawrie was there and he is taking her around at the moment since I told him that she likes him.

Mum and I went through my clothes tonight and practically everything I possess needs something done to it. It’s terrible.

19570331 Sunday –   Ern Wilson gave the exhort this morning and he was extremely good, the best I think I have heard him. The MacLean twins’ birthday party up at Waikerie has certainly made a hole in the Young Folks today. The whole row to the right of me was bare and usually it is full up. Gordon Eagleton asked me if I had finished the typing I was doing for him. I haven’t! Have to post it to him during the week.

Sunday School this afternoon, Jeff turned up though neither Jeff or Keith were at the morning meeting. Uncle Perce was not at Sunday School, he is resting before the night lecture. He’s still pretty sick. Cleon Wigzell took the class and we continued with “Anastasis.” I chatted with Robin Mansfield after Sunday School.

195704 –   Today I received a Letter from Merritta Spencer. She wrote “that information you received about a certain John Stewart was the result of the Hurstville Christmas party. They had a scavenger hunt and when they have one of those, every girl gets her handbag contents emptied out for the game and I had your snapshot still in my handbag and this John Stewart saw it and wanted to know who the girl in the photo was. Anyway, in case you are interested, he turned 21 last August. He is a little taller than me when I am in my high heels (and I’m tall as you know). He has a shock of thick black hair and isn’t bad looking, but that’s all I know. You would have to find anything more out yourself.

Beth Hillhouse mentioned your party to me when she rang from Sydney on the way home to Newcastle. Keep up the teasing of Des Manser. I am looking forward to the conference. I saw Fay Kenworthy off to Canada on the Oronsay the other day, and Lyn and I ran the social and it was a rowdy shambles, so they all enjoyed it. I passed my subjects for my Degree. Barry Brown went to Adelaide, Neville Munro takes Adelaide girls too seriously. Jan King (Toowoomba) and Evan Leopard are engaged. Kathy Vida (Lakemba) and Ken Kirkwood (Hurstville) are hitched. Rex Winter is still strong with Val Kirwood. Judy Bonner going with Don Lowe (Leura Blue Mountains), me NOBODY. Love em all and marry none. Lyn’s been to the Dentist and her face is all swollen up.”

19570401 Monday –  I woke up to a bright enlivening morning, closed my eyes hurriedly and put my head under my pillow. Shortly after, I peeped out again and groaned – morning already. I contemplated a day off, savoring the thought for a while, but eventually my conscience did its work and I slowly began to get dressed. I wonder just how long a person can go without any early nights and still manage to turn up at work each morning.   When I arrived at work, I went out to sign on and just then, Bob arrived and went to his desk. He looked at me, and I looked at him, our eyes met…we didn’t speak.

In the lunch hour, I went to John Martins to get some material. I saw some material in a beautiful blue, a new type of material out, brushed rayon. It’s beautiful. I bought some, and I wonder if I can get it made up in time for the conference.  It was Jenny Meyer’s and Len Munichinberg’s kitchen evening tonight and after half an hour’s indecision, I decided to go. I wore my white bridesmaid frock. There were none of the older crowd there but strangely enough, I didn’t miss them. They had musical numbers first and during those, I chatted a bit with the Munchenbergs. They are Len’s family and they are not baptised. Apparently they live near us in Robsart Street. One of the boys went to Unley High School and I remember him from there, but I didn’t know the other members of the family previously. Brian Briggs took me for Musical Hearts and we came out second. I enjoyed the evening and talked to Roy Munchinberg for a time afterward.

19570407 Sunday –  I woke at 7.00 am this morning and actually got up at that unearthly hour! I had my shower, dressed and was ready for the meeting hours before the time. It felt good. Fancy, no rush or tear, but everything done in a leisurely fashion and with plenty of tme to spare. I really enjoyed the morning meeting. Lindsay Colquhoun spoke. I talked to Max Kennett and Rosalie Foster after the meeting. It seems that Maxy still likes Rosalie. Uncle Perce wasn’t at Sunday School today because his doctor has ordered him away for a rest for two days. Fancy, two days, he needs to go away for two months. My brother Graham came along to Sunday School today. At first, I thought he might be coming along for good, but that proved to be vain thinking.

