25.6.69 - The year begins to wind up

25.6.69

Dear Mum, I’ve just been down to the shop to see if I could get a card for Daphne and Jack, but they had nothing that was either sufficiently funny or pleasant, so I’ll have to get you to pass on my congratulations. I don’t think I remember their address anyway. (Why did they call him Peter? We’ve surely got enough confusion in this family already. [Jack was my mother’s youngest brother, and Peter he and Daphne’s fifth child, their first boy. I already had another cousin called Peter.] They’re certainly determined not to let the Elgin Road Hannagans beat them are they? [Terry was older than Jack and he and his wife Monica had their fifth ˗ and last ˗ child in 1968.]

And what about this snow? You poor old things. Our weather is staying fairly warm, although it has been raining for the last couple of days. I think it’s clearing now. This week is our last with formal lessons, and we’re saying goodbye to the various teachers; next week we start rehearsals most of the time. The German teacher said she would take me on as a private pupil if I wished, though I don't know if I could afford it. But if I can, she’s certainly worth keeping on with.

We’re rehearsing two operas (The Consul is also going on but I’m not working on it) and they are Gianni Schicchi, which the Centre did last term but which I didn’t work on, and Il Tabarro, which is another one in the trio of operas that go under the heading of Il Trittico, and is, of course, by Puccini. We had our first production rehearsal today with Ande Anderson, and things seemed to be going fairly smoothly.

I don’t know if I told you that, a while back, when I was sitting in the train one night waiting for it to leave Charing Cross, I was marking some music ˗ actually I was putting some new words into a vocal score ˗ when a young negro fellow came along and looked over my shoulder through the window. I didn’t notice him at first, and got a bit of a shock! Anyway, he jumps in the carriage and sits down next to me and starts telling me about his interest in playing the classical guitar, and so we talked on and off until Blackheath. Well, on Monday, I was sitting in a carriage again, doing a crossword, when a figure went flying past, and then came back, and it was the same guy again. And he popped into the train, and again started talking. This is quite unusual here, which is what makes it worth telling ˗ it’s so rare than anyone will talk to you in a train ˗ in fact people wouldn’t say anything if you stood on their foot; I don’t think they’d expect you to apologise! This is how far they’ve taken this sort of don’t speak to your neighbour bit. This time he was saying how he had to learn a whole two-page spiel for the next day to use in his job as a door-to-door salesman for an encyclopedia firm! He’s an engineering student I think normally, and this is a sort of holiday job.

At present at the Centre ˗ well yesterday, anyway ˗ they were holding auditions for singers and reps, and I went in to listen for a moment and suddenly realised that the pianist auditioning was Bill Southgate ˗ do you remember him? And he was apparently very nervous (though I didn’t hear him do the stuff he’d prepared) because when it came to doing sight-reading he made some fearful blues! (Am I glad I didn’t have to audition there!) [I auditioned by tape from NZ, I think.]  I went and had a cuppa with him afterwards and I think he was in a bit of a state, because he was rambling a bit! Anyway I got his address from him, and I must go and see him. [Bill Southgate - or William Southgate as he is more usually known these days - was from Dunedin, and eventually would become one of New Zealand’s better-known conductors. Strangely, when my wife and I came back from the UK in 1974, we met the Southgates at Auckland airport; they’d just returned as well.]

I think we’re talking about different things as regards the mysterious palette knife (!) ˗ I think I know what a spatula is, but wasn’t there a long (about 8 ˗ 10 inches, plus handle) implement, about an inch wide, and with a rounded end?? It’s driving me mad ˗ surely that isn’t a spatula?

Again, don’t worry about Postal Notes; I’m surviving quite well, thank you, and though they are nice when they do come, they aren’t part of my contract or anything! I’ve sent a letter to Monica H[annagan, wife of Terry] and Co, but I haven’t to the Stokes ˗ suppose I should, shouldn’t I? I’ll try and do it. Aerogrammes are actually cheaper than postcards ˗ you know? ˗ but harder, even for me, to fill up! [I have no idea why I was supposed to be writing, unless it was just a matter of keeping in touch with Dunedin relatives I’d had a great deal to do with over the years.]

I suppose as usual it is too late to suggest another film for you to go and see, but one called The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is superb, and except perhaps for one small sequence (which I think in this case is probably necessary) I think you would find it wonderful. It’s a deaf-mute trying to live amongst normal people, and the fact that no one else realises he is as lonely as the ones he helps. The acting is unbelievable. 

