Andrew Murray

Andrew Murray was born in 1941 in Edinburgh Scotland.

He was one of 6 siblings, he was the youngest.

As a child he could walk to Edinburgh castle, & remembered that one day he & a friend climbed the fence & managed to make their way into the castle.

They were caught & had a stern talking to. They were also made to sign a document to say they would never break in again.

Drew was 5 when they first came over to Australia, he lived in Campsie in Sydney. The family travelled back & forth three times between Australia & Scotland, before settling here permanently.

Drew had a great love for Soccer & played for 40 years. He played a few games professionally. He recalled a memorable game at Henson Park, which was actually a football ground, but they were permitted to have their game of soccer there.

Drew finished school at 14 & at 16 joined the Merchant Navy. They travelled around Australia, & also to South America. But it was too dangerous for them to depart the boat there.

He had met a wonderful lady named Joy at a dance at Marrickville town hall. He married her at age 20.

After leaving the Navy he drove trucks, & buses. He also worked for the railway in Darling Harbour.

Drew took Joy on a voyage to Scotland as she had never seen snow. They were staying with his brother when in the morning he told Drew to wake Joy & tell her to come outside. Joy got to see the snow falling & landing on them. It was at a location called Arthurs Seat. Drew looked so happy while retelling this story to me, & remembering Joy's amazement & excitement.

Joy & Drew had two sons. They lived in Mt Pritchard when the kids were young.

They moved to Stroud after some years, & Joy was a seamstress & made curtains for local businesses & households.

Joy also worked as an organizer for Stroud show, & Drew helped her with those duties. Joy sadly passed away in 2012.

Drew developed lung cancer, & had to spend 3 months in the mater hospital. He has radiation scarring on the top half of his lung, which makes it now fairly ineffective.

In 2020 Drew had some health issues, & upon investigation they found that his appendix had burst.

Drew was diagnosed with dementia in recent years & the decision was made for him to sell up at Stroud & move to his son & daughter in laws farm in the Hunter Valley.

He did so well to recall all of his past memories. it's just his day to day that he has trouble with.

I made comment to Drew that I was surprised he didn't have an accent. He recalled getting teased for it at school by a boy who was in a higher grade & much bigger than him. He said they got into a fist fight, & after scrapping with each other for some time the fight ended, & they became great mates.. Drew did however work very hard to disguise / lose his accent to avoid any more issues.

Barbara Robinson

Barbara Robinson born 26th April 1934 in Gateshead near Newcastle in England to parents John Alexander Robinson and Sylvia Hannah Armstrong who married in 1924. Barbara the youngest of three daughters, eldest Sylvia born 1925 and Jean in 1927. Barbara recalled walking miles to school in the snow. She said it was so deep her Mum had to sew sheepskin onto the top of her boots to stop them filling up.

She attended Rockingham Road school for girls before relocating to Australia in 1948. She and her family sailed out on SS Asturias settling into their family home at Lakemba NSW.

Barbara enrolled at Bankstown Girls school to complete her leaving certificate before embarking on her working career starting out as children’s dressmaker. Deciding she did not like making handmade buttonholes she decided to try out hairdressing. After 2 years of hairdressing she took on work along Castlereagh St and Elizabeth St in the city of Sydney.

Whilst working in the drycleaning business she met Joseph John Humphreys whom she married at Saint Andrews Church in Lakemba NSW in 1954. Barbara recalled that she has no pictures from her wedding as the photographer didn't show up as arranged!

In 1960 she welcomed their first child together a daughter named Donna, soon followed a son named John Alexander in 1961 as he was the spitting image of his grandfather who sadly passed that same year. A few years passed before welcoming their second daughter and final family member Tina in 1967. She continued to work fulltime leaving the drycleaning business after sixteen years.

Barbara started her own house cleaning business often taking Tina with her on jobs whilst Donna and John attended school. During this time her marriage broke down and with her two daughters in tote moving for a short time to Panania before then moving to the Central Coast NSW.

In 1980 Barbara married Ronald Lloyd Howes where they opened a fish and chip shop at Toukley called “Howes your Fish and Chips”. Wanting to live the simple life she moved to the rural town of Glenreagh in 1992.

Barbara has always been a whizz with a needle and thread where till this day she continues to make clothing and alterations including wedding and christening dresses, her creative soul has created many beautiful artworks using several different mediums including pottery and porcelain, pencils and pastels and fabrics. With a lot of hard work and determination she recreated Donna, Tina and daughter in law Gennine’s wedding dresses into porcelain figurines.

Whilst travelling on a train to Sydney she was seated next a man named Bob Franks, spending hours of talking the always romantic Barbara married her third husband Bob. They moved to her current home in South Grafton NSW.

Barbara has three grandchildren Larissa, Kelly and Lee all who have blessed her with great grandchildren, Ruby, Aurora, Lacey, Thea, Evie and Noah. She spends many hours sitting and watching, conversing, and laughing and being loved by her whole family.

Beryl Connell

Beryl was my very first Golden Age session! I asked her family to bring along any special items of Beryl's, which were some of the tapestries she had made, a statue she had in her garden, one of her plants & her Wedding photo.

Her face lit up when they wheeled her in, & she saw her Wedding photo on the table.. Dementia may make some of her memories fade, but I could see in her eyes how much that image meant to her.

These were some of the words her family documented about her life.

Beryl Joan Connell born 6/2/1927 née Vesperman

One of 8 children, the eldest girl, grew up in Cootamundra where her father was a baker, and mother a housewife. Beryl raised the younger twin Girls, leaving school at 13 years old, to help her busy mother.

During the years of the depression neighbours helped one another out. This is when Beryl first met Les Connell. ( he would later become her husband) His mum was a good sewer and use to make clothes for her mum. They grew up in a small country town having fun with neighbours and family.