He evidently came along because Uncle Perce said he wanted to see him. He’s a foolish boy, if only he would get some sense, lose some of his pride, and maybe take the Truth seriously.  Cleon Wigzell took the class. He did a good job but HPM is a hard act to follow. It would be hard for him to try to take Uncle Perce’s place. The night meeting was the final of the special series of lectures. Keith Provis spoke. He was okay, but I thought too much showmanship and not enough information. It was a beautiful subject though, Peace after Armageddon.

I spoke to Lew Osborne, Ron Hicks, Judith Mansfield, Judith Vinall after the meeting. Lew seems to be getting on really well with Dawn Lawrie so I am very happy about that. He needs a girlfriend – one that’s not me. Ron and I seem to do a lot of joshing around when we talk, we never seem to be able to be serious. Claudia Muggleton came up to me a bit later and said “Who were you sitting next to after Sunday School?” She was referring to Robin Mansfield. She says she thinks he likes me.

After Sunday School Charles drove us down to Joan and Graeme Mansfield’s new shop. Graeme didn’t know we were coming there and he kicked up a fuss because he has some urgent photos to do. Charles should have told him he was coming. Graeme can be so bad tempered when he wants to, but then he has so many late nights and I don’t think he is very well. We drove Jeff Berry home then went home ourselves.

19570407 –  Letter to Merritta Spencer, Fairfield, Sydney NSW. I told Merritta that “Conference fever” has got everyone over here. Everyone is racing around asking advice and giving it. I wrote Merritta that I need somewhere to stay in Sydney and asked if I could stay with her family for two days after the conference. I told her I was buying an Olivetti typewrite and taking it with me to the conference. I asked Merritta if she had managed to meet the “blue eyed blonde boy” she has been looking for yet. I told her that Des Manser hasn’t been able to find one for her yet, but he was still looking and that Jeff Berry and Keith Noble are not going to the conference..

19570408 Monday – Have my new typewriter, Olivettie Lettera 22, Bodoni type. Wonderful! Bill Briton-Jones’ wife got it for me from Myers where she works. I went to singing after work. Doing Anthem 47 and 49 for the conference. Des Manser was there. If I had known he was going to be there he could have taken me instead of Eric Grogan. Des read the report on the pamphlett distributions. Jeff Berry is taking on a lot of Gospel Extension work. I talked to Eric Grogan, Don McColl. HPM to do a series of special lectures, and I hope he is well enough. Dad’s not too happy Charles going to Sydney.

19570410 – I received a letter from Barrie Spencer. He has arrived home at his house, really tired and he has slept a lot.

19570410 Wednesday –  I had to go to work by bus again today and as a result, I was late again. I met one of the Munchinberg boys at the bus stop. I don’t know which one he was, the youngest one I think. It’s Flower Day today and I was supposed to get to work an hour earlier. Almost impossible for me I am afraid. Joan had finished everything when I arrived and the place looked lovely. Brother Timmas came in this afternoon, looking for a job. Mr Barrow saw him and took his name and said that there might be something in the next month or so, but there’s nothing at the moment. Then I took him to Mr Emery who said the same thing. The last I saw of him was when he was going over to Jack Fisher who is a Christadelphian to see if there was anything there. Jack is a relative of Julia Smith, and he is Rupert Murdoch’s assistant. He spends his whole time running around after Mr Murdoch, fetching and carrying for him.

Rupert always seems to have a veritable tribe of people following in his wake wherever he goes.  I got myself into a nice of mess today. I went to the Temple after work to get my bike and after I had taken it out of the Temple yard, I put the keys into my pocket and forgot all about them, consequently, no one could get into the Bible Class that evening. I only realized it when I put my hand into my coat pocket when I was getting ready for the Abraham Class. We rushed back to the hall with the keys, but by that time, they had found another key.   Uncle Perce Mansfield was at the Abraham class, looking a bit better, but not much. Instead of continuing with our usual study he continued with 1 Cor. 15 verse 29. “Why are we then baptised on behalf of the dead.” We followed that through with the use of a concordance. It was very interesting.

Jan Randell and I are still making arrangements for the Conference. I have to book in at the Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. Hope I remember. I talked to Robin and Peter Mansfield after and Charlie got into a conversation with Uncle Perce so we didn’t leave straight away as we intended. I asked Bob Martin how Rosalie Foster was and he replied, “She’s beautiful.” Not exactly an answer to my question, but it certainly expressed his point of view.
Robin is not as shy as Peter, but they are both fairly shy. Sometimes they talk without any self-consciousness and other times you can hardly get two words out of them.

