9572
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Date1934DescriptionFamily photo of Aaron, Doris and eldest daughter Iris before moving to Tauranga.The pink dress Iris is wearing was knitted by Doris._x005F_x000D_
Doris Aughton, daughter of Edward and Mary Gertrude Low (Ashton) married Aaron Ball Woodcock on 3rd August 1929 at the Avondale Salvation Army Hall. They spent the first 5 years of married life moving from house to house in Avondale. Their first two children Iris Evelyn born 26.7.1932 and Gordon Aaron 29.3.1934 were both born in Avondale. Gordon was just a baby when the opportunity arose for the family to move to Tauranga. Aaron had been offered a position in a Bakehouse owned by Johnny Johnstone._x005F_x000D_
Tauranga in the late 1934's didn't extend much beyond 11th Avenue, known as Faulkners Corner. Beyond this there were only farms and citrus orchards._x005F_x000D_
My parents lived their whole lives in rental accommodation, as having seen so many families loose their homes during the depression, due to non payment on their mortgages they were loath to have the same thing happen to them. Their first home was in Edgecumbe road end of 9th Avenue. Gordon, just a few months old contracted pneumonia. Doris told of spending weeks sitting in a chair beside the fireplace nursing her baby back to health. Shortly afterwards the family moved to Durham Street, allowing Aaron to walk to work instead of biking as he had been doing. The bakehouse was situated at the bottom of Spring Street, down an alleyway behind Artie Stewarts general store which sold everything imaginable, clothing, cutlery, pots and pans etc. It was a huge shop, or so it appeared to be for a small child with a wooden floor that heralded each footstep._x005F_x000D_
The house in Durham Street was typical of the day. Steps lead up to the verandah across the front. A short passage in the middle, a bedroom to the right and a lounge to the left. The passage led on into a kitchen cum dining room where the cooking took place on a coal range dirty old things they the were that needed cleaning on a regular basis for the soot build up but it cooked the best scones ever. Off this room was bedroom number two. Beyond these two room were a scullery, and bedroom to the left. And a bathroom cum washhouse to the right copper in one corner beside two wooden tubs with a manual wringer over one of them. I well remember taking my turn at turning the handle as the clothes were threaded through. You first boiled the clothes in the copper, lifted them with the copper stick into the tub of clean water, put them through the wringer into the "blue" rinse then back through the wringer once more before hanging them out to dry on a wire stretched across the back garden. This wire was hoisted up with a piece of wood ( the clothes prop) but if you were unlucky and the wire broke it meant the whole process had to start all over again. It was to be many years before Doris had the joy of purchasing an electric "washing machine"._x005F_x000D_
Durham street days were some of my happiest, as it was from here that I first walked to school situated on Cameron Road between 4th and 5th Avenues.This school catered for children of all ages. It wasn't until Tauranga coed college was built that you went on to secondary school._x005F_x000D_
The primmers was and still is situated in 5th Avenue. Learning to swim meant walking down to 6th Avenue, getting changed in the dressing shed beneath a huge pohutukawa tree. This tree is still there in 2013. These swimming lessons were dependant on the tide. Eventually you progressed to using the one and only swimming pool in Tauranga at the bottom of 1st Avenue close to the railway bridge. I had many a swim there and I guess it was what gave me a love of swimming in the sea and why I remain swimming at 80. This pool, made of timber eventually rotted, meaning the pool had to be closed for safety reasons._x005F_x000D_
Another memory of those early days. was the drill we were taught during the second World War, should Tauranga be bombed. We had to practise getting back to our homes hugging the hedges as we walked. Thankfully we never had to put it into practise._x005F_x000D_
I was lucky enough to have my paternal grandparents living on Cameron road and this allowed me to visit them most days on the way home from school.They lived next door to our family doctor, Dr Mark, who delivered my other brother and sisters, Harry, Mary, Betty and Carol. My grandfather looked after his wife who was wheelchair bound._x005F_x000D_
Living so central gave us the opportunity to spend time at the Mount. Mother would gather up our togs and towels, pack a picnic lunch and off we go via Faulkner's ferry getting off at the wharf at the base of the Mount, (Mauo) This wharf no longer exists. We would then trudge up the hill and around to the surf beach. If we were lucky mum would treat us to a 6d ride on the donkeys. Home would come tired 3 children and most likely a tired mum as well before falling into bed._x005F_x000D_
