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Arthur Frederick Pulfer-Ridings

Arthur Frederick Pulfer-Ridings[1]

Male 1927 - 2000  (73 years)  

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  • Name Arthur Frederick Pulfer-Ridings  [2
    Birth 12 Jan 1927  Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    • 25 Nixon Street
    Gender Male 
    Physical Description
    • Eye Clr: Blue Hair Clr: Ginger.
      He had a number of heart attacks prior to a period of ill health befor death.
    Name Change 16 Oct 1952  Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Deed Poll 
    Occupation Clerk  [2
    Occupation Storeman  [2
    Death 29 Apr 2000  Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    • 42 Tuatara Drive, Kamo, Whangarei, New Zealand.
    Burial 2 May 2000  Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    • Cremated.

      Maunu Lawn Cemetery
    Headstones Submit Headstone Photo Submit Headstone Photo 
    Person ID I49837  The Williams Family Tree
    Last Modified 26 Jan 2017 

    Father Arthur Benjamin Pulfer
              b. 19 Jun 1901, Caister on Sea, Norfolk, England Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 5 Aug 1930, Auckland, New Zealand Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 29 years) 
    Mother Rose Mortimer
              b. 15 Sep 1901, Lumsden, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Find all individuals with events at this location
              d. 18 Jul 1957, Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 55 years) 
    Marriage 25 Mar 1925  Auckland Registrar Office, Auckland, New Zealand Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Family ID F14761  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Living 
    Children 
     1. Living
     2. Living
     3. Living
     4. Living
    Family ID F14772  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 20 Dec 2012 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 12 Jan 1927 - Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsName Change - Deed Poll - 16 Oct 1952 - Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 29 Apr 2000 - Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBurial - 2 May 2000 - Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • Arthur Frederick Pulfer-Ridings aka Fred Ridings

      Arthur Frederick Pulfer was born to Arthur Benjamin Pulfer and Rose (nee Mortimer) on the 12th January 1927. The family is believed to have lived at 25 Nixon Street, Grey Lynn in Auckland at the time.
      Fred's mother, Rose Mortimer was one of seven girls and three boys born to the marriage of Thomas Mortimer and Sarah Jane Davis. Thomas was a Railway Ganger, the son of one of the first immigrants arriving in Nelson in 1842. Sarah was born in Perthshire, Scotland in 1862.

      Fred's sister, Rose Beatrice born in 1925, was to die on the 9th July 1927, (reported as starvation due to a stomach problem) as a child 2 years old. The photograph of Rose Beatrice's grave at Waikumete shows a pram and a young boy in a coat and cap in the background. A simple wooden cross marks the grave. Fred would have been six months old at the time of Rose Beatrice's death. Fred kept the large framed photograph of Rose Beatrice as a baby. This photograph resided in his shed at Glenbervie and was "rediscovered" in the garage at Tuatara Drive after his death.

      Little is known of the marriage and family life of Arthur Benjamin and Rose, although Arthur Benjamin is reported as locking his wife Rose in the wardrobe on occasions in an effort to curb her adventurous ways.

      The photograph of Fred as a child tends to indicate that Arthur and Rose wanted the best for him as he appears in a velvet frock coat and button up shoes. The surroundings look as if it was some time since they were painted though.

      We don't know what his father did for a living but Arthur Benjamin's occupation is reported as Labourer at the time of Rose Beatrice's death. The family was reported as living at 186 Khyber Pass at that time.

      Father's Death

      Fred's father, Arthur Benjamin died on 5th August 1930 of Addison's Disease and was buried the following day in Rose Beatrice's grave as a pauper (Roman Catholic Area, Block C Section 7, Plot 59). The grave was unmarked, a marker was placed in early 2003 by Fred's wife Betty which indicates both Arthur Benjamin and daughter Rose's
      plot.

      Addisons Disease is a condition provoking anaemia, extreme weakness, fainting attacks, tinnitus and skin discolouration - ranging from yellow to dark brown or black as it travels over the body. Treated today by hormone injections it is not fatal. However traditional treatment was common salt and was fatal.

      Little is known about this period of time except that Rose had another son, Thomas, born at Red Beach, (Howick) in Auckland on 24th December 1931. Thomas (Tom) went on to work for the P&T (Post and Telegraph, later Telecom). Tom stayed with the P&T until his retirement. He was a keen amateur radio ham, regularly in contact
      with other hams all over the world.