My working life at The News continued on from day today pretty much as normal. The next exciting event in my life that I was looking forward to was to happen over the Easter holiday period in 1957.

Easter was the time when groups of Christadelphian families often headed off for camping holidays at the various beach side locations south of Adelaide, from Glenelg to Kingston Park and all the way to Victor Harbor or north from Largs to Pine Point, Black Point, and then along the coastline of Yorke Peninsula. My Dad, having his own business, was usually too busy to take holidays and so our family had never been involved in the exodus of Christadelphian families to places like Stansbury, Pine Point, and Black Point.

This Easter was to be different! A group of Woodvillites were going to Black Point Caravan Park for the Easter break, and Dad and Mum were going too. I was delighted but wasn’t sure I would be able to go with them because it required that I get the Saturday off work in order to be able to go. This needed agreement from both Mr Barrow AND Mr Bill Briton-Jones. With fear and trepidation, I asked for the time off. What would I do if they said “No?” To my joy, both of them said “Yes.”

All that remained to do after that was to arrange a ride with someone who was going up on the Thursday night. My friend Deane Pitt agreed to take me so it was all arranged and I only had to survive one more boring week of work before we were off on our “Black Point adventure.”

On Thursday night Fay Pitt and I were picked up by Dean Pitt in his car and driven up to Black Point. When we arrived it was fairly late at night and we found that the Wigzells had erected a big marquee for the whole group to have a meeting place which was really great. It was well-lighted and was a place where we could all meet to do the readings each evening or during the day we could all use it whenever we wanted to get out of the hot sun for a while. We had picnic lunches there and slept there if anyone wanted to get away from a stuffy caravan. It was such a versatile “building” and we all used it and enjoyed it for the weekend.

We met up with the Weir boys, relatives of the Johnsons, who owned boats and we had a great time interacting with all the other boat owners on the water. We had fireworks fights and all sorts of wonderful happenings. The funniest thing I have seen in a long time was when Clem Wigzell tried to put an outboard motor onto a bathtub he had found on a tip. He wanted to use it like a boat. He tried and tried and sunk the bathtub many times, but he kept on trying on and off for most of the weekend. There was a good group of young people there so I always had some good company. There was Lorraine, Fay, and Clem Wigzell, Deane Pitt, Brian and Colin Briggs, Dean and Meredith Matthews, Claudia Seaman and her brother and the Gates boys, and others as well.

One morning at the camp, I woke up early and quickly dressed to go for a walk. I was so happy waking up at Black Point each day. I walked along a dirt track that led into the dunes. Even though it was early in the morning I could tell it was going to be a hot day because the sun already had a bite in it. I was wearing a sun dress of flowered cotton material with a shirred bodice and a pleated and flared skirt. I loved that dress. It had two thin straps over the shoulders which I quickly removed and tucked down into the top of my dress.

I felt very risque as I walked along in my now “strapless” gown, with the sun on my head and the breezes lifting my hair. I plucked some wild flowers and tucked them behind my ears. I made a chain of flowers and set it on my head like a crown. I felt like a fairy, or a princess, in one of the fantasy stories I loved so much. It was wonderful to be young, to be free, to know that you looked beautiful, to know that your life was full….of possibilities.

And now, the day-to-day stuff..

19570410   Wednesday,

I am learning to soft soap Mr Barrow to make my life a little easier at work. Every morning I inquire about his gout, his skin tumors (on his elbows and knees which he is having removed), or whatever else he may be complaining about at the time. That’s all I have to do to keep him happy, but having done this, Joan and I would then receive a lecture for the next half hour on his ills and how well he is bearing up under them. Poor Mr Barrow, I guess we don’t appreciate him enough.

For the third lunch hour in a row I have gone into town searching for a decent pattern for a dress, but so far have come out without finding one. Mr Briton-Jones had me in fits of laughter this afternoon. Mr Bogner, the man who is doing the editorial for the engineering feature comes in every day, without fail to see Mr Briton-Jones and discuss the bookings etc. Today, he came in as usual, carrying his dirty battered case, bull neck hunched over his shoulders, jaws hanging, lips pouting; the same old Mr Bogner.

