"Brooklands" Fireplace

"Brooklands" Fireplace

Brooklands:

New Plymouth’s first Magistrate, Captain Henry King, R.N.(1783-1874) and his wife Mary Ann (1791-1883) established the original Brooklands homestead in 1842-43. It was here, tradition has it, that the first cheese was made in Taranaki and King's farmstead became one of the agricultural showplaces of the fledgling New Zealand Company settlement.

The fireplace marks the site of Brooklands.  The house was first occupied in March 1843. It  was abandoned during the First Taranaki War of 1860-61 and was burned by Māori forces in March 1861.

 “Several houses were fired by the rebels last night, and between 5 and 6 this morning dense masses of black smoke gave notice that Brooklands, Captain H. King’s residence, with outbuildings, barns, stabling, &c. was given to the flames. Brooklands is overlooked by Marsland hill garrison and is not more than 600 yards from the military Fort in the Carrington road. The guard turned out, followed by the Fort Herbert natives and some shots were fired…” (T Herald 16 March 1861)

About 1898, the name was used again for a large mansion, built here by the estate’s then owner, local businessman Newton King (1856-1926) – no relation to Captain Henry - and his wife Mary. A celebrated garden was then created at Brooklands under the guidance of the King’s head gardener, Thomas Boulton.

Newton King's trustees gifted Brooklands to New Plymouth Borough Council in March 1934 in place of a number of individual bequests to the town’s various parks. The King’s house was demolished soon after. It stood about where the cycad plantings are on the lawn overlooking the Bowl of Brooklands.

 Here is my sketch:

 

Group Photo at the Honeyfield Fountain.

It was a beautiful day today, and a great opportunity for a group photo.

Standing: Maurice Betts, Brian Gnyp, Trevor Davies.

Sitting: Liz Bridgeman, Eileen Davey, Jackie Flynn, Mary Bird.

Photo by Mark Davey.

The Honeyfield Fountain.

I love this fountain. It was originally installed for the people of New Plymouth walking from the old railway station. It has a drinking fountain, plus a light on top to help light their way. 

The Honeyfield Fountain was gifted to the city in 1907 by Alice Brown Honeyfield, who came from a family dedicated to community projects.

Fundraising began in 2004 to restore the historic feature and the restored fountain was reopened in August 2007.

The $50,000 for the restoration came from the TSB Community Trust, Lotteries Environment and Heritage Committee, Govett Quilliam, New Plymouth District Council, plus a number of individuals, many of whom are relatives of the late Alice Brown Honeyfield.

More recently the fountain was badly damaged with when a stolen car collided with it in April 2013. It has now been repaired by a specialist stonemason in Auckland, and returned to it's original site on 1/3/2014.

Photographer: Radcliffe, Frederick George
Date: 1913?
Date Period: 1910-1919
Description: Showing a boy sitting beside the Honeyfield Fountain on the Marine Parade, New Plymouth and another boy to the right standing next to a pram with a younger child in it, with Paritutu and some of the Sugar Loaves in the distance (centre) and the New Plymouth hot and cold saltwater swimming baths on the foreshore to the right.

Here is my sketch:

 

Youtube is my friend!

I tried to organise sketching today, but it turned into a bit of a fizzer. One because of the weather and two because of the crowds. The two of us that did show up, didn't manage to find each other!

So instead of sketching I tried an idea I had a while ago and did a quick painting of the trees in the rain from out of my lounge window.

I used this Youtube video on painting trees to help me with colours and depth and found it extremely helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd6DeVzt_fE

Here is the result:

Studebaker & Potter

This 1951 Studebaker Champion has the trimline name of Starlite Coupe owing to its 180 degree 'greenhouse' rear window.  It also sports the bomber nosed grill

1955 Studebaker President Speedster

Barbara potting at the Vicarage

Te Henui Vicarage

This week we went to the Te Henui Vicarage at the eastern end of Courtenay Street. There stands a relic of the past, unique amongst church buildings in New Zealand. That it was designed for some ecclesiastical purpose, is evidenced by the coat of arms of the Diocese of New Zealand, on the building. This heraldic device of three stars on a blue background is let into the wall above the attic window. The small stone building is all that remains to show that the first vicarage of the parish of St. Mary's and Holy Trinity was situated on that land. For this building stones were hauled by bullocks from Te Henui stream and limestone was brought from Nelson. The original roof was thatched and this was later replaced, first by shingles and later by iron. The Te Henui Vicarage is one of New Zealand's oldest buildings built in 1843.

Here is my sketch done round the back:

View from the front:

Ngamotu Beach.

It was a beautiful warm autumn afternoon yesterday, so we went to Ngamotu Beach. Some sketched at the sailing club and others in the surrounding area. I sat looking down onto the beach and I even went for a swim! Although the light breeze was warmer than the water, it was still pleasant. I think autumn is my favourite time of the year.

Here is my sketch:

And a photo:

Port Lifters

 Luciano Fantuzzi founded the company in Reggio Emilia in 1960.  Today it is a big name worldwide in container loading forklifts.  A group of these monsters were parked up at the Port, next to the yacht club.

Ruben with brush and water was giving the clinker a scrub.

New Plymouth Yacht Club

NP Yacht Club yard

 

Maurice sketching yachts

 

Sketched by Patricia



Lepperton Ride-On Lawnmower Race Day

So we went to a country school gala day to draw. To those not in New Zealand, this is a school fair that is a fundraiser. The classic raffles, food, bouncy castles, and skill games are all there. But Lepperton turned this one up to eleven and had the 2nd annual Ride-On Lawnmower Grand Prix. It really is what you expect and what it sounds like. You can modify your tiny tractor to some degree but the engine has to be legit. Then they set up a race track in the sports field and say goodbye to the lawn.

Maybe it's a little bit bogan (which is a downunder redneck) but it's all good fun and raised thousands of dollars for this small rural school. It was really sunny and hot so I took some video so I could document this but not have to sit in the sun. I went to sit in the shade and did a drawing of the little kids quad bikes. This is where kids paid a few bucks to race around a circle of hay bales and tires on throttled-down mini quad bikes while wearing oversized helmets. Half of them loved it and the other half seemed terrified. They certainly weren't as fast as the real racers on the day but maybe one of these kids will get a chance to compete in the big leagues in a future gala day.