      Early Childhood

      It appears that Fred's family moved about quite a bit when he was a lad, something that neither he nor his brother Tom did in later life. Fred moved into a cottage with his wife Betty (nee Isobel Elizabeth Robinson) at the Glenbervie State Forest in 1949 and only moved three times after that before his death in April 2000. His brother Tom
      moved into a house in Otangarei early in his marriage and he still lives there now.

      The family has been recorded in various documents as living at:
      25 Nixon Street, Auckland - at the time of Fred's birth - c 1927.
      186 Khyber Pass, Auckland - at the time of Rose Beatrice's death - c 1927
      9 Fox Street, Auckland - at the time of Arthur Benjamin's death - 1930
      Fred has also recounted as living for a time at 77 Crummer Road, Grey Lynn, with Rose's sister Monica.

      Fred was christened as a Catholic, (date and location unknown) and first attended Whau Creek Catholic School.

      Fred recounted living at 1 Ash Street Avondale between 1930 and 1934. Tom remembers that their mother Rose ran a boarding house while here for the Avondale Jockey Club. They used to have all the jockeys and trainers staying with them. The Avondale Jockey Club was founded in 1889 when Avondale was a rural fam settlement on the outskirts of Auckland City. The 1800m right-handed racecourse is on the corner of Ash Street and Rosebank Road, Avondale.

      It was at the Jockey Club boarding house that Rose met Douglas Mortimer (aka Doug) Ridings. Fred and Tom apparently used to get into all sorts of mischief around the stables and got their backsides paddled by Doug Ridings for it.

      Mother's Remarriage

      Rose married Douglas Mortimer Ridings on the 3rd March 1937, Fred had not long turned ten years old. Doug Mortimer Ridings was on an invalid's pension, due to being badly injured in a riding accident in his younger days as an up and coming jockey. It was said that if he hadn't had the accident that he could have been one of the best jockeys in New Zealand.

      As Doug was on a pension, he was not allowed to earn any money or hold any licences, Rose later got the requisite Trainers Licence from the Racing Authority.

      Rose had a further two children with Doug Ridings; Douglas (Taddy) in 1937 and Monica Patricia on the 11th January 1940. A daughter, Sarah, was stillborn while the family was living at Arapohue in the Tangowahine Valley in the Kaipara District.

      Taddy trained as a motor mechanic. Taddy apparently reconditioned the Essex Super Six that Fred and Betty owned when they lived at the Forestry - it burnt more oil after the job that it did before. Taddy had a Morgan Sports Car, which he ran at Pukekohe Race Track after removing its silencer.

      Monica married twice, firstly to Ray Noone then to Jim Grimstone. Fred's young daughter Cheryl was flower girl when Monica married Ray Noone in Whangarei. Tom, Taddy and Monica have died, Taddy is buried at Waipawa and Monica in Martinborough. Tom lived in Otangarei, Whangarei.

      Moving About

      Fred would often talk of the many places that he had lived in his early years. We could arrive somewhere in the Auckland / Northland region with him saying "We lived over there".

      He obviously took this to heart as we lived in one place our entire childhood.
      Fred recounted attending Avondale Primary School in 1933 and Glenfield Primary between 1934 and 1935.

      Fred also talked of the family living at: Kaipatiki Street in Glenfield, (1934-1935?) and 72 St George's Bay Road, Parnell (dates unknown)

      The family moved to Matakana then onto Leigh, next to the Hotel. Fred used to talk about being there when the Niagara sank after striking a German mine on the 19th June 1940. Tom recalled the mess made of the shore by the oil and all the birds that were killed. One of the lifeboats came ashore at Goat Island where the Marine Research Centre is now.

      They then moved onto Arapohue. It was while the family was at Arapohue that Sarah was stillborn at the Annexe in Te Kopuru. She is buried at Mt Wesley Cemetery in Dargaville. Fred used to double his brother Tom to the pictures at Dargaville, 12 miles away, on the one and only bike that the family owned. It apparently wasn't too bad
      from Arapohue to Mititai as it was downhill. However, once on the flat it depended on which way the wind was blowing as to how long it took to get to Dargaville. It isn't any wonder then that Fred became a very able and fit cyclist as an adult.

      They then moved to the Tangowahine Valley, to sharemilk for Ian and Marjorie Blake who owned two large parcels of land on either side of Tangowahine Valley Road at the intersection of Tangowahine Valley Road and Avoca South Road. They were there for two years at the most.