Whenever Mr Briton-Jones talks to Mr Bogner, he puts on a tone of extreme seriousness and pretends to be intently interested in all that Mr Bogner has to say. On this day I was standing behind Mr Bogner, getting some features out, and Mr Briton-Jones was amusing me so much that I could hardly keep from laughing. Bill saw me stifling my laughter, and that set him off. Mr B-J simply could not keep a straight face and every now and then he would giggle. Mr Bogner, unaware of our agonies of control, finally left. He left behind his magnifying glass (he has very poor eyesight) so we knew that he would be back again before the afternoon was over to pick them up.

19570411 Thursday – I had to go to work by bus again today and as a result, I was late again. I met one of the Munchinberg boys at the bus stop. I don’t know which one, the youngest one I think. It’s Flower day today and I was supposed to get to work an hour earlier. Almost impossible for me I am afraid. Joan had finished everything when I arrived and the place looked lovely. Brother Timmas came in this afternoon, looking for a job. Mr Barrow saw him and took his name and said that there might be something in the next month or so, but there’s nothing at the moment. Then I took him to Mr Emery who said the same thing.

The last I saw of him was when he was going over to Jack Fisher to see if there was anything there. I’ve got myself into a nice old mess. I went to the Temple after work to get my bike and after I had taken it out of the Temple, I put the keys into my pocket and forgot all about them, consequently, no one could get into the Bible Class this evening. I only realized it when I put my hand into my coat pocket when I was getting ready for the Abraham Class. We rushed them there, but by that time, they had found another key.

Uncle Perce at the Abraham class, looking a bit better, but not much. Instead of continuing with our usual study, he continued with 1 Cor. 15 verse 29. “Why are we then baptised on behalf of the dead.” We followed that through with the use of a concordance. It was very interesting. Here are the results of the study. Jan and I are still making arrangements for the Conference. I have to book in at the Canberra Sydney and Brisbane. Hope I remember. Talked to Robin and Peter Mansfield for a fair while after. Charlie got into a conversation with Uncle Perce so we didn’t leave straight away as we intended. Asked Bob Martin how Rosalie was and he replied that she was beautiful, not exactly what I meant, but it certainly expressed his point of view.

Robin is not as shy as Peter, but they are both fairly shy. Sometimes they talk without any self-consciousness and other times you can’t get a word out of them edgewise.

19570413 Saturday –    I was booked in for a haircut at 8.15 this morning. I wore my suit to town and tried to find a hat, shoes, and gloves to match. To my amazement, we actually found what we were looking for, or at least Mum did. We tore into shop after shop, bought this here, that there, and everything else, everywhere else. The last place we went to was Holstens and we were there until long after the shop closed, but we did find a hat that we liked and we bought.

In the afternoon, Mum altered my blue dress for me to wear at YF. I am so sick and tired of dresses! Mum and I went down to the Blacksmith shop for a while for afternoon tea and Ross who works there and Dad were working on the car. At Woodville YF this evening, Rosalie Martin and I found we were wearing almost identical dresses. I wore a blue dress and so did she. She wore a yellow hat and so did I, and we even had on almost identical scarves. Someone came up to me and said, “Hello, Rosalie,” and then apologised. So they should! Rosalie and I were a bit light-headed this evening. I answered the quiz tonight, on the 20th question and got it right. The answer was “Love,” trust me!

19570414 Sunday –   Jan Randell and I sat down in the O’Connor’s usual seats, that is when no one has pinched them, and John Martin gave the exhortation. It was a great talk. Afterwards, I wiped glasses with Keith Noble and John Knowles and I told them all about John Martin’s life before he became a Christadelphian and how much he had changed since then. John used to be a very good footballer, (League footballer? Not sure.)

My brother Graham came to Sunday School today. I wonder if he will keep coming. Uncle Perce was there, so we had an extra good lesson. Robin had to read his resume and it was good. I borrowed it so I could copy it and send it out to a few people. Uncle Perce spoke at Cumberland in the evening on “the Signs of the Times.” I noticed that Des Chilton and Marlene Grosse were there, and so before they could do “their vanishing trick” after the meeting, I dashed out and spoke to them for a while. After they had gone, Lew lectured me on not picking up my books before the music had stopped. I explained loftily that my intention had been to stop Des and Marlene’s headlong rush out the door.

19570415 Monday –   Singing practice went quite well tonight and I left at 7 o’clock to go to the Munchenbergs place where Mum was taking the Wedding present for Jenny Meyers. Charlie met me at the gate because he wanted to make sure I found where they lived. Roy Munchinberg was there so I talked to him for most of the evening. The conference notes had arrived when I got home and there was also a letter for me from Barrie Spencer.