We went to a rehearsal of Macbeth, the opera, at the Garden yesterday ˗ what an appalling production ˗ it never fails to amaze me just how bad some of their productions are ˗ they live so far in the past that you’d think they’d never heard of the word imagination. [Elena Souliotis made her debut at Covent Garden as Lady Macbeth in this production, as well as singing the role for the first time.]

Last Friday our normal lecture at the Centre was replaced by a talk with films at the Generating Board Theatre in Newgate St. The films were made by the man who talked ˗ he’s an ex-executive film man, and is experimenting, now that he has the time, with film and music. The two examples he showed us were very interesting (his name is James Archibald and you’ll see it occasionally on some of the 50s films ˗ English ˗ on TV) but the one he likes more of the two seemed to me less good. We went back to the Centre with him (Jeff took he and J Robertson) (and me) and he said it was because I’d only seen half of his favourite: and that was about half an hour! Love, Mike. [I don’t remember this at all, and I’m not sure quite why people from the Centre went to it.]

Kathleen and Bill Wilson

Kathleen Wilson (a cousin of my mother) died during the week.  Her funeral was held at St
Andrews Rest Home on the 20th Oct, 2011.  It was the second funeral in about six weeks for the family as Kathleen's husband, Bill, died recently.  Bill was buried from St Andrews as well. 

Kathleen and Bill used to live in Barr St and she was a St Francis Xavier parishioner for many years.  She and Monica Stokes were the same age and great friends in their younger days.  She has been at St Andrews suffering with Alzheimers for the last four years.  Bill, who had broken his hip, spent the last few months of
his life there also.

My aunt, Daphne Hannagan, spoke to two of the family: Pauline, with whom she had worked briefly years ago.  Pauline now lives in Australia.  She also spoke to Stephen and his wife who live in Cargill St.  Marie
and Ann are the other two members of the family.  

Rose Gallagher (nee Hannagan) was Kathleen's mother.   Rose was one of my grandfather's sisters (Charles Hannagan), which means, of course, that she was my great-aunt.  I can remember her name, and I know I met her when I was very young, but I don't remember much more about her.    I'd like to fit Kathleen into the family tree, but I need to be clear as to whether I've got her relationship with Rose correct.  

A Swathe of Hannagans

It's taken me a while to work out how I can get this photo onto here - apart from other interruptions. Daphne sent it as a word document, rather than a jpg, and initially I couldn't work out how to get it into a photo format. However I had to do the same thing at work a couple of times recently and that's helped.

This is a gathering of (Jack and Daphne) Hannagans. Daphne wrote at the time: A Daphne Hannagan family photo, the only ones missing being the Millers. There's actually an addition of 2 mother-in-laws - Bob's mum and Ross' mum. T'was taken on Mothers' Day. I haven't yet seen any of the photos from the combined birthday party. [The combined birthday party was Denise's 50th and Peter's 40th].



Probably best to click on this to view it clearly.

Getting up and running again

It's been a very long time since I added anything on here - things have been rather busy around here, alongside some health issues - see below.

Last night I went to a family gathering, so I thought it was time to get the emails and the blog up and running again.

The gathering was a double birthday celebration: Peter Hannagan is forty, and his big sister, Denise, is fifty in about three weeks. All the Jack and Daphne Hannagan family were there, along with some of the teenage and older kids, and a bunch of friends. Great meal at the Etrusco (the former Savoy Restaurant, for those who might remember it). Instead of taking individual orders, they did it in the same way that Chinese restaurants do: bringing out platter after platter until everyone was well and truly full.

Peter doesn't at all look like a 40-year-old...mid-twenties, perhaps, but certainly not 40. And neither does Denise look her age. It's a strange world where people don't look old anymore when they should. It's the last week Peter and Rachel and their family will be in Dunedin. They've been back home for some six months, and believe it or not, this is the first time I've managed to catch up with them.

The first months of this year were unusual: I had a prostate op in late February after a very unpleasant time running up to it. Thankfully, I've come through this very well, and am feeling much more like my usual self. Right on top of this, almost, I began doing a paper at Varsity while (almost) simultaneously taking part in a play which, due to its short rehearsal period, required me to be out at least three nights a week and often one afternoon on the weekend. Juggling Varsity and the play proved to be a bit of an exercise, but turned out to be doable!

And, for those who haven't heard, Celia got knocked off her motor scooter about three weeks ago. It was a dark, rainy night; she was riding along fairly slowly because of the conditions, and a car came out of nowhere, it seemed, and apparently turned into her. She was somersaulted off her bike, and slid along the road some way. Thank God there were no broken bones, and she's healing up well (there were lots of bruises, of course, and her right knee is still very sore). She's more niggled that the demolition job she'd started on the kitchen the weekend before has had to be put on slow...