      The family then moved to Opuawhanga up the Kaikanui Valley. All these moves were involved with share-milking. Due to Doug Ridings being a cripple, the older boys Fred and Tom did the work.
      Fred recounted attending Standard Three at the Avoca School at Tangowahine prior to this and stated that he never went back to school. He appears in an early 1940's Tangowahine Avoca school photo. He is in the back row on the extreme right. His brother Tom is on the extreme left in the centre row. Tom and Fred are listed in the
      Avoca School admissions for 1941 with a Joseph Jones.

      Tom recalled both he and Fred attending the Opuawhanga School prior to their moveto Matapouri.

      The family car at that time was a green 1936 6-cylinder Dodge Sedan. The Dodge D2 Beauty Winner 6 had a 218cid (3.6 litre) straight-six engine, which developed 87 horsepower. The family's previously owned Austin had been traded for the Dodge at an interesting time. This was during the war years when rationing was in place and items such as butter, sugar and meat were under strict control.

      Needless to say a flourishing black market soon came about. Having illegal homemade butter meant that this could be swapped for what ever you were short of. The Dodge had another fuel tank that would be used once the car had got warm enough on petrol to run on the alternative fuel, in this case power kerosene. The car was very sluggish on this fuel and would putter along at 30 to 40mph. It was later converted to run on wood gas that was made by heating wood in a big cylinder mounted on the back bumper. Apparently the use of gas fell into disfavour due to the number of roadside fires where people had cleaned out the burners.

      On occasions they managed to acquire 100 octane aviation fuel which really made the car fly. The Dodge was known to all the local Cream-Truck drivers as "The Green Hornet", due to the way in which Rose drove. She apparently had but one speed and that was flat out. The name "Green Hornet" came from a radio show of the time which included a high powered car used to chase the bad guys.

      Settling Down

      The family then moved to Wooley's Bay, Matapouri and then on to Ngunguru. It was here that Marion and her sister stayed for holidays. They lived on a farm of about 20 to 30 acres on Waiotoi Road. It was on the left-hand side 800 metres down from the Ngunguru Road.

      Doug Ridings had been around the Matapouri / Ngunguru area long before meeting Rose in Avondale. His sister Jessie was married to a Harold Donaldson who used to be a commercial fisherman with Karl Erceg at Matapouri. He and Karl had a number of escapades, on one occasion they were missing for three or four days, another where they lost their propeller at the Poor Knights Islands. Jessie and Harold used to live in a nikau whare in Whale Bay prior to moving to Clyde Street Whangarei.

      Doug Ridings swapped the Green Hornet for a couple of heifers when they moved to Ngunguru.

      The house has gone but the cowshed still stands, was converted into a cottage. Fred's wife Betty recalls that there was a lot of scrub which the boys were expected to cut for firewood when not milking the cows. All the cooking and heating was done by wood.

      It was about this time that Fred had had a guts-ful of Doug Ridings who used to give him and Tom a very hard time, especially after their stepbrother Douglas (Taddy) and stepsister Monica arrived.

      Fred recounted having cousins on his mothers side, one of which Marion Schedewy has told of times spent with Fred and his brother and sister on a farm in Ngunguru on the coast just north of Whangarei. Marion relates these times as being the best holidays that they ever had, with horses, the beach and sunny days.

      Fred's Brother Tom recounted that Marion was called "Midge" as she was like a midge or sand fly - "always getting into your hair and rushing around like a blue assed fly".

      Marion's sister Beverly used to accompany "Midge" to the Ridings' farm. Tom recalled her as being the total opposite of Marion.

      The boys were expected to work at every opportunity, the reason for the axe is simple, clearing scrub kept them busy and provided the firewood needed to fuel both the oven and the open fire.

      The "keeping busy" regime resulted in Fred having very good work ethics with him having to be doing something. He was a "jack-of-all-trades and a master-of-none" type person, able to turn his hand at anything and a willingness to see a job to it's end until finished approach. Eventually he held a Drivers Licence in every class possible.

      Doug Ridings trained three horses at Ngunguru under Rose's Training Licence. The horses were Diaphon, Treval and Jewel Denby.

      Fred's brother Tom used to do most of the track work before and after school. A Bill Wellington used to help out. They used to work all the horses on the Ngunguru beach, and boy did they like that. Tom would swim Diaphon across the river where the Norfolk Pines were just before the shop. Doug would be in the dinghy with a long rope on the bridle. Tom recounted riding "Jerry" into the water until he started to swim and then slip out of saddle like a cowboy and hang onto the stirrup and get towed. If he was quick enough he could get back on the saddle before they got ashore.