Harry, the youngest at the time got into a spot of bother when he was not much more than 2years old when he followed his mother who went to visit a neighbour. The neighbour, thinking he would catch up with his mum sent him on his way. Harry though toddled off down to the wharf at the bottom of Wharf street, and went for a paddle, not realizing that the concrete slab on which he was standing had water maybe 10feet deep either side. He soon found out. Fortunately an elderly man saw him go in and he rushed to where Curly Steadman was working on the Faulkner ferries. He jumped in pulling Harry to safety, but not before he had floated from one side to the other. As Harry had gone in he must have caught his breath making him bob back up like a cork. Mother arrived, hair in curlers and apron on said she heard him before she saw him. This was to be the first of Harry's 9 lives, as at the age of 8 he contracted tetanus, but again being lucky enough to live to tell the tale._x005F_x000D_
The house at 11 durham Street, was owned by Miss Whittaker and was next door to the Civic Theatre, and was across the road was the original Fire station now situated on Cameron Road._x005F_x000D_
A funny story conected to the Fire Station was, _x005F_x000D_
One day one of the firemen, in the throes of pulling up the hoses to dry, threatened to put my eldest brother on the end of the rope and pull him up. Youngest brother decided nobody was going to do that to his brother so he sunk his teeth into the firemans backside. The poor guy was most likely being pestered by the boys and thought this would get them out of his hair, but he hadn't reckoned on a loyal wee brother._x005F_x000D_
Another story, was the day my little sister Mary happened to be standing gently swinging the axe when one of the Vasey boys bent down. The axe connected with his head giving him a nasty wound. I must have been in my teens and thinking he could bleed to death, I picked him up intending to run to Doctor Mark whose surgery was on Cameron Road, but met Harry Vasey on the way, who jumped into the fire engine and took his son to the doctor. Not many kids get to go the doctor via a fire engine. A few stitches later and everything was back to normal._x005F_x000D_
Gordon joined the Voluntary Fire Brigade at the age of 16 and when the siren sounded he would run over to the station, manually open the doors pulling on a rope, turn off the siren, phone the telephone exchange to find out where the fire was and write it on the blackboard. The volunteers would leave their places of work and either rush to the station or up onto Cameron Road, this being the only route the fireengine would travel. Harry Vesey was the only designated driver, Len Crewe lived in Elizabeth Street, Jack Chantry (local postman) in 6th Avenue, so they would be picked up on the way. Later bedrooms were built on to the back of the station and some of the single men lived on the premises, but they all still kept their day jobs._x005F_x000D_
The Civic was the original picture theatre in Tauranga but was longer used as such once the Regent in Spring Street was built. This building, the Civic was a great place for children to play and fantasize in. Old posters of movies still lay on the projection box. It was dark and spooky. During WW2 it was used as a dance hall for the American servicemen whose were living in tents of the Wharapei Domain. Many of these young men were still in their teen and were very home.sick. Mum came across one of them crying nursing my little brother on his knee. He had a kid brother back in the States and was missing him. Mum invited him and some of the others in for a cup of tea and it was here that they made their first contact with a lamb. We had a pet lamb at the time and they had never set syes on one before. The tears quickly went to be replaced by smiles._x005F_x000D_
As the family grew in size and age another treat was travelling by boat up the harbour to Omokoroa where the women and children would disembark while their husbands would continue on out for a days fishing. This spot was and still is a great place for a picnic and a swim as the beach is particulary safe for small children, and for older ones, jumping off the end of the jetty was always fun. The boat trip took around an hour, but this was also part of the enjoyment of the day._x005F_x000D_
Doris took a very active interest in basketball, now called Netball. Being short in stature she played centre. By this time she had three children. I remember going to these matches with my two brothers, being sat on a seat beside the courts situated beside the Rose Gardens, and threatened with dire consequences should we moved._x005F_x000D_
Her other interests was cards. 500 in particular. For many years she ran the Fire Station Social Club 500 evenings, never missing her weekly game. As soon as us children were able to hold a hand of cards we learnt to play. She played a good game and played to win and was good at remembering what cards had fallen. In the latter part of her life she ran the Euchre card evenings at the Citizens Club rooms until finally giving up well into her 80's.
Please note:
Originally uploaded to the Tauranga Memories website (2011-2020), into the general site basket, or focus group, by Iris, on 10 28, 2012.
Its original URL was: http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/en/site/images/show/4367 and its original license was: Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.
