I heard your voice through a photograph. I thought it up and brought up the past (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

WNP x 2 with my younger brother on the steps of Rochdene.

Wie geht's?

For some reason, I've been thinking about my relationship to my great grand-father lately.

We share the same initials - WNP, and I feel a strong bond to him. I even wear his marriage band. I'd wear one worn by my father, but I don't recall him ever wearing a wedding ring.

William Purdy was a kind of shadowy figure from my childhood. We visited Rochdene (his house in Reimers Avenue, Mt Albert) every Saturday after football because Grandma and Deedoo also lived there.

That photo above is a perfect representation of our relationship. Bemused great grandchildren and distinguished elderly gentleman (he was in his early eighties at that point) standing a bit behind them. Looks like he was off to bowls and dad had managed to get a quick photo. 

There are plenty of things I don't know about the other WNP. 

What was his early life like before coming to New Zealand?What was his relationship like to my dad? What was his relationship like with his sons Eddie and Harry (my grandfather)? What did he think of my grandmother? What was he called by my dad? Were they close? Why did he allow Grandma and Deedoo to move into his house? That's a few.

At the Rochdene archway.
The dog was long gone by the time
we came along.

I do know a few things but I can only guess at the answers to those questions above. Maybe a family member from Uncle Eddie's side of the family can help me out?

William was born July 17, 1880 in Rochdale.

He married Emma in Rochdale and they had three sons (one of whom died in infancy). Out of somewhere they made a crucial decision when my grandfather was very young (8 or 9) to move to New Zealand from Rochdale in the early 1900s. Basically -the farthest point away from Rochdale. The other end of the earth. Not like moving to Scunthorpe or something. To my knowledge, he never returned to England. He was in his early twenties. Extraordinary.

During the long passage to NZ via Australia, or else when they reached Australia, something happened to cause him to leave Emma, my great grandmother, in Sydney and come to NZ with his two very young sons. No one knows what really happened. 

He later remarried but there were no further children. Florence was not around by the time we came along.

Like his own father (James Purdy) back in Rochdale, William was a skilled builder/ painter/ wall-paperer/ plasterer and he eventually started a business in Auckland - Purdy and Sons Plasterers. The business ended when my grandad (Deedoo) retired.

In Rochdale

My memories of my great grandfather are exclusively of him in his house in Reimers Ave, Mt Eden, Auckland until his death in the mid 1960s when I was 9 and Ross was 7. I don't have any memories of him coming to our house in Royal Oak or of his meeting us anywhere.  
 

While visiting Rochdene on Saturday mornings we never really encountered William that I can recall. He had a room at the front of the house (remember, it was his house) and he must have stayed in there, or else he was out but he was pretty old by this time so I doubt that - did he even have a car? Not sure, but we didn't come across him at all and we never went into his room. Never ever. Not once.

So, as I said above, he was always a shadowy figure, just on the edge of my childhood consciousness. I certainly knew he was there, but we kept out of his way (or he kept out of ours, not sure which).

WNP with grandma and Deedoo

Our dad we called 'dad', our grandfather we called Deedoo (my pet name for him that stuck), but our great grandfather had no pet name. We obviously didn't call him William or great grandfather; so we didn't call him anything that I can remember. As I say, he was a shadowy presence.

No surprise then, that I didn't ever get close to forming a relationship with him. Looking at other photos of him, it is obvious that he did get out - bowls for instance and he was by all accounts a pretty social guy and my dad (and mum) got on well with him. There was never ever any tension associated with our visits, so it's all a bit strange really.

Four generations 

Given the age range of the four generations, it's pretty remarkable that he was even part of my consciousness. BTW I love how I'm fully present on that bottom step with my crooked fringe (thanks mum).

WNP is a guy I never really knew. But...I feel a real bond to him. Apart from sharing the same initials (was that deliberate by my parents?), we look similar (strong Purdy genes and that old Apples thing again) and we share overlapping history.

And I love him dearly for his legacy. Symbolically, as mentioned above, I wear his gold wedding band on my right-hand ring finger. It's no nonsense - plain and beautiful, and comes from a solid north of England, Rochdale origin. It permanently connects me to my ancestral roots. It makes me feel that a little bit of Rochdale is always with me.

That's important to me because Rochdale feels like home in ways that I can't articulate. I had a very very strong sense of belonging when I visited for the first time in 2003.

Along with my other family members, he looks down on me and is with me during the daily grind. He put in a shift, and I aim to make him proud.

Love and peace - WNP