      Doug and Rose use to do a circuit of so called Picnic Race Meetings starting with Kaikohe, then Kaitaia, then Dargaville and finally at Whangarei. Bill Wellington was their jockey for the first three meetings. Whangarei was a Totalisator Meeting, which meant that the horses had to be ridden by a licenced jockey, so a professional jockey
      by the name of Des Wyatt from Hikurangi was used on most occasions. It apparently used to take about three weeks to do the circuit, during which time a Mrs Jean Carr looked after the children.

      Of the horses, Diaphon was the most successful, winning the Kaitaia Cup in 1948 and the Kaikohe Cup around that time. He came second in the Whangarei Cup, coming second by a nose to a horse called Battling Brave.

      This verdict was before the days of photo finishes and apparently the Judge had backed the other horse very heavily and stood to lose a lot of money. This just about broke Doug and Rose's hearts, as the prize money would have helped a lot. Doug kicked up such a fuss that they banned him from every racecourse in New Zealand for twelve months. Tom had the Kaitaia Cup, which took pride of place in Tom and Noleen's china cabinet. Treval apparently never came to much, won a few races but was better over hurdles.

      Jewel Denby was got from a so-called friend of Doug, Bill Reid, who owned one of the top stallions in New Zealand at that time, named Mount Denby. As soon as Jewel Denby started to show promise Bill Reid wanted her back to breed from her. As Doug Ridings believed in gentlemen's agreements he had nothing in writing and had to give
      her back. She went on to win a number of races before breaking her leg and being put down. So Bill Reid never got to breed from her, and some sort of justice was dealt.

      Karl Erceg was a Ngunguru character at that time, he ran the local bus service and was contracted to carry the bread for the area. The motoring magazine "Beaded Wheels" presented an article recounting his activities. He is reported as searching passenger's bags for bread, and if he found any would demand payment for the carriage of that bread under his contract. You either paid or you walked from Whangarei to Ngunguru. Tom has recounted doing the Saturday bus run with Karl in return for a Friday night trip to Whangarei to go to the pictures. The Saturday run meant leaving Ngunguru at around 7am, returning after 5pm.

      Leaving Home and Starting Work

      Fred then went back to the Dargaville district (Tangowahine?) cleaning drains before going to Auckland to live. His Drivers Licence, issued by the Hobson County Council in Dargaville on the 3rd November 1943, has Fred's address at the time as RD Arapohue.

      Fred apparently worked for JJ Craig's initially in Devonport as a Labourer when first going to Auckland from the Dargaville area. Fred was working for JJ Craig's delivering coal and sand when he and Betty Robinson first met in 1946. JJ Craig Ltd was a large company established in New Zealand in the late 1880's which owned ships,
      operated cartage of building materials, manufactured bricks tiles and pottery, quarried roading materials and lime, and mined coal. It was a household name in Auckland with branches in most suburbs.

      It was at this time that Fred bought his Sun sports bicycle, from whom it is unknown but Fred felt he was the "bees knees" on it it wearing his cloth cap. The bike was a "fixed-wheel" having no gears. Sun Cycle and Fittings Co of Birmingham England, produced lightweight sports cycles for club racing. He recounted of how he often got a tow up out of Devonport by hanging onto the side of trucks. Once he got towed all
      the way to Belmont before he could get his hand out of a side rail!

      Fred registered his bicycle with the Devonport Borough Council as required in January 1947 Devonport was the only Borough Council to register bicycles. The council issued licences between 1936 and 1948. His Sun bicycle, frame number VV69 was given the registration number of 1990. JJ Craig Ltd was provided as the contact address. He gained his truck licence in Devonport on the 13th March of 1947, while
      a Storeman at JJ Craigs.

      He also worked for Wilkinsons doing leatherwork and saddlery. Wife Betty has a small heart cut from leather that Fred made for her, presumably at or about this time.

      Persistence Wins

      Apparently Fred met my mother Betty in Queen Street, Auckland in 1946. Betty was out with her friend Ailsa on a Friday night. Betty wanted nothing to do with him, but he was persistent. She tried to elude him by saying she had to go, and caught a tram. He got on the other end, unbeknown to her, and got off at the next stop when
      she did.