19570416 Tuesday –   I asked Mr Barrow about Saturday and whether I could have the morning off. He said “Yes.” Hoorah!! Then I asked Mr B-J and he said “Yes,” too. That means I can go to Black Point! I rang Fay Wigzell and she and I arranged for Dean to pick us both up and take us to Black Point.

In my lunch hour, I went into John Martins and tried on a lightweight suit. I hadn’t intended to buy it but before I could say anything, the assistant had brought in the dressmaker and she began putting in pins and undoing seams. After all their work, I said in a small voice, “I don’t want it.” The Saleswoman stared at me and in a completely changed voice said, “All right.” She grabbed up the other suits and marched out, came back, took the suit I had just shed, and marched out again. I made a hurried exit. When I got out of the change room I couldn’t stop myself giggling. Well, I had told them I didn’t want it and they hadn’t listened.

Nancy King came to dinner and we both decided to have a bath and wash our hair. It was certainly a “hair-brained” idea because we both turned up at the class with wet hair. We decided to sit together to discourage Don McColl from sitting next to Nancy (Don is interested in Nancy and Nancy is not) but there were only two chairs vacant, one next to Brian Manser and one next to Don. I put my books next to Don’s books and Nancy put hers next to Brian’s but somehow, by the time we’d returned Don had put his books next to Nancy’s and Brian had put his books next to mine.

There wasn’t much we could do about it so Nancy sat next to Don and I sat next to Brian. After the meeting, Nancy hurried away out to the other room with the others. Nancy is very shy and if she doesn’t want to “go” with a boy, she doesn’t like to “sit” next to him. She really needs to just relax a bit more. I stayed and chatted to Robin for a fair while.   Nancy and I went to bed and while Beth was saying goodnight to Charles, we got into bed together and talked about our current “events.” I told Nancy all about Bob W. And then Beth came and we swapped beds and talked about Nancy running away from Don today. Poor Nancy, such a pity she doesn’t like Don because he is such a nice boy. Beth and I thought they were both ideal for each other.

19570418 Thursday –  Today I was feeling pretty terrible because I had a cold, but I was hoping it would get better because we were supposed to be leaving for Black Point tonight. I wasn’t really feeling like work and it seemed that Mr Briton-Jones wasn’t either, so both of us did “busy work.” I took my bike to “Bullocks” today and asked for “the works,” new gears, or at least my old ones fixed up, a new bag, something that is strong enough to carry my typewriter.   Mr Bill Briton-Jones told me that he was a rear gunner in the air force during the war and went on 49 raids. I told him I thought that war was pointless and that generally, each side was fighting the other for no good reason or for someone else’s land. He then trotted out all the old reasons for war, the country would be overrun, and their wives and children killed and raped. Then as a natural follow-on to that he mentioned conscientious objectors.

He didn’t say whether he had a good or a bad opinion of them, so I didn’t feel the need to say that I was a Christadelphian and that we were conscientious objectors.   Bob came in later in the afternoon asking me to get him a feature. As I came up from getting it out of the cupboard, he bent down and kissed me and, of course, just as he did, Bill Golley and John Connolly passed by the window. We put the blinds down and when I turned and looked at Bob, he was blushing. He blushes so easily, he’s even worse than Nancy King. I think it must be his “English skin.” Bill Briton-Jones came in a moment later, grinning from ear to ear because of Bob’s presence in our office. That didn’t help Bob much either and he blushed even redder than he already was. I gave Bill B_J a filthy look and that made him grin even wider. Then Bill turned to Bob and said,

“Well, you don’t come up to my office every two minutes just to speak to me!”

After work, I was standing with some of the salesmen talking while they packed up to go home. Bob W. made signs to me that he had left something in his drawer for me and for me to take it after he had gone. Just then his fiance, N. arrived and he left. I waved to her and she smiled at me. She’s a nice girl. I went to Bob’s drawer and opened it and there was a chocolate Easter Bunny. Dear Bob! I left then to meet Fay Wigzell. I passed the place where Jenny Meyers works and thought about her wedding and wished I didn’t have to miss it. I waited out the front of the Savings Bank Building, waiting for Fay to arrive. I waited for almost ¾ hr and then at last Fay came. She had been waiting a few yards down the street, and here was I, waiting outside of the Savings Bank building.