Strangely, I was driving to rehearsal that evening, and passed a police car, ambulance and tow truck. As you do, I wondered what had happened, and who might be the 'victim,' never guessing that it was Celia. It was only when I got further down the hill that I got a cellphone call from my son to say that Celia had had an accident...and of course, it all lined up.

Celia wasn't able to be at the dinner last night: my number three daughter is expecting her number three, and is at 32 weeks. However, the waters broke yesterday, and so she's in hospital while they play a wait and see game. The baby's okay, but obviously they have to be cautious about what happens next. Appreciate your prayers!

The last episode from Daphne's Trip

I said in my last report I had no idea of what was happening on the last night in Poland apart from the fact that we were going out to dinner together. It was such a surprising evening. We were taken to a very ethnic restaurant - in fact it was like going back in time. We were the only people there and we were entertained with Polish song and dance. It was such a lovely evening and we were all sad when it came to an end. That evening back in the hotel and again the following morning there were many fond farewells from all the people we had been with over those 2 weeks, a number of whom were there for the same reason as us, to go back to their roots. There were actually a few Polish people on the trip and one of them had thoughts of returning to Poland with her husband to live, however, I think, although she really enjoyed being back in her homeland, she had decided that maybe staying in America was the best option as, I think, it is probably not that easy for the elderly in Poland.

The next morning found us at the airport once again, this time Warsaw to Vilnius. We arrived there mid afternoon, offloaded our bags at the hotel and went for a walk. It was very hot so I only got as far as the river and sat there while John investigated the town a bit further. From where I was sitting I didn't get a great impression of Vilnius and wondered what we were letting ourselves in for. My first impression changed however when we met with our tour leader and some of the rest of the group for dinner that evening. Jona said it was just a little walk into town to the restaurant where he wanted to take us. I soon found out that his little walks were never that little for me and I was always tailing along behind. However, we had a very enjoyable dinner and then strolled back, with the Australian member of the group, through the town back to the hotel. Mike, you talked about having a hot chocolate. I had a hot chocolate in Vilnius and that was exactly what it was - hot chocolate. They gave you a little spoon to eat it. Very nice but not quite what I'd expected. After that we we wandering along the street and John, the Australian, pointed out a little church. It was a Catholic church and at 8.45pm on a Sunday there was Mass going on. I went in but sadly the Mass was just about finished. It seemed to be a more modern church nestled in amongst cafes and shops but the last hymn I recognised as one we sing at SFX and I even shook hands with the priest on the way out.

The next day all the group, a very different collection of people, set off on our first walking tour of the Old Town of Vilnius. Jona's walking tours though were more like marathons for me. In the afternoon we visited Trakai and the island castle sete in a gorgeous position in the centre of a lake. We were both really tired that afternoon so did a lot of resting on the island over the afternoon and then met the others for dinner before returning to the hotel.

The next day we left for Grutus Park and on to Druskininkai which is a famed spa town. Jona told us he could book us in for a spa, sauna, mud bath or several other delicious things. John and I opted for having a mud bath to sooth our tired bones. John enjoyed his mud bath but because of my swollen legs I had to resort to a mineral bath instead. It was luxurious!

We then went on to Kaunas and Kretinga. A very interesting visit was made to the Kovno Ghetto and NInth Fort. The Nazis reduced the Jewish population of Kaunas from 37,000 to 2,500 in the course of 3 years. The fort was built by the Russians but fell to the Germans during WWII.

Kretinga was a very interesting place to stay. It was like a glorified farm stay, with 2 restaurants, and was so nice that John and I opted to stay there for a day of rest while the others explored the Curonian Spit National Park. It was really mostly beach and the others said we didn't miss all that much and we benefitted from our day off. Some other interesting places we visited were Witches Hill and the Hill of Crosses at Siauliai. We then proceeded on to Riga, the party town, and Parnu and finally Tallinn the capital of Estonia. I really loved this town and John and I after doing an Off On Bus Tour climbed up a tower and walked along part of the wall of the Old Town. There were also many interesting shops to poke around although I resisted the temptation of buying the lovely handcrafts they had for sale.