      He always seemed to be there over the intervening weeks. Betty used to go to a show at the Majestic every Friday night with her Mother who would meet her after work. One evening, her mother didn't appear at the allotted time, and Fred seized his chance to go with Betty. Then her mother turned up and Fred was able to introduce himself. Betty was going out with another chap at the time. Fred was made to feel
      welcome by Betty's parents, often attending Sunday lunch and / or working on the Birkdale property while Betty went out with someone else.

      Marriage

      Fred married Betty Robinson on the 22nd July 1948 in the Registry Office in Auckland. Betty went to live with Rose and Doug Ridings in Ngunguru immediately following the marriage. Fred continued to live and work in Auckland as they could not afford to live together. Fred would visit when he could, riding his fixed wheel sports bicycle from Auckland to Ngunguru over the weekend.

      Fred could talk to a fence post, always showing an interest in what the other person was doing. It was while Fred was talking to Charlie Thomas, a Glenbervie farmer, that Charlie put Fred onto a labouring job at the Glenbervie State Forest then being established by Mr Bob Cook. Charlie became and remained a firm friend to Fred and
      Betty.

      His Grandmother Sara Jane Mortimer died this year in Auckland Hospital aged 84. There is a photo of Fred and Betty with Sara and a birthday cake with lots of candles on it. Sara is in bed wearing a bed jacket.

      Glenbervie State Forest

      Glenbervie State Forest was declared a forest in 1947 and consisted of a mixture of farmland, re-generating scrub and native bush totalling approximately 13,000 acres.

      Glenbervie State Forest started with the acquisition of the property belonging to Murray Symes, which adjoined the existing 2,000 acres indigenous State Forest where the Fire Look-out was later built. Other properties were acquired, the Main's, Dromgool's, Gomez', Williams', and Knapp's followed by several others to make Glenbervie the largest forest in the mid-north. The idea of Glenbervie was to provide Whangarei timber mills with exotic timber.

      The Forestry Headquaters was at the end of Maruata Road which intersects with Ngunguru Road at Glenbervie next to Huranui Orchards just north of the Glenbervie Community Hall.

      Fred spent the largest portion of his life working for the NZ Forest Service at Glenbervie State Forest just north of Whangarei. While holding down his Forest Service job as a young family man, he was often working part-time on farms in the district to meet his family commitments. He is fondly remembered by local farmers, some of who attended his funeral.

      The first man at Glenbervie was Vic Portman who set up the single men's camp and converted the existing wool shed into a garage and workshop. The Officer in Charge was Bob Cook who was transferred from Waiotapu Forest near Rotorua in 1948. Bob initially lived just south of Hikurangi at the Piano Hill Bridge. Bob, his wife Molly, and
      subsequent family were fine friends of Fred and Betty, with Molly looking to Fred for support at times long after the death of Bob. Bob and Molly retired to a house on the rise on the southern edge of Whangarei, along side the City Information Stand. Bob and Molly Cook were keen and able tennis players and a tennis court later became an amenity that was well patronised by the forestry families and staff at Glenbervie.

      Early Married Life

      Fred worked for the State Forest Service for much of his working life. Fred's firstborn Arthur, born on the 9th October 1948, was eight months old when Fred got a job with Bob Cook and he and Betty got a place to live together. This happened in mid 1949 and consisted of two ex-Army huts joined together as a dwelling in a group of three called "the cottages" at the entrance to the new forestry.

      It was while here that the boys Denis, born 14th August 1950 and Ross, born 7th November 1952, joined the family. They moved sometime in 1953 to the best of the cottages when it became vacant.
      Although he was christened Fred Pulfer, he was known as Fred Ridings once Douglas Ridings appeared on the scene. It was for this reason that Fred changed his name by Deed Poll to Pulfer-Ridings in Whangarei on 16 October 1952 just prior to my birth.

      He continued to be known as Fred Ridings, only using Pulfer-Ridings for legal documents and the like.

      Fred and his new family often visited Rose and Doug on the farm at Ngunguru.

      Step Father's Death

      Fred's stepfather Doug Ridings died on the 7th July 1954 of gangrene. The funeral arrangements apparently fell to Fred. Betty recounted how they had to meet ? of the costs and actually paying more as Fred's younger stepbrother Taddy couldn't afford to pay. Fred would have been 27 years old, with three young sons and with a wife 7 months pregnant. His younger half-brother Tom would have only been recently
      married too. Doug Ridings had six brothers, two of who had predeceased him and two sisters.

