This year marks the 175th anniversary of Howick, Pakuranga and districts which presents a wonderful opportunity to feature people in the area and their memories of their past. These are the thoughts of Kenneth Victor Kelsey, born in Howick on June 27, 1940.
The Kelsey family has been associated with Howick since 1862 when my grandfather Frederick William Kelsey arrived in New Zealand on the William Miles from Hull.
In the late 1870s, he and his wife Clara opened the Kelsey General Store and Furniture makers in Howick on the ground floor of their family home.
They raised their 11 children there. How they all fitted in, I can’t imagine. The house still stands today on the corner of Howe Street and Ridge Road but without its top storey which was removed to Mellons Bay to accommodate my Uncle Fred (Dad’s brother) and his wife.
It was my grandfather Frederick William Kelsey who started the 60-acre farm on the corner of Bleakhouse Road including five acres on the corner of Howe Street, opposite where the old homestead and store stood.
One of the Kelsey sons, my father, Kenneth Allpress Kelsey with his wife Isabella and their five children, carried on the family business in the old homestead, as well as running the local milk float and tending the farm. Roads were unsealed and muddy and the draught horses pulled wagons all over the village.
My father bravely fought in WWI and is buried in St Andrew’s Presbyterian churchyard in Vincent Street.
I had a very happy childhood helping on the farm and swimming at the beach, occasionally getting into trouble if my mates and I decided to go eeling in the creek or fishing instead of going to school!
I was educated at Howick District High School where I enjoyed English and Maths but especially woodwork. I had been brought up around cabinet making and tools and eventually left school to work for a cabinetmaker in Khyber Pass in Auckland.
I can remember the wheels of my motorbike getting stuck in the tramlines in town until I could afford a little car. The apprenticeship took five years or 10,000 hours, I loved the work and eventually started my own business.
I am proud to say Kelsey Furniture Restoration is still going strong in the original premises in Remuera where my daughter Jennie has followed in my footsteps as a master cabinet maker.
I met my wife Ann at a dance in Pt Chevalier and we were married in 1961.
After the Kelsey farm was subdivided in the 1960s, I bought a section in Mellons Bay Road where I built a family home on weekends and in my spare time.
Although now in a retirement village, I still enjoy the occasional ballroom dance and playing Rummikub.
I keep in touch with my old friends through the Howickian get-togethers and will definitely be raising a glass to the 175th celebrations.
