December 1928

Saturday 1st    It was a very fine day.   There was a Cricket Match at the Domain, Matakana  V  the local club.
Matakana batted first and made 160 runs.  Chief scorers – W. Dunning 52,  E. Campbell 36.  Omaha made 153 runs,  P. Dunning 27,  E. Wyatt 39,  J. Torkington 37,  W.  Birkland 15,  J. Dunning 8,  R. Harper 7,  H. Ashton 6.
Matakana batted again until tea time, but this did not count.  Matakana won a 2 point win in the first innings.  There were a number of onlookers.  The ladies provided a bountiful lunch and tea.

Sunday 2nd   It was a fine day, but there was slight rain in the evening.  There was no service here to day.  Wrote a letter to my niece May Clarke in England.

Monday 3rd   It was a very fine day.  Mrs Eyton called in the afternoon, she went up to see my garden and Jane gave her pm tea.
I sowed a double row of Challenge Beans .  I started to pick stratagem peas, these were sown  these were sown on the 8th & 9th August,  I also picked a few Canadian wonder beans.  Jane also picked beans.

Tuesday 4th   It was a very fine day.  Mabel Wyatt and Mrs Handby came to spend the day.  I stuck the short row of Prizetaker Peas, also sowed a short row of same variety.  Prepared ground for more beans.

Wednesday 5th   It was a very fine day.  Willena (Mrs Len Wyatt) & Mrs Stewart came to spend the day,  & Mrs Gribble was here for tea.
Hector kindly carried 8 tins of manure for me.
I sowed a double row of Challenge Beans.  I also sowed a row of Canadian Wonder Beans.
There was a Social in the evening for the benefit of the Hall.

Thursday 6th   It was a very fine day.  As I have now finished planting for a while, so I turned my attention to watering the growing crops.

Friday 7th   It was a very fine day.  Mrs Tom Ashton & Miss Mary Ashton were here for dinner and in the afternoon,  they Jane & Jean went round to Mr Walden’s store to see the new goods he brought from Auckland.

Saturday 8th   It was a fine day, but the weather looks threatening.  There was a cricket match at Kaipara Flats .  Omaha  V  the local club.  Omaha got a 3 point win.  Jane went in Harry Ashton’s car.  Jean & Mildred went in Tom Ashton’s lorry to the opening of the bowling season at Warkworth.  I staid at home and was writing a letter to my nephew Herbert George Clarke in England.

Sunday 9th   It was fine in the morning.  I went down to Pats to have a yarn with him.   Jane & Mildred went to Leigh in Revd Marr’s car to spend the day at Eddie Wyatts, she returned home in Revd Hart’s car.  It commenced to rain about 3 pm and continued to rain heavily all afternoon and evening which will do a lot of good.

Monday 10th   Several showers to day so I was unable to do any work in the garden.

Tuesday 11th   The rain we had on Sunday and yesterday has gone deep into the ground and the crops are all looking well.
I was able to dig a strip next the last planted homestead beans.

Wednesday 12th   It was a showery day.  A team of Rodney Cricketers motored to Auckland this morning to play a match at Eden Park against an Auckland team,  on account of the late rain the roads were very bad and slippery and one of the cars containing the Whangaripo players turned back home so that the home team were a few men short, so they got a bad beating.

Thursday 13th   There were a few showers.  As I have got nearly everything planted there is nothing much to do in the garden but water and keep the weeds under.

Friday 14th   It was showery in the morning, but fine in the late afternoon.  There was a garden party at the Vicarage Warkworth to get funds for the church, as Dolley was going with the Greenwoods to the affair Jane and I sent vegetables for the sale.
I posted a letter and a Weekly News to my nephew Herbert George Clarke of Hinckley Leicestershire.

Saturday 15th   It was fine in the morning, but there was a heavy shower in the afternoon.  I cut all the dead wood out of the Citron tree, put a lot of manure round the tree, and piled weeds on the top and dug up the ground round it.   There was a Cricket Match at Whangaripo, Omaha  V  the local team.  Jim & Pat went in Trevor’s car.

Sunday 16th   It was a very fine day.  Revd Yule held service in the morning, all from this house went but Hector and I, the Parson was here for dinner.  Mr & Mrs Harold Wright (Miss Dora Greenwood) came in a car to Pats so after dinner I went down to see them.  They are living at Henderson, they have been from home 10 days visiting at Whangarei  &c.