      His mother, Rose, moved to a cottage owned by Karl Erceg in Shoebridge Road at the Ngunguru end of Waiotoi Road. She later moved on to Dick Chillcott's farm on the right-hand side of Whau Valley Road before moving to on to a council owned cottage in Onerahi where she stayed until she died in 1957.

      New House

      Fred and his family moved into a brand new house in the new forestry settlement prior to Cheryl's arrival on the 28th September 1954.
      The new village was situated on Maruata Hill above the single men's camp and started with five new houses being commenced in 1952. The Forestry Settlement grew from just three cottages to a village of nine houses, a separate worker's camp of seventeen huts with ablution block and recreation room and a swimming pool which acted as a
      fire reservoir.

      It was from this pool that Fred saved a young Maori boy, Nip Rountree's son, from drowning, although he could only dog-paddle himself. He rushed the boy to hospital in a Forestry vehicle. It was to Fred that the girls of this family later turned for help when their house caught fire. One of them, Dorothy, ran to Fred's place, although it
      was further away, because they knew he would do all he could to help. Sadly, although the Forestry Fire Fighting team was turned out, the house could not be saved.

      Fred and Betty lived in the same Forestry house until they moved to their own home in Eden Terrace, Kamo in November 1978. The Glenbervie house was irreparably damaged when being moved after the State Forest was sold. Nothing now remains at Glenbervie with pines being planted over the entire settlement.

      Working for the Forestry

      Fred progressed from Labourer, to Assistant to the Officer in Charge, to Storeman, to Storeman/Clerk, to Executive Officer. He maintained the weather recording station at the forest, and this rain gauge at Glenbervie was, for many years, the official one for Whangarei. He radioed the weather information through to the State Forest Regional
      Office in Kaikohe every day. He sat and achieved his Radio Telephone Operators Licence on 21st January 1955.

      Des Ogle, who subsequently went on to found Aupouri State Forest, joined Bob and Fred in 1950 at which time he remembers Fred as doing the timesheets, wage payments, stores receipts, and issues, met readings, telephone and radio communications, etc. Des recalls Fred getting on well with everyone he met or dealt with. Des recounts his time at Glenbervie in Chapter 7 of his book "Beyond the Twenty-Foot Stump" published by Northland Historical Publications Society
      Incorporated in 1998 It was estimated in the mid 1970's that over a thousand men had lived and worked in the forestry camp since it's construction in the 1950's. Fred would have welcomed most of them to the job and issued them with their kit. He was always willing to talk,
      never about himself, and to make friendships - many of which survived until his death.

      The Ridings family home was home to many of these men when they needed one.

      Although not widely read, Fred could relate to anybody. Among the many that came and went through the camp were professional people to ex-criminals, Fred could always find something to talk about.

      Some of the other names that come to mind at the Forestry are,
      Ted Batchelor -Labourer Jim Cox - Forestry Entomologist-the "Bug Man" Charlie Cuff - Waipoua Nursery Arthur Dean - Surveyor
      Ben Edgington - Local Farmer and Forestry Carpenter/Painter
      Leon Tolley - Forester Glenbervie
      Pou Heihei - Labourer "Hong Kong John" - Labourer
      Joe Holland - Labourer Sam Kaipo - Labourer
      Henare Kake - Labourer Nick Kanara - manned the Lookout
      Bob Lawn - District Ranger Nip Rountree - Truck & Bulldozer Driver
      Sonny Tomuri - Labourer Mick Sexton - Conservator of Forests
      Steve Watene - Labourer Bob Foster (Labourer)

      Fred refused to move to other Forestry positions due to his belief that his children needed the settled life that he had not had. He was still working there when the Forest Service was corporatised prior to being sold to private interests in 1987. Betty has a small plaque and trophy which Fred received to commemorate his 39 years of service. He was fortunate, as the redundancy paid enabled him to retire early with
      little difficulty as he and Betty had bought their first home nearly ten years before.

      Always There to Help

      Fred was always there for when his younger stepbrother Taddy needed him, even getting a job at the forestry at one stage. A payslip of Taddy's resided on the mantelpiece for a extended time waiting for him to return. It's not known what eventually happened to it or the money.
      Fred was always watching out for others, an occasion that comes to mind is that when John Thompson, a local drover who lived in little shed on the hill across from the settlement nearly died of food poisoning. John, Yorkshireman, was a hardy sort living in his little shed without power or running water and providing droving services to local farmers. He brought a large roll of luncheon sausage from the butcher because it was cheap. The butcher said "that will last you a while". Well John took it home and kept it in a tin cutting off what he needed from time to time. Surprise, surprise it went off and John got food poisoning. Well Fred noticed that John hadn't been about and his
      dogs hadn't been fed so went to see what was wrong. John was taken off to hospital to recover. Fred also was the one to find John when he died a few years later.

