After the death of my wife’s father, the family had the job of clearing out the family home and moving on family items. I landed the job of tidying up the double garage, workshop and shed, and finding homes for about 50 years of hoarding. Homes were readily found for tools among family members but some of the items were beyond saving. There was also a Ute-load of old cameras, photographic tools, manuals and spare parts which we took to the Foxton Camera museum. We spent a couple of hours being shown around the museum. I left feeling over-awed by the amount of knowledge the staff have about the items on display. They didn’t only have cameras but movie projectors, glass plate slides, old movies, radios and record players, to name just a few of the items on display.
At odd times I also meet people who have a lot of knowledge about their special interests. When I started clearing out the shed and garage I didn’t know very much about cameras but as time went on I learnt a lot about the various old makes and what was special about each model. Luckily my wife’s dad had written down instruction and had drawn diagrams on how to repair these old cameras.
Being a member of an active car club we also get to go to some very interesting places. Quiet often one drives past these places and don’t know what is behind a house or a repair shop.
Recently The Early Holden Enthusiast Club, Central Region, had a run to Rod Clifton’s yard at Te Horo. From the road front there is a yard with tractors, trucks and cars, and a workshop to one side and an office on the opposite side. Our tour started in the workshop where restorations of tractors take place. After spending some time in the workshop area we were taken for a walk down the side of the front yard, down a long drive past a tractor grave yard (doctor’s waiting rooms) to a large shed full of all makes of old tractors, many going back to the 1920s.
Again Rod has a lot of knowledge about his hobby and the ability to create the part required from a picture or vague written description. The point is that we need to get down on paper or lap top the knowledge these older people have, for once these people are gone their knowledge is also gone. Generally they don’t think of themselves as being old but fortunately they love to talk about their interests.
