Oh, my goodness

I had a sense when I commenced my manuscript in January 2018 that there would be new material that would evolve. There always is, when research is involved especially when the focus is historical. What I had not anticipated were the GEMS that would emerge. In some cases, the unknown is now known.

One such example is father’s tale about the Manunui Boarding House where he lived as a single man. Until now that was all I knew with no idea of the name of the Boarding House or location in Manunui. While we were recording this period, I did not occur to me to ask the specifics. I was just delighted that we were capturing his stories.  

During one of my earlier trips to Taumarunui, N.Z. I had met up with Ron Cooke who operates a business Abundant Past Ltd. Ron compiled the Roll back the years series and the material he has gathered over the years, is significant. Therefore, I thought it was worth asking him the question, do you have a photo of the Boarding House in Manunui during the 1930’s – 1940’s located near the Manunui Fire Brigade?

Dominion Boarding House, Manunui 

Sure, enough along with other requested material the above photo arrived. What a joy to have received. This, in turn, enabled me to ‘join the dots’ between Ron and my material which was a treat! An example of this is the realization that in Vol 3 of the republished roll back the years series. I had viewed and read this material but not made the connection until I received the image.

The above photo, A 1929 view, from the fire brigade tower, of {Ellis and Burnand’s] sawmill and box factory. Compiled by Ron Cooke, Roll back the years, Vol 3 Pg.356, Republished November 2010 – photo courtesy NZ Forest Service collection, Wellington (ref: 13096).

The joy of writing this manuscript continues.

Go well

Viti