Long-ago-days not that long ago, as exhibition recollections prove

Orville the cat helps Julian Price sort ewe hoggets at Creedmoor, near Incholme, North Otago. Photo: Sharyn Price

When I first mentioned a couple of months ago the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition held in Dunedin on the new Logan Park in 1925-26, I never dreamed there would be so many readers who remembered visiting the event or still had some souvenirs from it.

I had a lovely phone call from Shirley Fynmore of Andersons Bay about the exhibition, and she has since emailed me her story and an accompanying image:

"The photo with this message is of me, not quite 2 years old, standing beside a very large chocolate box.

"This was a prize from the entertainment area at the exhibition. It contained a single layer of chocolates.

"I remember the empty box, as it was kept for several years after.

"My lifelong interest in photographing people, places and events is a useful continuation of family history."

Thanks Shirley. That is certainly a seriously-sized box of choccies!Helpful catsJulian Price of Creedmoor in North Otago sent in the photo of his cat, Orville, helping supervise the sorting of ewe hoggets.

"His brother Wilbur often helps in the sheep yards too."

And Pam Robertson of Broad Bay sent in the other photograph used here today.

"This is my cat Ana rescued from the SPCA some years ago. She has a real passion for bags and boxes.

"She has been caught this time in my insulated supermarket bag. She is a real character and such a good companion."

Thanks Pam.

Pam Robertson of Broad Bay’s SPCA rescue cat Ana likes boxes and bags, including the insulated supermarket bag on the kitchen floor. Photo: Pam Robertson

High-octane limerick

At least I think it’s a limerick. I’m sure if it isn’t someone out there will let me know!

This gem comes from Tom Landreth of Cromwell:

Said worried car driver, Priscilla,
"This petrol price rise is a killer.
With the tank nearly empty
It used to take 20
But now 80 dollars won’t fill ’er."

It’s night cart time ...

Jean Young of East Taieri says in the early 1960s she did her nursing training at Balclutha Hospital.

"I had a male friend who did the night-cart run. I remember very clearly going with him one night and doing my very best not to let the odour cause me to vomit.

Shirley Fynmore, aged a little less than 2, stands proudly next to a huge box of chocolates won at the 1925-26 New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition in Dunedin. Photo: Shirley Fynmore Collection

"I think back about that now and realise that ‘date’ night would be something the young folk could never imagine these days!"

It was certainly not your usual date, Jean.

Yvonne Ritchie remembers the night cart coming to her nana’s house in Palmerston.

"The toilet walls were covered with newspaper articles and I can still remember reading and looking at the photos of the Sew Hoy family when they came to Dunedin many years ago. The youngest son (Duncan?) was only a small boy at that time."

Finally, Laurence Bevin shares this slightly risque night-cart story.

"In the late 1950s, going to catch the school train from Bluff to Invercargill, the night-cart truck had lost a couple of cans on the corner and the driver was out with a broom and shovel.

"Someone ... shouted out, ‘What are you up to?’. His reply was: ‘I’m having a stocktake and I’m two s...s short’."

Comment now