Expansion or the Status Quo?

I started writing my blog in the hope that as my memory fades I will write about experiences we encounter on our lifestyle block. I failed miserably!... Instead, I start thinking about past adventures or items of nostalgia, some funny and some serious, but mainly episodes in my life that are meaningful to me and anyone who takes time to read my postings….Facebook just doesn't allow for extended written creations, so I type out my thoughts of personal experiences whenever I get some time to myself …(obviously not much considering the number of blogs posted)

A recent comment in our daily newspaper brought a childhood happening to mind and I want to share it with you. (John Armstrong has recently retired)

The Famous Charles Atlas

John Armstrong the NZ Herald Chief political commentator was describing a leader of a political party as being a bit of a lightweight to the Press and wrote in his weekly column this statement….

"Sure, an aura of geekiness still drips off his wiry frame and makes him the perfect modern-day version of the 44kg weakling who many moons ago inhabited the now legendary adverts for Charles Atlas' "dynamic tension" body-building regime"

Man Magazine 1950s

Well, "Many moons ago" my older brother Dennis and I were reading a purloined copy of MAN MAGAZINE which was supposedly the most racy magazine available in the 1940s-1950s…. An online HISTORICAL MAGAZINE OUTLINED THIS MAGAZINE IN AN ARTICLE…"If anybody today remembers Man magazine, it is probably as the slightly risqué girlie mag read - along with Pix and Australasian Post and several other such titles - by the clients of barber shops. Or perhaps as the rude publication that Uncle Ted kept in his toilet, where visiting nephews used to feast their eyes. Born in 1936 - the brainchild of ad-man Kenneth Murray - Man prospered against the odds through the tough years of the late 1930s and the Second World War to become the centrepiece of an astonishingly successful home-grown Australian publishing empire. In its heyday Man and its spinoffs published excellent fiction and non-fiction articles, cartoons and artwork. Some of the best of Australia’s writers and artists appeared between its covers and many careers were built on its influence" …. …Reading this magazine in 2015 would bring howls of derision as it would appear very tame compared to today's publications!

Typical Atlas Advert 1940-50s

Scary Thought!

When I was a teenager many of my friends and I were concerned about our image, especially towards the fairer sex. Like many  of my friends I was not endowed with a muscular frame and sports wise, I was more into running and swimming rather than spending every week training with weights. Although we all played Rugby on the weekends, our training schedule was fairly light compared to the intensive schedule of today's young players and the movies held more attraction than a gym. I did train with the YMCA for a short period, but this didn't appeal to me as I had to travel to the city to their Gym…..



As we continued to read the Man magazine, my brother pointed out an article featuring an advert on Charles Atlas which was accompanied by another advert featuring a special on "CHEST EXPANDERS"… Dennis said "Why don't we save some pocket money and write away to the Australian address and get a set mailed to us … We could both have a go at building up our bodies before the Summer and also get into a fitness regime" … He was about to leave home and go farming, but we shared a number of lawn mowing clients and I was also about to take over a newspaper delivery run so we thought we could manage the  18/6d it was going to cost, plus postage.

I seem to remember he was already working on the farm before we raised the necessary funds, but one glorious day, a package arrived and I just couldn't wait to unwrap this treasured item!...
Sure enough there was a long skinny box and inside was a gleaming, steel chest expander! What a thrill!....I remember thinking about the adverts that showed a skinny guy on the beach getting sand kicked in his face by a well built bloke who had a nice girl hanging off his arm. … I thought "we'll show them!".

Different Brand, but exact comparison!

I decided not to wait until Dennis came home for one of his infrequent trips (farm work included weekends, with not much time off) but he had bought a little 1936 Ford Y and this made it easier to travel from the Glenbrook area in South Auckland where he worked. .. I made sure I had no nosey brothers or sister around to watch my 1st exercise's and gently unwrapped the chest expander from it's lovely tissue paper covering. Oh how it gleamed! And the shiny red handles only added to it's lustre…. I retrieved the instruction pamphlet from the box and studied the list of exercises which started from easy to slightly harder and prepared myself for what I hoped would be the beginning of a long and happy regime of physical fitness.

Clasping the handles in each hand as directed I lifted my arms and extended them as far as I could ,,, well actually, this wasn't very far! I tried as hard as I could to start a stretch, but the tension was too great for me to even move the springs 1/2 an inch.. How on earth was I going to get the expander to full stretch without pulling a muscle? .. I grabbed the handles tightly and tried again, but as soon as I managed to exert any type of tension my arms would flick back to the slack stage with the springs just hanging loosely in front of me. Oh God my arms started aching after 5 minutes and I was supposed to be attempting 1/2 hour sessions! …It is hard to find an adequate description of my antics as I tried desperately to extend the nice shiny springs, but a "Whirling Dervish" will give some indication … I staggered around the room grunting and desperately trying to maintain some balance …. I pulled as hard as I could but the tension was just too strong! … Even Dennis had a tough time, but at least he managed to get the expander extended past his chest!...

After 1/2 an hour I was absolutely exhausted and my arms felt as if they were going to drop off… I gently put the expander back into it's case and decided I would wait a week before having another attempt…over a period of 6 months I tried all manner of ways to extend the springs out to full arms length without success… I even tried one of the exercises where you place one foot into the handle (like a stirrup) and pull the expander up in front of your body as high as you can … I managed to get just past my belt!

After another 3 months of valiant effort I decided that perhaps I would just stay skinny … it was much safer for my body and I kept the expander in it's box and placed it under my bed where it stayed until I too left home…. I seem to remember finding the box many years later, but by this time the springs had rusted up and the 1st time I tried to use the expander, the springs came away from the handles … it wound up in the dump!