At 6.00 exactly, Dean Pitt rolled up and we climbed into his car. He’s got a little Ford Anglia just like Graham’s old one. We did about 50 mph all the way to Black Point and arrived at about 9 o’clock. Half the clan was there already and Cleon Wigzell was showing them all into their parking places and generally helping things along. Those that arrived that night were Alta and Jean Wigzell and Lorraine Wigzell, Cleon and Lorna Wigzell and Clem and Fay Wigzell, Charlie and Lill Briggs, Brian and Colin Briggs and Bro and Sis Bruce Seaman and their two children, Brother and Sister Claude Matthews and Meredith Matthews and Keith Woods, Dean Pitt and his sister, Bro & Sis Gates and their two children.

19570419 Friday –   Mum gave us breakfast in bed and then I got dressed in a skirt and jumper and went around the camp to see who else was up and dressed. Meredith Matthews was wearing a pair of jeans, so I changed into mine too. Meredith and I went for a walk along the beach, eyeing enviously the people with motor boats. Then we both decided that by hook or by crook we’d get into one of those boats. Then Cleon Wigzell came out and he brought the “Buzzer” down and Meredith and I went for a ride in it. It has a motor but it has to be started out of the water and then has to be carried into the water. You hop in quickly or you “miss the boat.” We’d got out about 15 yards when the motor just stopped as we had been warned that it would. Out came the oars and we started to row.

The Weir boys, relations of the Johnsons, and whom we had not yet met, passed us. I yelled out, “Give us a tow,” but received no reply, just nothing! The next time they passed, they again took no notice of us but stared straight ahead. I was determined to get a tow.

Eventually, the Weir boys went close to shore and picked up some other boys, one of them being one of their brothers. When they passed quite close I yelled at them and this time they heard me and after some back chat they gave us a tow rope and towed us around for a while. It wasn’t hard after that to get a ride and soon we transferred to their boat and they took us around the Bay. Only Malcolm was in the boat by this time and he took us around to the Point and back. Meredith got out but I stayed in and Ian Weir got in. Another boy in his motorboat and one of the lads who was in Malcolm’s boat started to wage a war using penny bombs.

We weaved in and out exchanging fireworks and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Bombs were going off everywhere. Both boats were fibre glass and with the same motor and consequently, we were going at the same speed, so it was only the good maneuvering of Malcolm Weir that won us the battle.  We went into lunch then and afterwards, Lorraine Wigzell and I went out in the boat with Malcolm Weir again. He had his best trousers on which seemed to be getting wet so he decided to go home and change them.

We started across the Bay to the Weir’s home. It was absolutely lovely on the water. Blue sea, blue sky and Black Point in the distance and Pine Point in front of us, and nothing but sea and spray in between. What more could anyone want?   We beached the boat and Malcolm went to change and Lorraine and I lay down on the sand to sunbake. On this side of the Bay, the water was like a lake, but on the other side, it was quite choppy. After dinner, I went out once again with Malcolm and by this time there was quite a crowd of the township people on the beach when Malcolm asked me if I wanted another ride, his Father and His uncle were standing nearby. I saw some surprised looks on some of their faces but didn’t know why they were looking surprised.

I found out afterward from Uncle Alta Wigzell. He said that the Weir boys were pretty reserved generally and it was unusual for them to take girls out in their boat.   The cracker fight started again as soon as we were back on the water, only it was a bit one-sided this time because we didn’t have any crackers, so we spent our time running away from the other boats. Every time the other boat came near us, we scooted around a moored boat and out to deep water and stayed there for a while then came back again until at last we managed to get past the other boat and get back to shore. I was so grateful to have met up with the Weir boys because being out on the ocean was so much better than just hanging around on the shore.

19570420 Saturday –   I got up rather late this morning and went out and threw a ball with the Gates boy for a while. Then I noticed the boy I had seen yesterday was there again (the one who I thought looked like Ken Wurfel), looking very sure of himself. He was only wearing Khaki overalls but somehow managed to look really well-dressed. He went for a ride with the Weir boys in the motorboat, but then a short while later I couldn’t see him anywhere. I could only see the Weir boys. I went for a ride with Malcolm and Ian Weir and Malcolm told me that he had tipped the other lad (my Ken Wurfel look-alike) in the water because he didn’t like him much, so that boy and his friends have not been around since then.