Sometimes images contributed to Tauranga Memories by the community were uploaded by a library staff member. If this has resulted in your photographs being mis-attributed to a staff member, please let us know so we can correct this.The original Tauranga Memories site also sometimes collected the following (blank where empty):
First name: Iris
Surname: Woodcock
Place of birth: Avondale
Date of birth: 26.7.1932
City: Auckland
Year: 1932
Doris Aughton, daughter of Edward and Mary Gertrude Low (Ashton) married Aaron Ball Woodcock on 3rd August 1929 at the Avondale Salvation Army Hall. They spent the first 5 years of married life moving from house to house in Avondale. Their first two children Iris Evelyn born 26.7.1932 and Gordon Aaron 29.3.1934 were both born in Avondale. Gordon was just a baby when the opportunity arose for the family to move to Tauranga. Aaron had been offered a position in a Bakehouse owned by Johnny Johnstone._x005F_x000D_
Tauranga in the late 1934's didn't extend much beyond 11th Avenue, known as Faulkners Corner. Beyond this there were only farms and citrus orchards._x005F_x000D_
My parents lived their whole lives in rental accommodation, as having seen so many families loose their homes during the depression, due to non payment on their mortgages they were loath to have the same thing happen to them. Their first home was in Edgecumbe road end of 9th Avenue. Gordon, just a few months old contracted pneumonia. Doris told of spending weeks sitting in a chair beside the fireplace nursing her baby back to health. Shortly afterwards the family moved to Durham Street, allowing Aaron to walk to work instead of biking as he had been doing. The bakehouse was situated at the bottom of Spring Street, down an alleyway behind Artie Stewarts general store which sold everything imaginable, clothing, cutlery, pots and pans etc. It was a huge shop, or so it appeared to be for a small child with a wooden floor that heralded each footstep._x005F_x000D_
The house in Durham Street was typical of the day. Steps lead up to the verandah across the front. A short passage in the middle, a bedroom to the right and a lounge to the left. The passage led on into a kitchen cum dining room where the cooking took place on a coal range dirty old things they the were that needed cleaning on a regular basis for the soot build up but it cooked the best scones ever. Off this room was bedroom number two. Beyond these two room were a scullery, and bedroom to the left. And a bathroom cum washhouse to the right copper in one corner beside two wooden tubs with a manual wringer over one of them. I well remember taking my turn at turning the handle as the clothes were threaded through. You first boiled the clothes in the copper, lifted them with the copper stick into the tub of clean water, put them through the wringer into the "blue" rinse then back through the wringer once more before hanging them out to dry on a wire stretched across the back garden. This wire was hoisted up with a piece of wood ( the clothes prop) but if you were unlucky and the wire broke it meant the whole process had to start all over again. It was to be many years before Doris had the joy of purchasing an electric "washing machine"._x005F_x000D_
Durham street days were some of my happiest, as it was from here that I first walked to school situated on Cameron Road between 4th and 5th Avenues.This school catered for children of all ages. It wasn't until Tauranga coed college was built that you went on to secondary school._x005F_x000D_
The primmers was and still is situated in 5th Avenue. Learning to swim meant walking down to 6th Avenue, getting changed in the dressing shed beneath a huge pohutukawa tree. This tree is still there in 2013. These swimming lessons were dependant on the tide. Eventually you progressed to using the one and only swimming pool in Tauranga at the bottom of 1st Avenue close to the railway bridge. I had many a swim there and I guess it was what gave me a love of swimming in the sea and why I remain swimming at 80. This pool, made of timber eventually rotted, meaning the pool had to be closed for safety reasons._x005F_x000D_
Another memory of those early days. was the drill we were taught during the second World War, should Tauranga be bombed. We had to practise getting back to our homes hugging the hedges as we walked. Thankfully we never had to put it into practise._x005F_x000D_
I was lucky enough to have my paternal grandparents living on Cameron road and this allowed me to visit them most days on the way home from school.They lived next door to our family doctor, Dr Mark, who delivered my other brother and sisters, Harry, Mary, Betty and Carol. My grandfather looked after his wife who was wheelchair bound._x005F_x000D_
Living so central gave us the opportunity to spend time at the Mount. Mother would gather up our togs and towels, pack a picnic lunch and off we go via Faulkner's ferry getting off at the wharf at the base of the Mount, (Mauo) This wharf no longer exists. We would then trudge up the hill and around to the surf beach. If we were lucky mum would treat us to a 6d ride on the donkeys. Home would come tired 3 children and most likely a tired mum as well before falling into bed._x005F_x000D_
