Anzac Day on Saturday. When I was a boy it was a big event. Bands, marching girls, boy scouts, Army, Navy & Air Force etc. My most enduring memory I would think is the Highland Pipe Bands. But then it was the equivalent of a Good Friday - nothing open all day and really dead. With no means of transport like today, with everybody owning a car, it was difficult then to go anywhere. Plus no TV, state run radio etc - oh the agony.
Some talk about adding a Monday holiday if it falls on a weekend. If I was still working I would probably favour that. But not really thinking it through; it would detract from the day.
An idiot has approached the Board that looks into place names about re-naming the North and South Islands with the Maori names. They have already made fools of themselves over the 'H' in Wanganui so if I was them, I would tread carefully.
I read a great little article that said we could always make it 50/50 Maori/English by calling them Te North Island and Te South Island. Ahhh yes, they want the H always included don't they - so we will have The North Island and The South Island!!!!
Where is Billy T James when you need him.At Rotary the other night we had a talk on the new Births Deaths and Marriages website - www.bdmrecords.dia.govt.nz
Since then I have been having a look and have found it very interesting as well as illuminating. I was surprised that my fathers name that he used, was in fact the name on his Birth Certificate. I always thought it was a shortened version and I am mystified that he never said. He was known as Val - but I understood it was the shortened version of Percival - his fathers name.
One thing I have confirmed on that side, is that my grandfather was born in NZ - so Kipp and Monty are at least 5th Generation Kiwis on both sides. The problem is NZ didn't start to keep proper records until the Treay was signed and even after that Maori records were sparse.
We have quite a bit of information on my mothers side - going back to to 1600's - from our start in Kings Stanley and Leonard Stanley in Gloucester.
