However far away, I will always love you (The Cure)

During my archiving I have found a number of pictures that include members of the whanau (or in the case of the first photo - have a link to one).

Okay (deep breath), a selection follows and hopefully these people will still be talking to me afterwards.

We'll start on safe ground (because none of these people are around anymore) and go to Rochdale in the early 1900s. The family portrait is of my great grandfather William Purdy and his family. Left to right we have my grandfather, Harry, then William, Edward (cousin Suzanne's grandfather), and Emma. Within a few years they would move to New Zealand (or in Emma's case to Australia). Once there Harry would eventually marry Christina Amelia Curson and have one son - my father. Eddie would also marry a Christina (Beasley) and have 8 children. One of whom is Suzanne's father!

Number 11 Bodiam Rd in Bury lies not far from Rochdale.

That's where you'll find my cousin (big sister) Christine. This shot was taken on a trip north in 2004. I am wearing her son Tom's lovely warm jersey (sorry Tom - I have no idea what happened to it), because it wasn't cold in London when I left home that morning but it sure was in greater Manchester.

A year before that, Christine, her daughter, Fran, and I had gone on a pilgrimage to see John Lennon's boyhood home in Menlove Avenue, Liverpool.

We stopped off at the Albert docks to visit the Beatles' Story and watch the ferry cross the Mersey before driving to the Penny Lane roundabout and Paul's boyhood home. While the rest of the country was in the grip of a heatwave of epic proportions, the northwest was wet! What are the odds?

Our good friend Patrick Cameron also resides in the UK. He's a shy and retiring type and so this is quite a rare shot of him in party mode. This was taken at our wedding in 1984!!!!!! Jacky is far left, Pat is front and centre.

Among the large number of my friends who also attended the wedding were friends Roger and Deirdre Marbeck. Our families have shared holidays over the years. Here we are in winter mode.

L to R: Keegan, Jessica, Roger, Deirdre.

Margo and Clay had a starring role at the wedding. Clay was my best man and Margo was a superb MC. e are pictured below in front of one of Clay's paintings. When we no longer had room for it we bequeathed it to Jacky's dad and it now hangs in his Waiheke Island pad.


Shortly after these photos were taken we moved the family down to the South Island and I began work at Waimea College, just out of Nelson. We lived in Wakefield and made Steph and Duncan our lifelong friends. As with the Marbecks our families grew up together and we shared holidays and outings. The beautiful Steph is bookended by two thorns (no idea why Duncan insisted on dressing like me. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I guess).

While at Waimea I worked with a great team of teachers. Annette Sivak, Jo Kahl and Peter Joyce join me at a staff do table.

This is another one of my favourite photos. Taken in the staff area at Waimea College, it hung for many years on my office walls in future days. Seeing it, many people would say what a good picture of Keegan it was!! Camera shy Joyce is in the top right corner.

Love and peace - Wozza