50 Year Boots for Brenda Sewell
June 2009
Brendas 50 years with ATC.
Brenda Sewell arrived in New Zealand on 15 September 1958 and went on her first tramp with the ATC in October - to the Moumoukai Valley - and was completely fascinated with the bush and the birds.
As ATC had two buses at this stage, two Christmas trips were arranged. There was a hard trip to the South Island where one bus took trampers and climbers to one spot and picked them up some time later. The second bus, driven by Colin Armstrong, took the ‘Spiv’ trip, led by Les Ward, to Waikaremoana and Napier. In the Ureweras, the group, 12 in all, tramped into Maungopohatu - a very special place. It took another 46 years before Brenda returned there.
In February 1959 there was a weekend trip to Port Waikato, led by Peter Selwyn and it was here that Brenda met her future husband, Eric, who pulled her out of the tide when she became caught in a rip.
From 1959 until 1964 Brenda served on the Social Committee and General Committee and took part in two ‘At Homes’. The annual club play and review written by Cliff Barnett, Sinderella, was the 1959 show - Roger Taylor played the part of Donny Jevlin and Brenda was Sinderella. Others in the cast included Margaret Sinclair as well as Tony and Peter and Peter Siddell. The 1960 ‘At Home’ was entitled The Case of the Encrusted Crud Pot with similar cast.
The June 1959 Bush Ball was a huge success - some club members made up the band for dancing with their various musical instruments, and a piano had been hired for the event. The men carried it up the track from the road to the hut and when they stopped for breath, Cliff Barnett took over and played some rousing Tramping Club numbers. The hut had no power so the main room was lit by pressure lanterns with candles in the bunk rooms. Club rules were relaxed so that alcohol was allowed in the hut but drinking had to take place in the bunk rooms and not in the main room. In all, there were about 70 people present. Several people had sticking plasters on their faces as a result of an accident near Dargaville the previous week when the Club bus rolled.
One trip to Ruapehu in August 1961 was memorable. On the Friday night it started to snow when the bus reached National Park and it took about an hour to put the chains on. We all had to carry sacks of coal from the road up to the hut as the power was not connected until some years later.
By Saturday morning there was a full blizzard with winds of 100 mph. People who went outside were actually blown over and it became impossible to reach the toilets round the back of the hut. Those huts on the mountain that had electricity found their power cut so many people came to the ATC hut for warmth and hot drinks.
By Sunday there were snow drifts 2m deep and the one that buried the bus was 3m deep. It took until late on Tuesday afternoon before the road was cleared.
That night was the Club’s AGM. It must have been an interesting meeting as most of the General Committee and all the Social Committee (including the President, Ian Sanders) were snow-bound on Ruapehu and unable to attend the meeting.
Brenda, Doug, Maureen (Photo: Graeme McGowan)