My Treasured Morris 8 Convertible

The lesson : I attracted more interest from the fairer sex with my Morris 8 Convertible than I ever did by flashing my pectoral muscles … Brian vs Brawn will win every day!

A Gala to Remember ...But it pays to be prepared!

The Waipu Gala 2015

Easter Weekend in Waipu has become renowned for the Waipu Primary School Festival. Most schools in the Bream Bay District run annual Gala Days, (mainly to raise the necessary funds that the Government do not provide), such as swimming pools and their upkeep , special classrooms for computers or special needs children etc. It is always a battle to come up with exciting ideas that will attract family members and residents of the area to part with the necessary funds required to  facilitate any improvements.

School Annual Festival.

"Early Birds" Setting up.

The Waipu Primary School have come up with a prize winning  formula that just seems to get better each year and here in their own words is how that came about …..

"Not so long ago, the Waipu Primary School PTA held various fundraising events throughout the year. Then it was decided, enough's enough! Let's stop mucking around raising lots of little bits, how about one BIG fundraiser?? So in 2009, the first annual Waipu Easter Carnival was held. The Carnival was a great success and has now become a major community event for Waipu as well as a fantastic fundraiser for the school.

Granddaughter Holly AKA Madam Butterfly

There are a huge range of fun things to participate in and the community and visitors enjoy the day immensly.
Among other things, proceeds from the past have helped fund the new adventure playground, the new sandpit area and surrounds, new computers for the computer room, plants and trees for the school property, sports equipment and ipads and other resources for all the classrooms.

 ALL proceeds go back to the School

 A Memorable Gala Day

During the 1990s I was a proud member of the Waipu Primary School PTA…(Parent Teachers Association) as my youngest daughter Heather was a pupil and I liked to idea of helping the parent Volunteers in this group in their fund raising efforts. I was already on the Waipu Caledonian Society Committee and therefore I could assist and liase in arranging the  annual programme owing to the fact that the Festival is traditionally held on the Caledonian Park.

One year our PTA group included a couple of local entrepreneurs who had a reputation for successful original ideas on fund raising and they formed the nucleus of the Festival programme. One evening we had a brain storming session and ideas came thick and fast and our programme was set with volunteers allocated the numerous activities.

A mini Ferris Wheel (similar)

 I was awarded the "Ferris Wheel" and on the day I dutifully arrived and helped erect what was actually a mini version of the usual fairground wheel.

It looked quite flimsy, but I was assured that it passed all the safety checks and was "ready to roll". Well "roll" it certainly did! Once I had seated the first lot of children and started the motor, the whole structure started a crazy wobble and began to rock from side to side. The entire 1st load of passengers started screaming and yelling and asked to be let off. Unfortunately when I applied the brake, nothing happened and the wheel did another couple of circuits before I could pull the power cord. Once all the children had been lifted out of their seats, the majority ran off looking for their parents. Needless to say the queue of future passengers had disappeared, possibly scared out of their wits in anticipation! … I wrote a large sign saying closed for repairs and set out to see if I could help elsewhere.

Steve (NO1 Entrepreneur) suggested I could either look after the "Horse Square" or the 'Horizontal Bungy". I was advised the horse event involved a horse penned in a large grassed square that had been marked out evenly in white paint squares … patrons paid a gold coin to guess what square the horse would poop into next! … Fascinating idea, but I felt I would be better suited to something less demanding, so I chose the "Horizontal Bungee"

Bungee Cord

This involved a marked lane with hay bales at one end and a length of thick bungee cord. This was tied around a child's waist and they would then run from the start line, down the lane and grab a can of coke that was placed on the middle hay bale. The cord was just long enough that they had to stretch out and grab the can before the cord pulled them back towards the start line. It never dawned on me that although it had been set-up according to instructions, nobody had actually tried it out to see if it worked!...My first daring daredevil was a young Maori boy, aged about 11 years who looked as if he should be the 1st competitor. I tied the bungee cord around his waist and said "GO!" The young lad took off and before I realised what had happened, he reached the can with ease and just plucked the coke off the bale and walked back to the start! .. THE CORD WAS TOO LONG!!

You get the drift?

Just then Steve arrived and explained that he hadn't yet checked the length of the cord and would move the bales to match the length of the bungee cord. By this stage my audience had grown along with a queue of eager coke fanciers. I replaced a new can of coke and tied the cord around the next willing waist and shouted 'GO!" .. The well built lad ran as fast as he could towards the hay bales when all of a sudden he reached the end of the cord and was instantly hurtling backwards towards me .. I jumped out of the road and he roared past me and crashed into the door of a car that was slowly driving past heading for the car park!... There was immediate silence all around as the boy lay where he had landed … the driver  leapt out of the car and surveyed the rear door that had suddenly gained a large dent in the middle … We both rushed to gather around the young fellow who was still wrapped in the bungee cord and hoped that no physical damage had been done … we obviously breed tough blokes in this region because after apologising to the car owner for the damaged door, he enquired if he thought he deserved a free can of coke! … 

I decided to call it quits at this stage and headed for a quiet cup of strong coffee! .. We never did hear from the car owner or their insurance company.

It Pays to try it out FIRST!

FOOTNOTE:

Today I met Steve and reminisced about our days with the Waipu PTA….We had a good laugh and he told me that one enterprising parent suggested we could have a "Mashed Potato Sculpture Event" … bet that would have been fun!