RANDOM MEANDERINGS

"Love me please mother..." Originally uploaded by SandyEm Taken at Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch April 26 2009 The epitaph is so sad :-|

W Cook, basket maker, Christchurch, ca1907* Staff of William Cook, basket maker, 9 Stafford Street, Christchurch. The men are standing outside their workshop supported by their products. Behind them are large hampers with GPO stencilled on them. There are also a variety of cane chairs. Note also the chairs hanging on the ceiling on the inside of the building. I love this photo. People going about their work in early Christchurch. I found some advertisements relating to this business. 1 is for a "smart boy about 15" in 1901 http://tinyurl.com/smart-boy-about-15 2 is for "four youths" in 1902 http://tinyurl.com/4-youths 3 is for "2 smart boys" in 1905 http://tinyurl.com/staff-advertisement Interestingly enough, these advertisements state to apply to 224 Tuam Street so the business had maybe shifted from Tuam to Stafford Street in the 2-6 years from the advertisements until the photo was taken above in 1907. Other advertisements relating to the Tuam Stree

Ohhh no this is terrible :-( St Pauls, Cnr Cashel and Madras Street, Christchurch. The beautiful $800,000 organ is ruined. A news item including video of the damage http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/2721692/Fire-at-St-Pauls-Trinity-church/ A still from a family video of St Paul's [to the left with columns] on the day of my parents marriage 1959 On October 17th 2009 it will be 50 years since my parents married here. It had just received funding for future strengthening work. http://www.infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?l=1&t=97&id=38616 Tragic. Update on the church: 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake obliterated the church.  It was under repair from the 4 September 2010 quake at the time. http://tinyurl.com/9stze6t