Interview with Benjiman Marychurch

Interview with Benjiman Cyril Marychurch. Born 1930 in Silverdale. Explains origins of the name Marychurch, and parents' arrival to New Zealand from England, and that his father had worked as a steam engineer on ships travelling between England and New Zealand. Also discusses his father's military service for New Zealand as an ANZAC. Explains that his father won a returned serviceman's ballot for a dairy farm in Coatesville with about a dozen cows. Describes farm work and the family's experiences during the depression. Discusses his family life and his experience of being one of 13 children.

Discusses schooling at Coatesville School, and the new school building in 1942. Left school after Standard 2 due to transport problems. Describes difficulty finding apprenticeships at the end of World War Two. Describes long daily journey to apprenticeship in Onehunga. Refers to costs of travel and wages. Describes school picnic at Milford, which included swimming, running races, tug of war, and other activities. Recounts cycling with friends to Beachhaven or Milford, and talks about Pirate Shippe. Compares going to Milford in the 1930s-40s with going to Waiheke Island in 2012. Describes features of the Milford Swimming Pool, and swimming lessons at a creek in Coatesville.

Discusses American soldiers that frequented the swimming pool. Describes their uniforms and the soldiers' interactions with children and his father. Mother did not like the war because her eldest son had been killed in action in Egypt in 1940. Tells of his older brother, Roy Marychurch, who had a retail wood and coalyard in Milford. Tells that silent movies shown at Coatesville Hall, and that electricity came to Coatsville in 1937. Describes getting dressed up to go to the movies, and going to city barefoot to buy shoes.

Describes working at A & T Burt brass foundry, and learning woodwork. Describes an upholstery apprenticeship, and a farm labouring job near Whangarei. Tells of volunteering for army service in Korea. Describes dairy farming work, cycling and playing rugby. Belonged to the Whangarei Ballroom Dancing Club and Operatic Society, and performed in Whangarei, Warkworth, and Dargaville. Tells of dancing at the Pirate Shippe, and describes decorations, bands, dances, prizes, and supper. Describes heating hot water and giving out food and drinks at dances at Coatesville Hall. Discusses alcohol at dances.

Describes his experience in the K-Force in Korea, basic training at Papakura, and taking the Wahine from Wellington. Describes medical examination, and his duties as troop carrier and supplies carrier, and his job as car trimmer. Describes extreme cold of Korea, workshops and living conditions under canvas. Describes going to a dance and meeting his wife, Fumiko Yamamoto. Describes courtship and marriage, and her parents' attitudes to marriage. Describes difficulty for westerners living in Japan, and his parents' attitudes to Fumiko as a daughter-in-law when they returned to New Zealand in 1954. Describes going to dancing at the Pirate Shippe, and dances at Albany Hall and Greenhithe Hall. Discusses closure of the Pirate Shippe and swimming pool.

Interviewer(s) - Deborah Dunsford

Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s) digital sound recording(s). 2 Hours and minutes Duration.

Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete.