Be Our Guest entry: Letter, Thelma Annan
Maker
Annan, Thelma
Object detail
Brief Description
Letter to the Be Our Guest competition by Thelma Annan (nee Ireland). She writes about her memories of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. The cover page reads: Hawke's Bay Earthquake 75 Anniversary 1931 - 2006. Remembering the day that changed Hawke's Bay forever. Earthquake Recollections. The title reads: How the day of the Hawke's Bay earthquake 1931 affected the lives of William (Bill) and Florence Ireland's family and is recalled and written by Thelma Annan.
Thelma was four years old. Her father Bill was an inspector on the Napier trams and her mother a housewife with nine children. Thelma, her mother, godmother and her younger sister Peggy were at home having morning tea when the earthquake struck. Thelma saw her mother coming to pick her up and thought it was a game so scurried the other way. She had to walk out of the kitchen over the smashed jars of preserves. Her younger sister Shirley was tossed down the back steps in her pram. She was not injured by the falling chimney. The backyard cracked open like a cobweb.
Thelma's elder brothers and sister were in various places in Hawke's Bay and the central North Island and all survived. Her brother Noel was at Napier Technical College in Clive Square, and was injured in the collapse of the building. He had broken a collarbone, which was not discovered until he joined the Air Force in the Second World War. The family slept on the railway lines that night, then went to Nelson Park. They were then evacuated to stay with a family in Eketahuna. Her father returned to Napier to get the house fixed. Her mother was three months pregnant and later gave birth to a healthy son, Derek.
Thelma was four years old. Her father Bill was an inspector on the Napier trams and her mother a housewife with nine children. Thelma, her mother, godmother and her younger sister Peggy were at home having morning tea when the earthquake struck. Thelma saw her mother coming to pick her up and thought it was a game so scurried the other way. She had to walk out of the kitchen over the smashed jars of preserves. Her younger sister Shirley was tossed down the back steps in her pram. She was not injured by the falling chimney. The backyard cracked open like a cobweb.
Thelma's elder brothers and sister were in various places in Hawke's Bay and the central North Island and all survived. Her brother Noel was at Napier Technical College in Clive Square, and was injured in the collapse of the building. He had broken a collarbone, which was not discovered until he joined the Air Force in the Second World War. The family slept on the railway lines that night, then went to Nelson Park. They were then evacuated to stay with a family in Eketahuna. Her father returned to Napier to get the house fixed. Her mother was three months pregnant and later gave birth to a healthy son, Derek.
Maker
Production place
Production period
Production technique
Media/Materials description
Printed on unlined paper in black and coloured ink. Three staples at left edge.
Media/Materials
Measurements
In the Be Our Guest Folder No 2.: Height x Width: 297 x 210mm
Classification terms
Subject person
Subject period
Subject date
03 Feb 1931
Credit line
gifted by Thelma Annan
Other number(s)
m2006/27/118, 35560
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