Our crowd decided to go to Stansbury in the afternoon and so Brian Briggs, Fay Wigzell and I went in Dean’s car. When we got there we found there was another group of Christadelphians at Stansbury and so we watched the Speedboat racing with them. They didn’t seem to be enjoying themselves anywhere near as much as we have been at Black Point. All the girls wore slacks and a bored look, or so it seemed to me. We didn’t stay there long but returned to Black Point.

On the way back, Dean sped up a bit too much and we failed to take a corner. We made straight up the bank and missed a tree by inches and skidded to a stop on the road again. Dean had hurt his hand and got out and leaned against the car. I think his nerve had gone for a while because he was as jumpy as anything for the rest of the way home. I somehow think something is going on between him and Fay too, maybe they are in the middle of a quarrel or something, maybe he’s not as keen on Fay as she would like, who knows?   When we arrived back, the boys went to collect wood for a bonfire and we went for a walk.

After tea everyone gathered around the fire and sang songs, but I took Dean’s torch and went for a row in the boat. It was lovely and calm, though it was slightly cold on the water, but I really enjoyed it . It was so peaceful and the sea looked beautiful and the bonfire on shore with everyone around it also looked lovely. Hally Wigzell came out with me later and broke an oar in the process, so we had to row one at a time. We went out and climbed into the Mayor’s boat and sat there for a while. Eventually, we went ashore and I went to bed tired out.

19570421 Sunday –  I woke up feeling much better after a good night’s sleep, but it didn’t last long though and I began to feel progressively worse. At 11 o’clock everyone got into the cars and we started out into the “bush” for the morning meeting. It was a lovely meeting. An essay written for the occasion by Sis Laycock was read. We stopped in at Pine Point on the way back and bought some groceries and then we returned to Black Point and I sunbaked on the sand for a while. Then we had dinner and it was time to drive home. Dad drove into Ardrossan and we waited for the bus to come. All the country lads and lasses were gathered out in front of the milk bar, flirting with each other.

“I could think of some better ways of wasting my time,” I thought rather loftily to myself.

I caught the bus at last and there were not many on it, three boys and an old married couple, two girls and one man. One of the boys sat opposite me. I tried to type for a while but it was hopeless and the boy across the way kept looking at me as if I had taken leave of my senses. At Port Wakefield, we stopped for a quarter of an hour. I bought a milkshake and sat down to drink it. One of the boys came in and made a tentative move towards the seat next to me, then thought better of it and sat at the next table.

Another boy came in and sat next to me. He started a conversation and we talked for about 10 minutes, then I excused myself, got up, and returned to the bus. He came in shortly afterward and looked at the seat next to me, then thought better of it and sat in the one in front of me. I think I must have been putting out “don’t sit next to me vibes” because I really did feel like being alone and not having to talk for the rest of the trip. I thought a lot about Jeff Clift on the way home, remembering that he lived at Pine Point. I typed a letter to him when I got home.

19570422 Monday –  I woke up feeling very tired and miserable. I dragged myself out of bed and got ready for work. I caught the bus into town and at Joe Myren’s service station, Wendy Jolly got in. She was going to the station for the hike. I decided to go with her to find out if there was any chance of catching them up after work. There was not. Mr Briton-Jones was at work, sitting reading the Advertiser when I came in. He’d already done the mail. He rang up Mr Barrow after I had arrived. Dear old Mr B-J. He probably didn’t ring Mr Barrow until I got to work for my sake, because Mr Barrow was sure to ask if I was there (I was 20 minutes late).

After morning tea I went home and climbed into bed, I was so tired. I slept until 4.30 and felt much better for it. I had some dinner and then went to bed again. We had dinner at 7 pm and at about 7.30 Dad and Mum arrived home from Black Point. They were late because they had an accident on the way back. The back of the caravan is bashed in. Luckily we had it insured. It was a chain accident. Dad stopped, the man in the car behind him stopped but the man in the next car did not stop. He smashed into the car in front of him which was towing a boat, then that car smashed into Dad. It was all caused because the man in the car behind Dad was watching an accident that had just happened on the other side of the road.

19570422 –  Letter to Jeff Clift. Just come back from Black Point. Have spent Easter there and knowing that you live at Pine Point, got to thinking about you. Ian and Malcolm Weir mentioned you to me. Curious about what you have been doing since September 1955 when we met at the show. At that time I was very struck on Ken Wurfel. I’ve still got your letter to me. I have heard you are going to the school of mine now. I’m secretary to the Assistant Advertising Manager at the News. Nancy King and I are still good friends. Love to hear from you.