Beryl's first job was at Coles , in the Lolly department . (apparently at the care facility, she won't always eat her dinner, but will still polish off a packet of lollies)

Eventually became a receptionist for local doctor and also nanny for their children.

Les returned from WWII after being held as a prisoner of war, and romanced Beryl into marriage.

They started their married life In Paddington Sydney then returned to Cootamundra to rear their 4 children . David, Cherylene, Wendy, and Paul.

Beryl remained a housewife throughout and volunteered at various school canteens. Moving to Newcastle in 1965, where Les managed the rail transport of coal into the harbour.

Her main goal in life was to see her children well educated and to run her home lovingly.

She excelled at embroidery, knitting crocheting and tapestry. Always demonstrating a flair for decorating, colour coordinating .. especially in her home .

Joined the Probus club and remained an active member until moving to Rutherford.

Beryl is known for her love of her family and celebrating every milestone- always a party !

She now has 9 Grandchildren, & 18 Great Grandchildren.

Barbara Solman

Barbara Clare Solman Nee Bell Born on the 9th May 1934 in A Private Nurses Home by Nurse Whiteman Mayfield.

Barbara is the 4th of 6 Children (her mother had been one of 10) and the one who was to help hold the Family together. Sadly, her father passed away at the young age of 36 From Silicosis Disease. He fired the bulbs at New Bulb Brick, this fatal illness was an occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. Her mother worked hard to provide for the family in his absence.

Home life was always full of fun, laughs, lots of noise and cheekiness. Barbara said they were always surrounded by family once her Dad passed away as the Aunties regularly dropped in to check in on us all and there was always something to be done around the house.

Her mum would always be in the middle of the noise and laughter, if there was a bit of banter between us kids.. Mum would be in there Dishing out as good as she got. If there was a Classic water fight in the yard.. yep Mum would be in there to making as much mess as all of us kids. We never had a Lot BUT we made the most of what we had.

Growing up in Mayfield everyone knew each other, family all around and the Neighbours always looked out for each other and all the Children in the area. Barb was always a chatty child and if her Mother wasn’t able to find her at the end of the day. All she had to do was go check with the Neighbours as Barb would surely be chatting to one of them

Barb got an exemption from School to leave early so she could gain employment to help the family with money to get by. Her first Job was at the Dry Cleaners in Mayfield. She loved it very much and her first Pay check she bought herself a pair of shorts much to her Mothers disapproval . We always wore dresses or slacks. Never Shorts.. I remember getting ready to go out with my new outfit. I walked out to say Goodbye to Mum and she threw a bucket of water over me and said… Oh Dear, You will have to get changed now!

She then gained employment at a nice boutique at the top of town. where she loved the fashion and as always having hand me down clothes or clothes sewed by her Mum. It was a lovely and exciting Job.. The skills she had learnt from family had also helped her fall in love with making her own accessories and hats and clothing as well.

When Barb was 15 She Met A Bloke Called Allan through a mutual friend who Fancied her, but the feelings weren’t mutual. Window shopping through the streets of Mayfield one day Allan asked to take her to the movies.. and the rest is history. They dated for 4 years with picnics with the local Motorcycle club with games of Egg and Spoon on the Bikes. Local Dances where the question was regularly asked… So who has caught your heart. To finally getting married on the 5th December in1953. The same year the Queen was coronated

They together had 3 children Allan Jnr, Phillip and Jane who are still the apples of her eye. Her Job as a Stay-at-Home Mother is all she could have wished for and has loved watching their own lives grow and families become bigger and stronger.. and they were cheeky kids so that was a full time job in itself.

Barbara told me that she had quite a traumatic birth delivering her first son Alan, due to the birthing Doctor not listening to Barbara & her explaining she had been told the baby needed to be turned, she ended up having a c-section completely unconscious. She said the midwife had to ring & beg the Doctor to attend, he was known to have an alcohol problem... so he was really not fit to be working.

Alan ended up needing an operation on his head to remove a blood clot due to the trauma as well.

It took her another 8 years to fall pregnant with son Phillip, due to the issues from her first birth. He was 10lb & she ended up having a prolapse, cervical repair, & a hysterectomy.

Their third child Jane was adopted, due to Barbara no longer being able to have children. She was adopted at 23 days old from Crown Street Women's Hospital in Sydney.

Her daughter Jane did try to find her birth mother when laws changed, & contact could be made, but sadly she was in hospital, quite unwell by the time the letter reached her, & passed away just a day after receiving it. Thankfully a friend, could fill in some of the details & let Jane feel she knew a little about her birth mother.

When her Mum became unwell, Barb and Al lived in Belmont and her Mother was Still in Mayfield. She tells stories of when she would ride over on Allans Triumph Bike, Barbara in the Side Car along with Newborn Baby Allan Jnr. They would pack all the fresh vegetables from her Mums vege patch into the Side Car. Then the sleeping Allan Jnr then Barb into the Side car.. Then they would ride back to Belmont home.. Also Barb and Allan Snr were the first in their street to get a phone put into the house, as her Mums health was not the best and they needed that extra bit of communication as Belmont was a fair drive from Mayfield back then..

She still has trouble with her Mobile Phone and oh the funny stories the Grandkids can tell of Allan Snr with his Mobile phone

Barb now has 6 Grandchildren and 3 Great Grandchildren who drop in from time to time. Check in on her, keep her busy and always love her snacks and having a cuppa with her, life is less busy these days and the visits she has definitely make her day.

Her family is her life and since the passing of her beloved Husband June 2020 it has left a large hole in it. She keeps busy with her love of books, Her knitting of her famous coat hangers and loves meeting up with her new coffee ladies. She says she is grateful for all that we have and that time is a gift.