We then travelled to Tart and then onto Sigulda. In Sigulda we went on a gondola, after walking up about 800 steps, and crossed the very heavily forested valley which was very beautiful. From there we went on to our final destination being the national park. Jona was keen for us to go canoeing or kayaking on the beautiful lake. My family would have loved it but it wasn't for me and, as it turned out, not for anyone else either when they discovered they had to be out there for 4 hours. Jona was a little disappointed. However, we went for a walk and then missed the bus back to our hotel which turned out to be another 5km walk - that I could have done without! However, I made it but next day I stuck with the bus and had a much more leisurely day visiting the bee museum - very interesting - and a little walk up the hill to view the 4 or 6 lakes which was very picturesque.

That was the final day of the tour and we arrived back in Vilnius mid afternoon. Went out for our final dinner and back to the hotel early to have a little sleep before having to rise at 3.30am to leave for the airport. Actually nobody had much sleep as the Vilniu hotel has a dog over the road which barks all night. I won't be going back there in a hurry.

For me then it was off to Washington to see my family where I had a nice relaxing week with Peter and Ollie and Rachel a little bit as she was working.

The photo is of the old town in Vilnius.

Daphne's Tour Coming to an End

May not get another chance for a at least a few days as we're off to Warsaw again tomorrow with the tour ending on Sunday morning.

We've been here at Gydinia for the longest time of 3 nights. It's just a beautiful place and today when we came back from our tour of Westerplatte and lunch at Gdansk, I walked down to the lovely beach which was absolutely crowded with people, young and old, and paddled for the second time in the Baltic Sea. It was quite warm and the waves very gentle. I left John behind as he's not keen on the sand but it was so interesting just watching all the people - and the children are so cute. As I was sitting drying off my sandy feet some of the other people from our tour came along and we chatted for a while before I came and picked John up to go and get something to eat. I just thought how much my family would have liked being here enjoying the beach, and with so many bars and food stalls along the way you could have something to eat before going home to put the children to bed. Again, there were so many people!

Today was a religious holiday in Poland so the shops and museums were closed for the day. There would have been processions but we didn't see them as that was the time we were having lunch. Gdansk is the home of Amber and there's quite a few pieces of amber jewellery going home on our bus - I can tell you. The American people seem to be able to spend up large! I did purchase a few items but not today.

Westerplatte was very interesting as it is the place where the WWII started. It was also the place where Pope John Paul spoke to thousands of young people and his words "War Never Again" are displayed there as well. There is also a commemorative cemetery where each year they have a memorial service similar to our Anzac Day services in NZ. The tour guide said she hadn't been as it was about 4.30 in the morning but her friend had said it was very moving.

It has been definitely more relaxing the last couple of days but tomorrow we're off again to Warsaw and visiting Marlbrook Castle on the way. We also have lunch there. Not sure what we're up to on Sat but Sat evening we have our final dinner together as well as a folklore show which will be nice. Our tour guide tried to organise one for us today but because of the holiday it wasn't possible.

I haven't mentioned at all the food we've had during our stay in Poland. It has been absolutely amazing, except for the pizza we had this evening, and I am totally sold on Polish food although it probably wouldn't be too good for my waist line as they love their cakes and we've sampled many types of them. Maybe we need a Polish restaurant in Dunedin!

Hope all is well in NZ. It seems a bit strange not knowing what's going on in the rest of the world for such a long time.

Daphne's travels

Another brief note from Daphne:

We've had 2 huge days in Warsaw and Krakow. Yesterday on the way to here we went to Chzechacowa (home of the Black Madonna) and then Auschwitz - very sobering. Today the old town of Krakow, the Cathedral, castle and had lunch - Spinach dumplings in the square. This afternoon 2hrs walking around the salt mines - tiring but hugely interesting. There's a queue for the Internet so won't dally.

More from Daphne

Was all set to do this e-mail last night but my computer came up with a message that I couldn't interpret except for one word 'problem' so I went off to bed to rest and read my book and left John to it on the computer that was working.

We had the most amazing day yesterday visiting the area where our great grandparents and grandmother came from. We even visited the church where our great grandfather was baptised as well as the graves of, probably, our 42nd cousins one of whom only died 2 yrs ago. I don't know if I can adequately describe in an e-mail though the fantastic people we met along the way. We first met Andre, an hour later than we were supposed to as we got lost in the bus station and missed our bus. We are also not good at following directions of people along the way, mainly because of the language and the fact that when they say 5 kilometers its usually about 15. We've actually taken to riding in taxis more as they are so cheap and my legs are saved. It's been really hot everywhere we've been and they don't like that.