      Fred was always there to help with all sorts of things relating to men moving into, living in and moving out of the single mans camp at Glenbervie. For many of the men, Fred was their only confidant. An example of one such situation was when Bob Foster swallowed his motorbike keys during an altercation with another guy at the
      camp. To show his appreciation, Bob Foster took both Fred and Betty to dinner at the Grand Hotel at Whangarei. It was first time that either Fred or Betty had tasted champagne. The cork form the bottle resided in the china cabinet for years.

      Mother's Death

      Fred's mother Rose continued to live in the council cottage on River Road, Onerahi.

      This cottage was close to two Houseboats that were moored at the bridge on the way to Onerahi. The local Refuse Station is there now.

      Rose died on the 18th July 1957 of heart failure and is buried at Maunu Lawn Cemetery in Whangarei where she is with her second husband Douglas Mortimer Ridings. Again Fred helped with the arrangement and funding of the funeral arrangements.

      Fred and His Cars

      Fred was always interested in cars and owned a good number in his lifetime. The first of which a 1928 Essex he brought when they lived in the cottage in Glenbervie. It is believed that he would have sold his beloved Sun bike to fund the purchase.

      Fred regularly worked for local farmers doing fencing and labouring jobs in the weekends to get the extra cash to enable him to take his young family on trips round New Zealand. These trips were all made in the car owned at the time. He believed that his children had to to have seen and experienced things that he hadn't as a child.

      His ability to talk to anyone and everyone even got the family aboard the luxury cruise liner Oriana when on a trip to Auckland. The family have fond memories of the oranges provided by members of the crew.
      Many of these cars were obviously second hand and in need of much care and attention. His first brand new car was a bright red Datsun 120Y that he and Betty bought in about 1975.

      The cars that we can remember are:
      Fordson Van , (Blue, had no side windows, had hooks along roofline),
      1952 Morris Oxford, (grey with red stripe),
      Anglia, (blue, ex New Zealand Post Office), 1
      1959 Mk II Ford Zephyr, (blue and white),
      Datsun Bluebird, (blue),
      1975 Datsun 120Y, (red),
      Morris Eight (maroon),
      Austin A30,
      Hillman Avenger, (white - the second new car),
      Mini (blue), Mazda 323, (red), and finally a
      Mitsubishi Galant, (white).

      Some of these above were second cars, (Morris 8, A30 & Mini) as Betty cleaned the Glenbervie School in the afternoons and then later worked for Whitmont Shirts as a Clothing Inspector requiring either another car or the other vehicle in Fred's life.

      Fred and His Scooters

      Fred always had his lunch at home, racing up the metal road on his scooter to have his cuppa and a sandwich with Betty and the dachshund Inga.

      The scooters that we can easily recall were the Mercury Dolphin, Honda 50 Stepthrough and the NZetta Scooter. The last two, Fred took over when sons Arthur and Denis outgrew them.

      Fred The Handyman

      Fred had this knack of collecting things that might come in handy. He was keen for a good fossick, often coming back from a trip to the dump with as much as he might have taken.

      One such trip yielded some perfect cake stands and similar items that were being dumped after being "damaged" during a burglary of a local jewellers.

      Another "find" was several trailer loads of obsolete car pistons discovered during a makeover of an old car dealership. After separating the useful pistons sold through contacts and a newspaper add, the remaining pistons had their gudgeon pins pushed out (hard and tedious work) prior to sale to a local scrap metal merchant.

      The shed at Glenbervie was just packed full of all sorts of things, all carefully filed away for that project or repair job. He could always be relied on to find something in that shed to repair someone's lawnmower, trailer or whatever. This came from often not having the money to buy the replacement part, but he put this skill to great use in
      helping anyone in need that called.

      Children's Lives

      Fred's eldest son Arthur married Betty King in 1973. Arthur had become a Printer having served an apprenticeship with a local firm Corbett and Horne on leaving high school.

      Son Denis had become an Electrician, serving an apprenticeship with a friend Peter Walker after a false start with another electrical contractor.

