The sisters from Woodham Rd
Lyndsey and Carol both agree their childhood was so much fun and, before they can finish their sentence, they both mention Woodham Park. The entrance to the Christchurch park was directly across the road from them and this was their magical playground. Every weekend the girls would look out for any taxis arriving and then rush out to admire the bridal parties, as it was and still is a favourite location for wedding photos.
Everyone in the neighbourhood knew the Guiney family because there were a lot of them – five children in total. Alan was the eldest, then Lyndsey, followed by the triplets: Carol, Rae and Graeme.
Carol says they were really lucky that all five were born within five years of each other. Lyndsey agrees and adds that in a lot of families with five children there can be a 10-year age gap between the oldest and the youngest.
Their dad had a contracting business and a truck with his name painted on the side. He worked on the roads for the Ministry of Works. Their mother was a stay-at-home mum as she had her hands full with five little people to look after.
Their uncle had a catering business and once the children were teenagers their mum started working for him. The business mainly catered for weddings but their mum also ran the little pie shop at Lancaster Park.
Lyndsey remembers how important she and Alan felt when they raced over there on Saturday afternoons to help sell pies on the embankment stand.
Lyndsey says their family always had a car as their dad really liked cars. They were huge so they could all fit in, and she remembers learning to drive in a monstrous 1953 Chevrolet.
When she’d just got her licence, she took the Chevy to fill up at the Arthur Young petrol station on the corner of Gloucester St and Woodham Rd and she knocked into the petrol pump. Lyndsey quickly adds that this is the only crash she’s ever had.
Their modest three-bedroom wooden house sat on a large section and they spent most of their time all together in what was quite a small room. They would talk and listen to the radio.
Both Lyndsey and Carol remember the children’s hour programme with real affection – every child at that time tuned intoit.
As they grew older, all five children spent a lot of time around the kitchen table doing their homework. Carol remembers that they all had their own special place at the table and hardly ever changed places.
They called their lounge ‘the front room’ as it looked out on to Woodham Rd. In that room was a lounge suite that was hardly ever sat on, an oak table and a piano. They would light the fire in there on a Sunday afternoon when their grandma came to visit.
Carol says: “We were very fortunate to have an aunty who made clothes for us girls and especially for family occasions such as weddings. We were always well dressed and mum hand-knitted jerseys for us all, including dad. Quite often we would all have jerseys exactly the same colour.”
Lyndsey doesn’t remember getting any pocket money but says: “We did get to go to everything we needed to. We all had jobs to do around the house. Carol used to do the ironing, I liked to keep the front garden looking nice and the boys used to mow the lawns.”
They remember their mum was a very good cook and they had meat, potatoes and other vegetables nearly every night.
Lyndsey says they always had pudding and sponges. They had bread and butter pudding but that wasn’t her favourite. She loved her mum’s apple sponge out of the Edmonds Cookery Book. They always had cream but she doesn’t remember that they ever had a lot of ice cream.
They both remember the inevitable family squabbles, brought on by things like their brother flicking one of them with a tea towel or one of them saying they needed to go to the toilet when they were supposed to be on washing-up duty. They would always take sides – it would always be three against two and never four against one.
Thinking of seven people living in a house with just one toilet, I asked how they coped. Lyndsey and Carol both said they don’t remember any issues.
For their holidays they often camped at South Brighton Domain for the entire school holidays and their dad would commute to work. Carol says they could walk to the beach and they were the best holidays ever.
Lyndsey had a good time at school and made many great friends. She remembers biking after school to see them.
Lyndsey was such a keen swimmer that she would cycle to the Centennial Pool in Armagh St every morning before school. She marvels now that her parents were happy for their 12-year-old daughter to do this alone but she says she always felt totally safe.
Carol remembers being in the same classes as her triplet brother and sister for all their time at Linwood North School (now Whītau School). Apart from one teacher who pulled her hair, and the school dental clinic, they were pretty happy times, she says. All five children went to Linwood Intermediate School and the girls, against their will, were later sent along Woodham Rd toAvonside Girls’ High.
