Recollections of Dennis George Marsh - Part 4

Fourth part of a series contributed by guest author Dennis Marsh
(continued from Part 3)

Calf Club Day, Te Puke Primary School, c. October 1961
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Bay of Plenty Times Collection, Pae Korokī Ref. gca-2362

While I was going to primary school in Te Puke, I made friends with David Cannell. David’s father kept pigs. To feed them he used to buy old or unwanted horses, slaughter them and cook the meat up in big drums. It used to stink something awful and, as they lived on the outskirts of the shops, the cooking smell used to waft over the town and many people used to say derogatory things about the Cannell's. One weekend when I was staying with David, his father had been given an old thoroughbred. David’s dad said I should take it home as a horse to ride. I spoke to Dad on the phone and he was adamant that I was not to bring it home, but relented over the weekend and I rode it home on the Sunday afternoon. It was my first long ride on a horse and with no saddle – and by the time I got home I hurt in places no self-respecting person could mention. Dad laughed and called them “half-crowns”. Later Dad used to ride Captain, the name he was given, with Ron Brown when they went to muster the sheep. He was a ‘bugger’ of a horse to ride and the racehorse in him meant he did not like any other horse getting in front of him and he would bite down on the bit so that we had no control over him. Boy could he run !!!!

Dell at First Farm, Te Puke
Photograph collection of Dennis Marsh

We went to school on the bus leaving about 7:30 in the morning and getting home about 4:15. My job was to get dressed as quick as I could and get over to the shed to help Dad. Most of the time when I got there the cows had been milked and I had either to take them to the paddock, wash the shed and the yard or watch the separator to make sure the whey was going into the correct drum and the pig sty. We usually got finished at 5:00 and could then go back to the house and get ready for tea or maybe even do my homework.

My teacher was Jack Gemming. Jack taught us in standard 4 and 5. He then got promoted to secondary school. So when I went to college, I had Jack as my form teacher all through High School. I was part of the first batch of third formers to attend the Te Puke High School, as previously it had been a District High School.

Te Puke School bus, c. 1930s
Image courtesy of Tauranga City Library, Pae Korokī Ref. 07-073

The school bus was owned by the Te Puke Bus Company, Bill and Con Buckley, and most of the time our driver was Naera someone. Norrie Williams was the cream run driver and used to deliver all the stuff Mum ordered from town: groceries, bread, medicines and the stuff Dad ordered form the factory shop. Sometime if I was late to catch the bus, I would have to get a ride to school with Norrie who would drop me off at the factory corner and I walked up the hill to school. Sometimes there would be other kids on the cream truck for the same reason.

“Dennis and George Marsh with 1939 Ford V8 truck at first farm”
Photograph collection of Dennis Marsh

Dad and Mum bought a 1939 Ford V8 small truck- what would be called a ute in today’s language. It had a metal tray on the back and metal sides about 600mm high. Dad made a wooden crate to fit on the back so that he could take animals to the sale yards and back again. Going to “Town” was something special. Mum and Dad in the front and the three kids on the back – under a cow cover if it was raining. The road was only metalled so in the summer we had to contend with the dust and mud in the winter.

Capitol Theatre, Te Puke, c. 1960s
Postcard, Image courtesy of Pae Korokī, Ref. 99-046

Nevertheless, town day was something great. We could meet our friends, especially the girls, and if we had been very good at home, Dad might take us to the picture in the Capitol Theatre – always downstairs as it cost less. I only went upstairs after I started to get pocket money and I could afford to pay the difference myself.

Lolly dispenser, Capitol Theatre, Collection of Te Puke Museum
Photograph by Sandra Haigh, Courtesy of Western Bay Community Archives (Ref)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 New Zealand License

Dennis Marsh, Stewart St, Te Puke, 1961
Photograph collection of Dennis Marsh

Around this time the Post Office put new telephone lines up No. 1 and No. 2 Road. Dad got the job of taking down some of the old poles and wires. He wanted to use the poles for posts and the wire for fencing. I went with him on weekends to help. One Saturday when we were picking up the wire on the back of the truck, Dad said “Hop in and drive to the next heap”. I had driven different makes of tractors but never the truck. But youthful bravado rose to the fore. “OK” I said. Staring the motor and getting the truck moving was OK but then a car came down the road as I was driving to the next heap. What to do ???  PANIC. Dad saw what was happening and called out “Just keep going, You’re OK” and that was my first experience of driving the truck on the road.

(To be continued)