      1975 started auspiciously with the birth of his first grandson, Robert and the marriage of son Ross to Patricia Wilkin in January.

      Ross had became a technician with the DSIR in Wellington, moving there after his sixth form year at Kamo High School.

      Fred's big day came on the 29th March 1977 when he got to give his daughter Cheryl away in marriage to Reuban Newman. Cheryl had moved to Wellington to work for the Statistics Department. Reuban, a Tasmanian living in Sydney, met Cheryl while on holiday in New Zealand following up a reference made by an associate. They made
      their home in Sydney, Australia.

      Son Denis married Caryll Edith Miller in 1980 at Mangapai, just south of Whangarei. Caryll's parents owned a dairy farm in the area.

      Own Houses

      Fred and Betty moved to a brand new house in Eden Terrace Kamo in November 1978. Fred and Betty developed the section to one of note for its garden and tidiness.

      This move necessitated Fred getting rid of much of his collection of useful things in his shed. Once it become known that he was moving, old acquaintances kept arriving to see what he was "throwing out".

      Fred and Betty moved again a few years later to a house at 42 Tuatara Drive in Kamo. They established an area of native trees at the rear of the section and a series of aviaries in which Fred kept a selection of small cage birds including canaries. Fred had always had cage birds, having a series of budgerigars which would "talk" and free flight inside (with the cat shut out) when the children were smaller.

      Death

      Not long after this move, Fred began to suffer a number of health difficulties suffering a number of heart attacks. One of these he only survived as when he collapsed, he was on the front steps of the Doctors Surgery and the St John Ambulance crew was visiting with a defibulator. He was feeling poorly, but had a shower before driving to
      the Doctors!

      He had two heart operations at Greenlane.

      He died on the 29th April 2000, aged 73. He was survived by wife Betty and the four children.

      He was cremated on the 2nd May, with a marker being placed at the Maunu Lawn Cemetery close to a Kauri ricker.

      His younger half-sister Monica Patricia died on the 22nd September 1984. She is buried at Masterton.

      His younger half-brother Tom, who died on the 11th October 2002, is buried but a few paces away from Fred's grave.

      References:
      The Devonport Borough Council Bicycle Book, J. de Joux Oswald, 1988, page 39
      Primary Oral History Sources:
      Mrs. Betty Ridings (nee Robinson) Whangarei
      Tom Ridings (Deceased) Whangarei
      Mrs. Marion Schedewy Orewa
      Des Ogle (Deceased) Whangarei
      Contributors:
      Jenny McDermott - Compiler of Tangowahine and Avoca Schools and Districts
      Centennial.
      Sexton - Waikumete Cemetery
      Edith Robinson - Copy of Beaded Wheels article on Karl Erceg
      Related Notes:
      Douglas Mortimer RIDINGS. Known descendants are: Douglas (Taddy) -deceased,
      granddaughter Debbie Harding; Monica - deceased. Grandchildren Joanne and
      Jimmy-James Grimstone. Believed to be related to Jules and Richard Ridings. His
      father was Richard Henry Ridings, his mother was Louisa, nee Miller. He had six
      brothers, William, Albert, Mervyn, George, Richard, John and two sisters, Annie and
      Jessie.

      FRED
      Small bolts in one drawer,
      Large bolts in a nail box.
      Split pins in a Kauri tobacco tin,
      Bits of brass pipe in a drawer,
      That's how it was with Fred.

      Fred could talk the leg off a table,
      Wherever he went somewhere,
      He would find somebody to talk to.
      He would leave that person,
      Happier to have shared his time with Fred.

      He'd never talk about himself,
      He would show an interest,
      In the other was doing.
      Whether it be veges, car, dog or job.
      Making the other feel important and gifted.

      He always had what the caller wanted,
      Finding what was needed in that shed of his.
      He was the master of able,
      Being able to find or make do,
      With whatever he had at hand.

      My Dad was that Fred,
      That shed was at home.
      He made me feel that
      I could become a master of able,
      And that I had the chance at,
      Doing what he wasn't able to.
      That's my Dad Fred.

      Research Notes: Tommy (Tom) and Fred Ridings are referred to in the Tangowhahine Avoca School and Districts Centenial 1904-2004. Thomas Ridings listed in Avoca School admissions for 1941.

      [2]

  • Sources 
    1. [S4056] Ross Pulfer-Ridings (Goffin) (Reliability: 3).
      Keeping all the records together

    2. [S4023] Ross Pulfer-Ridings (Reliability: 3).