As they finished their high school years, neither Lyndsey nor Carol remembers ever having a life plan or any great ambitions. They certainly don’t remember their parents giving them any career advice whatsoever.
After he completed his time at Christchurch West High School (now the site of Hagley College), eldest brother Alan went to work in the stationery business and stayed there until he retired. Alan, from a very young age, played for Linwood Rugby Club.
Their brother Graeme took an afterschool job at the Dallington fish shop, where he was required to hose the floors and wash the cooking areas. At this time his family kindly gave him the nickname of Fishy.
Rae left school at the same time as her sister Carol and went to work in the office of Sucklings, the well-known footwear company. Sadly, Rae died in 2014 and her sisters and brothers miss her desperately.
Lyndsey was offered a place at Teachers’ College at the end of sixth form but chose to go back to school for the final year. At the end of seventh form she put the idea of becoming a teacher on the back burner and took a clerical job at Andrews & Beaven. Lyndsey remembers that when she got this job they offered her just $21 a week.
“My uncle knew the boss there and I said to my uncle, ‘I thought I’d get more than that’, so he phoned the boss and told him Lyndsey has University Entrance and deserves more. Due to my uncle’s timely intervention, my starting pay instantly went up to $25 – of course the girls always got paid less than the boys.”
When Carol left school she worked at Van Staveren Bros in Fitzgerald Ave, where she too did clerical work. Van Staveren Bros imported fine crystal glassware and she ended up staying there a long time.
Carol’s first brown envelope pay packet was an eye-watering $28 a week. “Money went a long way back then.”
She lived at home with her mother until she was in her 30s and would travel to work on her little green Honda 50.
About this time, the Guiney parents bought the corner dairy in Woodham Rd opposite the petrol station and Carol then worked there for several happy years.
Graeme left school early to work in the contracting business with their dad, who died when he was only 55. Their mother continued to work in the catering business until she retired. She lived at 140 Woodham Rd for 53 years, up until her final days.
Lyndsey had always thought she might go to Teachers’ College but after her first job, she went instead to work at the new-fangled Clarksons Supermarket in Linwood Ave between 1973 and 1980.
During this time, the 21-year-old married, having met her husband at Andrews & Beaven. She looks back now and thinks she was pretty young to marry, but says a lot of people did that at that age back then. Lyndsey and her husband will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this year.
Carol married in her 30s, having met her husband while with a friend on the old esplanade in New Brighton. They had a son, but her husband died when he was only 53. Carol still lives in New Brighton.
Lyndsey joined the Canterbury Savings Bank in 1989 as she always thought working for a bank would be a good option. It certainly was, as most of her working life was spent at the St Martins branch, a stone’s throw from where she has lived since 1976. Lyndsey retired just in time to take on her very enjoyable grandmother duties.
Carol went on to have quite a few jobs but has recently been made redundant after 25 years working for Simms Jones, the wholesale supplier to hairdressers.
Carol says the transition to retirement was OK but she misses the companionship of work. The plus-side to her new lifestyle is that she can now do a lot with her grandson, taking him to his basketball games and training sessions.
All of the Woodham Rd Guiney children are home lovers and they have remained in Christchurch – Christchurch is their home.
I ask Lyndsey and Carol whether, looking back, they have any regrets. Without any hesitation they both reply, “no”, but Carol understandably adds that of course she will always be sad to have lost her husband when he was so young.
Lyndsey and Carol are on the phone to each other several times a day to chat about any number of highly important things such as Wordle solutions. Sometimes they’ll have a nice long sisterly chat only to call back immediately to ask a question they had forgotten to ask.
Finally I ask if they thought they were poor growing up. Lyndsey replies: “I don’t think that we were poor but there were other families that seemed richer than us. We just used to make our own fun.”
Former Cantabrian Mark Walton, an internationally recognised clarinettist and saxophonist, has an enduring fascination with New Zealand history.