Getting back to the people we began with Andre who was a contact person we had. He is the director of the National Museum in Stourgard which wasn't too far from Tczew the town we wanted to visit where our family roots were. He was waiting for us and ushered us into his office to straightaway partake of lots of Polish goodies and a good long talk with him. Any people who speak a little English seem very eager to converse with you. He gave us also a bag of information and lovely postcards then showed us round the museum and the town and went with us to the bus to go to Tczew. He was such a nice man and it is the first time that I have ever had my hand kissed.

We had several other experiences of helpful nice people on the way and in the town where we visited the church just about the whole village was out, talking flat out in Polish and trying to help us. The taxi driver we had here was shouting out the window at various people and when I realised he was looking for August Plewa, our great-grandfather, I quickly put in his hands the information I had so say that he was actually dead. I then managed to get through that it was the church we wanted to go to. We duly went to the church and met a lady who seemed to know about the Plewa family and the next thing we found ourselves going to the graveyard where we saw the graves of Jahn and Francesca Plewa.

That whole experience cost a bit for the taxi but it was worth it and we duly arrived back in Gdansk tired and hungry but very happy with our day. We're off to Warsaw today but not until we've seen a bit more of Gdansk. Fortunately, we purchased our tickets for the train to Warsaw yesterday owing to another helpful Polish guy who was keen to try out his English on us. However, that's another story.

Must be off now. We join our next tour Mon evening. Hopefully there'll be some English speaking people.

The Adventures of Daphne..!

Well, have arrived in Gdansk with a bit of a hiccup on the way. We missed our connection from Munich to Gdansk and had to go via Frankfurt. However, not too horrendous except that we arrived in Gdansk to find that our baggage was still in Munich. It will arrive though tomorrow and in the meantime we have been given a little bag of goodies, including the most gorgeous nightshirt, to tide us over. We'll no doubt survive. The hotel where we are staying is run by a family which includes mum, dad and 4 sons. The son we dealt with was just so friendly and helpful we feel right at home. They even have hot chocolate!

We were a little sad to leave Croatia. It was a lovely country, my favourite city being Dubrovonik. Split, the second largest city was also very nice. We also made friends with a couple from Brazil and will be able to show you a photograph on our return. I may have already said Reuben had a Croatian grandfather as well and he also spoke fairly good English. Tuesday night we spent at the Plievitce National Park hotel, very lovely waking up to the birds singing instead of lots of noisy cars, and spent 3 hrs the next morning touring the park by foot, by boat and by train. It was fantastic! We got back to Zagreb about 4.30 and thought we'd look for the History Museum but by the time we got there it was closed. We sat and had a drink in the square and soaked up the atmosphere for a while before we plodded - and plodded we did - back to the hotel for our last dinner together. Unfortunately, we were sitting with those that couldn't communicate with us very well so it was a fairly quiet affair, unlike the other table where stories in Spanish were being told and there was much hilarity. Hopefully there'll be some English speaking people on our Polish tour which begins on Mon evening. Meanwhile we have 3 days here in Gdansk to explore.

Daphne in Croatia

We received an email today from Daphne. She and her brother John are touring around Croatia where their forebears come from.

What a relief! After using the e-mail at Singapore with no problems I couldn't get into it at Zagreb for some reason or another. Tonight we're in Split which is way down the coast in Croatia - into Dalmatian territory. Last night we were in Opajtia - a very quaint town on the coast and this morning after leaving there we traveled through Reijk which is where our grandfather lived. It was a very busy port and it was easy to see how our grandfather could have hopped on a boat to come to New Zealand. I would loved to have stopped there even for 5 minutes but didn't get the opportunity. We have actually been talking to a couple from Brazil over dinner tonight, Reuben and Beatrice - very nice people. His grandfather and grandmother also came from Croatia and the area we will go through tomorrow. John invited another Brazilian couple to our room for a glass of not very good wine before dinner. Sonia was a paediatrician and her husband an anaesthetist.

Croatia is a very lovely place and so much of it is so so old. Unfortunately, John and I are the only English speaking people on the tour, apart from the tour guide. At Zagreb she arranged for us to have a guide of our own which was really good and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Kristina our guide is very nice but she talks to us a lot on the bus and not so much when we get to places. Consequently by the time we get to where we're going we've forgotten what she said a lot of the time.

Tomorrow we're off to Dubrovonich where we'll spend 2 nights and then I think we make our way back to Zagreb and then to Poland. We've been on the bus most of the day today but are spending the morning here in Split before we more off again.

It's all going well and especially now that I know I can reach you all by e-mail again