Pipiwharauroa

pulling it out and denailing it before reusing for the next pour for the new factory and office buildings. All the time I was there I was on time every day. It was monotonous and I guessed all the fun jobs went to the apprentices. We worked long hours but I did not mind as the overtime certainly boosted my pay packet. Only after the pour was finished did Dave tell me to catch up with the boss Peter who then offered me a five year apprenticeship on the spot conditional to my parents being prepared to sign the forms.

I saw Dave in town a while back and took the opportunity to take a photo with him. It was great to see him after so many years and certainly bought back memories, especially graduating from doing all the grunt work to working on houses, buildings and roofs.

As part of the apprenticeship I had to attend two week annual block courses in Trentham. I travelled by railcar with the apprenticeship committee and Story and Lomas paying a shared cost of the fees. My first project was to put up a shed with a partner so I paired up with a Pākehā chap from the South Island who helped me quite a bit. He did the measuring and I the cutting, the saying to measure twice and cut once really mattered as there was only just enough material for the job. We stuck together and shared a dorm. On site were the Māori Trade Trainees with whom we shared the canteen, some of them were from Gisborne.