While putting together this site, many contributions were gratefully received, including an impressive submission from Aunty Nancy.
Simply called, Nancy's Memories, you can find it here: Nancy's Memories.
and here are some excerpts...
"We were wondering how to send some celery to Dad and must have written to him about this, because we got word from him to say if we could pack it and get it to Essendon Airport, there was a R.A.A.F. plane leaving there for Darwin daily, with essential stuff on board. What was more essential than celery for the troops?"
"...There were occasions when I had the job of polishing the "kitchen" table and used Geoffrey as the shining medium. We put his little botty on the cloth and sent him from one end of the table to the other, to be pushed back by Allen or Brian..."
"I remember Dad used to take us to the beach in the mornings and Mum would do the necessary house stuff and then come down with lunch. There was an oatmeal and water bag for sunburn, after a day in the sun, and also cold tea would sometimes be swabbed on us... I loved the water and Dad used to piggyback me to the breakwater, which was the beached, dis-used warship, Cerberus."
"...at Christmas time, little Nin would take the hot pudding out to the sink bench to cut up and put a 3d. piece in each person's portion, to make it fair for all of us, she said to me, on the quiet. But Grampa would get a ½d. piece, which was quite large by comparison to the 3d. Whilst he was eating he would make a great to-do about what he had found in his pudding and when he took out the ½d. we would exclaim that we had 3d. pieces. What lovely times we had!"
"At times Nin and Grampa would visit Ballarat and sometimes I would go also. It was, to me, a wonderful journey, by train. There would be a stop at Bacchus Marsh, where tea was served in the Railway Refreshment Rooms on the platform. There would be great slabs of fruit cake to have with the tea."
A wonderful Aunty Nancy afternoon tea served in February 2006 in Mornington!
Aunty Nancy & Uncle Alan in February 2006
A few lovely memories from our albums of Aunty Nancy and her family over the years...
Aunty Nancy and Dad in Nov 1994 at St. Francis Xavier Church, Berrima for a wedding!
Ross, Murray, Neville, Julie & Dianne and Sandy at Nana & Pa's house (date unknown).
Ted, Dad, Margaret, Allen, Mum & Nancy, 1997
Mum, Nancy & Janatha, Milton Park in 2008.
Nancy, Nana, Mum & Allen with young Dianne on the beach (date unknown).
13 Nov 1994 - Dad, Geoff, Nancy, Alan & Allen
13 Nov 1994 - Uncle Alan, Martin & Uncle Geoff , Nov 1994
The Boating Party - mid-1930s. Nana behind Nancy & Dad, with Grandpa, Nin & Allen
Mum, Nancy & Janatha found something very funny at Chewton (date unknown).
Murray and Dianne in 1955
Neville & Toni in Feb 2002 at his 50th birthday
Bridesmaids Julie & Dianne at Ross & Robyn's wedding, 8 May 1971
Ross & Robyn's wedding 1971
Operation: Aunty Nancy, Wheels Up
A Long-Held Dream Realised!
On a warm, breezy Saturday - February 3, 2018 to be precise - Greg picked up Aunty Nancy and her dear friend, Dorothy, from Mornington and drove them to the nearby Peninsula Aero Club at the small regional airport located just west of the town of Tyabb.
It was the culmination of several weeks of planning for Greg, and the realisation of a dream of a lifetime for Aunty Nancy.
The story goes that since she was a young girl, she'd wanted to join the R.A.A.F and become a pilot. Her father, Pa, said she had to stay at home and help Nana look after the children. So she did. But her fascination with aeroplanes and aviation didn't diminish. Over the years we understand she'd flown in several types of aircraft, but once Greg learned that she'd always wanted to fly in a small plane, he set the wheels in motion (so to speak) to launch, "Operation: Aunty Nancy Wheels-Up!"
He arranged for a flight with a skilled lady pilot who showed them the flight path they would take, and explained how high they would climb, and other aeronautically necessary tid-bits of information, all the while answering Aunty Nancy's intelligent questions: their aircraft was a Cessna 172P Skyhawk, registration VH-CIY. The single (piston) engine plane was built in 1980 in the U.S. of A., featuring a metallic fixed pitch propeller. Captain would have told them that, on the day, the moderate winds were from the south at 20.001kph (or 12.428mph), the barometer read 30:13"Hg, humidity sat at a comfortable 41%, and the temperature for the day ranged between 22-27°C. In other words, perfect weather for a joy flight!
After a brief inspection of the little aircraft, they were strapped in, aviation earphones placed on heads, safety rules recited - seats in the upright position, tray tables up! - and up, up, and away!
It wasn't a long flight, but it was exhilarating by all accounts and, although Aunty Nancy didn't take over the controls, she might as well have been flying the little Cessna herself, all over the Mornington Peninsula on that sunny Saturday (see photo above).
Afterwards Greg took a lovely photo of the intrepid trio of flyers (below) and had the very good sense to record the whole experience in a fantastic little video (follow this to the YouTube Channel).
To show he's not a 'one-trick pony', Greg also made a beautiful picnic lunch (sausage rolls, fruit pies, tea) and set up a table - outside the perimeter fence so the ladies could enjoy his delicious home-made treats while plane spotting (watching the weekend aviators right in front of them taking off, tootling around and landing) ...a joy indeed!
Aunty Nancy wrote a lovely thank you note to express her great appreciation (below).
Well done, Freddie! ???