Harry, the youngest at the time got into a spot of bother when he was not much more than 2years old when he followed his mother who went to visit a neighbour. The neighbour, thinking he would catch up with his mum sent him on his way. Harry though toddled off down to the wharf at the bottom of Wharf street, and went for a paddle, not realizing that the concrete slab on which he was standing had water maybe 10feet deep either side. He soon found out. Fortunately an elderly man saw him go in and he rushed to where Curly Steadman was working on the Faulkner ferries. He jumped in pulling Harry to safety, but not before he had floated from one side to the other. As Harry had gone in he must have caught his breath making him bob back up like a cork. Mother arrived, hair in curlers and apron on said she heard him before she saw him. This was to be the first of Harry's 9 lives, as at the age of 8 he contracted tetanus, but again being lucky enough to live to tell the tale._x005F_x000D_
The house at 11 durham Street, was owned by Miss Whittaker and was next door to the Civic Theatre, and was across the road was the original Fire station now situated on Cameron Road._x005F_x000D_
A funny story conected to the Fire Station was, _x005F_x000D_
One day one of the firemen, in the throes of pulling up the hoses to dry, threatened to put my eldest brother on the end of the rope and pull him up. Youngest brother decided nobody was going to do that to his brother so he sunk his teeth into the firemans backside. The poor guy was most likely being pestered by the boys and thought this would get them out of his hair, but he hadn't reckoned on a loyal wee brother._x005F_x000D_
Another story, was the day my little sister Mary happened to be standing gently swinging the axe when one of the Vasey boys bent down. The axe connected with his head giving him a nasty wound. I must have been in my teens and thinking he could bleed to death, I picked him up intending to run to Doctor Mark whose surgery was on Cameron Road, but met Harry Vasey on the way, who jumped into the fire engine and took his son to the doctor. Not many kids get to go the doctor via a fire engine. A few stitches later and everything was back to normal._x005F_x000D_
Gordon joined the Voluntary Fire Brigade at the age of 16 and when the siren sounded he would run over to the station, manually open the doors pulling on a rope, turn off the siren, phone the telephone exchange to find out where the fire was and write it on the blackboard. The volunteers would leave their places of work and either rush to the station or up onto Cameron Road, this being the only route the fireengine would travel. Harry Vesey was the only designated driver, Len Crewe lived in Elizabeth Street, Jack Chantry (local postman) in 6th Avenue, so they would be picked up on the way. Later bedrooms were built on to the back of the station and some of the single men lived on the premises, but they all still kept their day jobs._x005F_x000D_
The Civic was the original picture theatre in Tauranga but was longer used as such once the Regent in Spring Street was built. This building, the Civic was a great place for children to play and fantasize in. Old posters of movies still lay on the projection box. It was dark and spooky. During WW2 it was used as a dance hall for the American servicemen whose were living in tents of the Wharapei Domain. Many of these young men were still in their teen and were very home.sick. Mum came across one of them crying nursing my little brother on his knee. He had a kid brother back in the States and was missing him. Mum invited him and some of the others in for a cup of tea and it was here that they made their first contact with a lamb. We had a pet lamb at the time and they had never set syes on one before. The tears quickly went to be replaced by smiles._x005F_x000D_
As the family grew in size and age another treat was travelling by boat up the harbour to Omokoroa where the women and children would disembark while their husbands would continue on out for a days fishing. This spot was and still is a great place for a picnic and a swim as the beach is particulary safe for small children, and for older ones, jumping off the end of the jetty was always fun. The boat trip took around an hour, but this was also part of the enjoyment of the day._x005F_x000D_
Doris took a very active interest in basketball, now called Netball. Being short in stature she played centre. By this time she had three children. I remember going to these matches with my two brothers, being sat on a seat beside the courts situated beside the Rose Gardens, and threatened with dire consequences should we moved._x005F_x000D_
Her other interests was cards. 500 in particular. For many years she ran the Fire Station Social Club 500 evenings, never missing her weekly game. As soon as us children were able to hold a hand of cards we learnt to play. She played a good game and played to win and was good at remembering what cards had fallen. In the latter part of her life she ran the Euchre card evenings at the Citizens Club rooms until finally giving up well into her 80's.
Please note:
Originally uploaded to the Tauranga Memories website (2011-2020), into the general site basket, or focus group, by Iris, on 10 28, 2012.
Its original URL was: http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/en/site/images/show/4367 and its original license was: Creative Commons AttributionNoncommercial 3.0 New Zealand License.
Sometimes images contributed to Tauranga Memories by the community were uploaded by a library staff member. If this has resulted in your photographs being mis-attributed to a staff member, please let us know so we can correct this.The original Tauranga Memories site also sometimes collected the following (blank where empty):
First name: Iris
Surname: Woodcock
Place of birth: Avondale
Date of birth: 26.7.1932
City: Auckland
Year: 1932
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Aaron and Doris 1934 and Iris (1934). Pae Korokī, accessed 25/05/2026, https://paekoroki.tauranga.govt.nz/nodes/view/9572
