Puhoi Historical Society’s Newsletter – No 3. June 2006

Compiled by Werner FISCHER, Box 31, Puhoi 0939.

Jenny vacates the Chair…
Jenny SCHOLLUM has just completed the three consecutive years in the chair which our constitution allows and during that time the Society has been going from strength to strength.

Some quite major developments have taken place under her leadership, not least the decision to take the Society into the IT age. This has led not only to the transfer of all our genealogical records to the newly acquired computer but also to the constant addition of new data as members contribute their own electronic files. To date we have 7638 individual entries in our genealogy program, which constitutes three times the data we had before. The transfer of photographic material is also progressing apace and this will be followed by adding all our other records from various certificates, passports, ship’s manifests etc. to school and cemetery records. All this will be electronically linked, making each item readily accessible and - above all - safe from accidents.

Under Jenny’s leadership and with her encouragement the committee has been humming along, with each member contributing according to her or his own interests and abilities. Bringing the dray to Puhoi and displaying it in a prominent place was a direct result of that, as was the establishment of our own website, the initiative to raise funds by selling family history charts and some of our historic photos, re-organising the Records Room so that it now presents a more professional face and placing durable metal plaques around the village to mark all its historic sites. And last, but certainly not least, our membership has tripled as a result of all this enthusiasm and activity.

Jenny deserves the Society’s sincere thanks – yet again! And if you want to know more about her contribution over the years read Newsletter no 2 (Jan 2006)

… and Des takes over.
Following Jenny SCHOLLUM’s passing over of the reins, the Committee unanimously voted Des PEATE into the chair of the Puhoi Historical Society
Des PEATE, our new President

Des has strong connections with Puhoi and has the interests of the Society and the Village very much at heart. His Great Grandfather was Lorenz SCHISCHKA who led the 2nd group out in 1866 on the ‘Liverpool’.

His grandmother Theresa was 7 when they arrived and she subsequently married James MASSON, a Scot who built a number of dwellings in the Puhoi area, including the original ‘Rosedale’ at Wenderholm. Des’ mother Irene (Rene) was born in Puhoi and although the MASSON family later moved up to Paparoa near Matakohe, Rene returned to teach for a time in the Puhoi State School.

Des trained as a Civil Engineer and completed his qualifications in London. He then turned his attention to water supply/water treatment and spent the next 37 years with a London based international group specializing in this field and travelled widely. After periods based in Singapore and London, he took early retirement in 1988 and tried his hand at farming, which is what he would have liked to have done had he not been an Engineer. After 14 years leading the ‘good life‘ it was time to retire properly, so four years ago he and his wife Ruth moved from near Leigh down to Stanmore Bay in Whangaparaoa. They have three children.

Des was always interested in his origins and in history in general, so with more time available, he extended the family’s histories and this brought him into contact with us. We had just bought our first computer and were in the throes of finding suitable software to cope with the diversity of our records. Des came with precisely the expertise we needed at that very moment and, to everyone’s great relief, was more than happy to take responsibility for converting our genealogical records from paper to computer. Since then he has spent an entire day every week at the keyboard transferring the material and the Society is lucky indeed to have so competent and meticulous a genealogist on its Committee.

But that is not all! Some time ago, Des wondered aloud to his son Graham, who is an expert in the construction of web pages, whether he might not like to set up something simple for the Puhoi Historical Society. When Graham made some affirmative noises, Des promptly appointed him ‘Webmaster’ for the Society’s website and the two of them proceeded to create the spectacular compendium of Puhoi’s history and the Society’s activities which you can access under www.puhoihistoricalsociety.org.nz. More on that below.

No wonder the Committee was delighted to vote Des in.

Jenny SCHOLLUM’s 2005/2006 Presidential Report

Committee elected at the AGM.

President: Des PEATE
Imm. Past President: Jenny SCHOLLUM (and Museum Coodinator)
Vice President: Bill MARCROFT
Patron: Doug TITFORD
Secretary: Karen LOGAN
Minutes Secretary: Sue MARCROFT
Treasurer: Jennie FISCHER
Committee:
Werner FISCHER, Norman GOLDING, Margaret HOSTING, Sheryll TITFORD, Richard WALTERS

The meeting also approved the following changes to the Constitution which were suggested by the Committee:
The end of the financial year was changed from 31st December to 31st March to better meet deadlines for both auditing purposes and the AGM.

A new category of membership was created to accommodate requests we have had since the creation of our website. Overseas residents may henceforth become financial members but will not have voting rights and will not be counted whenever it becomes necessary to establish whether a quorum of members is present at any given meeting.

Our Website
We are so thrilled with our new website that I cannot resist putting in a plug for it at this point.

As mentioned above, Des PEATE and his son Graham created the site together, with Des contributing the texts and facts and figures and Graham contributing the technological know how. Des has also been in charge of auditing the site for correctness and good function and, being the absolute stickler for precision that he is, poor Graham must have had a difficult job at times !!!

The result does them both enormous credit! The site is attractive and easy to navigate and fast and crammed with detail under the headings:

Society - our aims; details of members
Museum - description and excellent photos
Archives - what we hold; how we can assist
History - a treasure trove
Church - building and those who served it
Puhoi Today - a photo collection worth seeing
Events - what’s going on
Maps - where we are and how to find us
Links - fellow associations, private descendants’ sites, local community sites and more

If you have access to a computer, our website www.puhoihistoricalsociety.org.nz is an absolute MUST!

Marking Historic Sites
In recent months a number of historic sites around the village have been marked with large stones that carry an aluminium plaque. The plaques are etched with a photo of the original building and a brief descriptive text. We hope that they will be more permanent than the old markers, many of which have deteriorated or disappeared altogether.

The sites in question include Capt. KRIPPNER’s house, the State School, the Blacksmith’s Shop and a view of the entrance of the village as seen from the dray.

Materials for our Archives
We are much indebted to the STRAKA’s, who have recently presented us with a copy of the booklet which the family put together about the life of Ben STRAKA. It’s a fascinating read and we are most grateful that they don’t mind sharing it.

The book will be an important addition to our Archives because such stories help to bring to life the bare facts about births, marriages and deaths which make up the majority of the materials we hold.

If your family has any similar materials which illustrate life in early Puhoi we be would most grateful if you too would consider sharing them. All too often stories die with the people concerned and, naturally, we are anxious to prevent that from happening and want to preserve as much as possible. So, please check if anything exists in your family like the book about Ben STRAKA.

Old photos of people at work or any other activity are especially welcome, so please check your albums.

Transcribing Interviews
And while we are on stories of early Puhoi: the Committee spent a most pleasant afternoon interviewing Tom BAYER, who presented one and a half hours’ worth of entertaining and interesting anecdotes of life as it was. The interview was consigned to computer and will now have to be transcribed.

We have several such interviews in our Archives now and their transcription has proved to be an impossibly arduous task when all you have is a tape recorder playing the voice back tp you. For that reason we desperately need one of those - now almost obsolete - dictaphone/transcriber machines capable of taking the somewhat larger then standard 1970/80’s audio tapes. Despite all our efforts, we have been unable to unearth one. Does anyone out there know of the whereabouts of one of these gadgets? We are more than willing to pay for it.

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