Monday 17th   It was a fine day.  As I have nothing more to plant just yet, I devote my time in the garden in watering and eradicating weeds.

Tuesday 18th   It was a very hot day.  The Kaipara Flats school held a picnick in the domain.  There was bus and a lot of cars .  I went down to Pats to change a book.

Wednesday 19th   It was a very fine day.  There was a combined picnic in the domain of the Warkworth, Big Omaha & Ti Point schools.  The children were brought in a bus , lorries & cars.  There was a great crowd of children , parents & friends.  The Morrisons came from Warkworth and  some were playing cricket, and tennis, there were races for the children.  Many families had picnics under the shade of trees, we had ours with the Willie Dunnings.  Late in the afternoon it commenced to blow hard from the N and there are indications of rain.

Thursday 20th   It rained heavily last night, it has gone deep into the ground.

Friday 21st   It was a fine day.  Jane went to Warkworth in the Greenwood boy’s car as they were going to the stock sale.
I stuck the double row of Homestead beans, these were sown on the 27th November.

Saturday 22nd    It was a very fine day,  Jean returned from Warkworth in the evening, she went last Sunday to Mr Dows, Engineer to the County Council.

Sunday  23rd   It was a fine day.  Revd Hart held service in the morning, there was a very fair congregation, 12 staid for communion.  Willie, Grace & Raymond came from Auckland last Thursday and have been staying with Laurence and Alma, they came in Laurence’s car to church this morning.  They are coming to stay here this afternoon.  The collection at the service was £1 . 1 . 9
Laurence, Alma, Willie, Grace & Raymond went to Leigh after church, had their lunch there and the three latter came here in the afternoon in time for tea.  They reported a fatal accident by drowning.  Trevor Taylor (son of Mr Taylor late of Pakiri),  Donaldson & Laly Brown were sailing in a boat outside Cemetery Point when the boat capsized and the three men were thrown into the water, the sea was rough.  Trevor Taylor was the only one who got to land.

Monday 24th   It was a fine day.  Willie and Jim went fishing at the channel, they brought home 2 fish.  I picked in a lot of peas, we had some for dinner, and some for tomorrow.  I sent Minnie some, also some to Mrs Gravatt.  There was a Christmas tree in the Leigh hall, all of them went from here but me.

Tuesday 25th   Christmas Day.   The day was fine, ‘tho dull and threatening.  Jane gave us a good dinner and tea of Xmas fare.  In the afternoon all of us went down to the domain .  Some played tennis, Jim, Willie and two others played bowls.

Wednesday 26th   It was a regular wet day.  Milking the cows was the only work done outside.  I wrote to Mr Pickering also one to Henry.

Thursday 27th   Blowing hard from the N and raining in the morning.
I wrote a letter to the Manager of the Union Bank and enclosed it in the letter to Henry.  Hector took the letter down to Trevor to post.  The weather was a little finer in the afternoon and Willie, Grace and Raymond went to Ti Point.  I received a letter from my niece Margaret Clarke.  The S.S. “Kawau” did not come today on account of the weather.  Mr Birss and the boys were to have come by her.  I heard that the steamer was coming on Saturday.

Friday 28th   It rained all day, and was blowing hard.  I was not able to do anything outside.

Saturday 29th   It was fine in the morning, but the ground is very wet with all the rain that has fallen, there were slight showers in the pm, but it cleared up in the evening.
I picked a lot of Stratagem peas and took some down to Pats, I picked a few Peerless Peas.  They were sown on the 5th October.

Sunday 30th   It was a treat to get a fine day.  Mr Birss who came last night by the “Kawau” to camp at Ti Point held service in the morning, there was a fair congregation.  Collection 11/1 .  Mr Birss had 8 boys with him,  1 boy was left at camp and 1 boy is coming by next boat.
Mr & Mrs Bromley, their daughter Dora and a young Perks came in the afternoon , had a look at my garden and staid for tea, Mrs B brought me a lot of Leicester papers.  Dolly and the children came up to have a look at the garden.  Ina staid for tea as it was Mildred’s 9th birthday and Jane had prepared a grand tea.

Monday 31st   It was a fine day.  I stuck the two rows of Challenger Beans, I sowed them on the 5th Dec.  Went up to the cemetery to get some bean sticks.

The Rainfall for December as recorded at the P.O Warkworth totalled 5.66 inches.
The total rainfall for 1928 was 69.78 inches.