47 Milton Street Greymouth where Doreen and Harry Cloake raised their young family for 6 years
We're heading to the coast soon... did you know this fun fact about Chris and I? Chris grew up in Greymouth. When I went over to meet his family, we went to the Marist rugby club rooms. I was walking around the room, looking at all the men in the photos on the walls who had played rugby over the decades. There was one photo I looked at, and I was like... "woah that guy has big ears, they look so much like mine! I looked down and couldn't believe my eyes, it was my grandad, Beekper Harry Cloake, who had lived in Greymouth for a short time as a policeman with my nana Doreen. My father's oldest siblings, Mervyn and Marilyn, were born there. I had a short panic that Chris and I could be related like some tragic movie twist, but fortunately, that was not the case. It turned out, though that our grandfathers were really close friends.
We went to a party recently, which happened to be in a house opposite where Nana and Grandad lived. It was surreal thinking years ago, nana was there raising her children, and years after she had passed, her great-grandchildren were now opposite her family home playing backyard cricket.
Grandad almost got caught up in the horrendous day of the Stanley Graham murders, who killed seven people in 1941. I can't quite remember the story, but grandad was supposed to go, but at the last minute didn't. His colleagues Percy Tulloch, Frederick Jordan, and William Cooper were shot dead. Graham eluded capture for 12 nights until he was fatally wounded by police. In 2008, the New Zealand Police erected a memorial to the victims at the site of the shootings.
Anyway... back to the photo... this was shared by the Ruby Club. "The 1946 senior side was West Coast Marist first ever team to win the West Coast senior championship. This photo contains so many club legends, including founding members, life members, West Coast reps, and an All Black."
Chris was in the thick of rugby when I met him, playing for Pleasant Point. He was a fantastic player, following the footsteps of his grandfather Arthur Fauth, and his dad Paul Fauth.
My Nana and Grandad moved back to Timaru, after what I think was a three-year stint on the coast, bought some land in Fairview, and grew the Cloake's honey business that was established by his father Bertie Cloake.
Recently, I learned that grandad sold bees to one of Chris's best friend's dad on the coast... so there you go. Small world! From the sound of it, grandad was respected in the bee community and made a significant contribution to the agricultural progress in the South Island, along with the wider Cloake clan and in-laws, by providing bees to pollinate the crops. Grandad and Mervyn invented the method of creaming honey, and instead of patenting the discovery, they shared it freely, like many of their ideas, to strengthen the honey industry in New Zealand.
I might see if the museum would like a Cloake's Honey Tin for their collection, and if my uncle Mervyn Cloake still has one to share.
I made a painting inspired by this first trip to the Coast with Chris, which is in the Aigantighe Art Gallery Collection.
On this trip I'm keen to visit the grave of the first European baby born in Timaru, William Williams. He raised his family in Kumara, was nicknamed Flash Billy, due to his East coast Christchurch fashion, which would have been quite diifferent to the mole skin attire over on the West. He and his friends found gold in an area the seasoned miners had written off, and after a celebration at the pub that night, became known as the Larikins. Their claim is a feature on the cycle trail near Kumara.