‘Good old Eastbourne’ – an Okiwi life story

Long-time Eastbourne resident Ken Longmore turned 103 earlier this month (May). Now living in Enliven’s Woburn Rest Home, he continued in his own home of 46 years till nearly 100.

Like many older Eastbourne residents, Ken has some vivid and painful wartime memories. Recalling his long years as a prisoner of war in Germany, Ken draws a wry comparison with his current living arrangements.

“I get fed here and do my best to fit in with the rules. I have moved into my unprofitable years but I have enough brains to realise I am lucky to have got to where I am now. I am living in a very safe place, especially when the whole world is in upheaval. I am also lucky to have my health back, bit by little bit, after my stroke.”

With so many of his friends and family now dead, including his wife Bev, who died seven years ago, Ken says he has “just hung on in there”. His daughter Mary and three grandchildren are the centre of his world.

Still a good looking and imposing figure, with a ready wit, Ken recalls growing up in Brougham Street, Wellington. His mother was a great pianist, who would go to Australia on occasions to accompany singers. His father worked in real estate and bought a little holiday cottage on Marine Parade, Eastbourne. Ken did his schooling at Wellesley and Scots colleges.

Being a member of the territorials, Ken was called up the moment war was declared and sent in the first echelon to Egypt. Before being captured in North Africa, he took part in a battle in Greece which saw him and his companions climbing over a mountain range to escape the Nazis, then later commandeering a fishing boat to take them to the island of Santorini where they were sheltered by locals. On another occasion, he remembers stepping behind some bushes to take a leak and returning to find his 40-member battalion had all been captured. He hooked up with a group of Aussie soldiers for a while, becoming their officer.

After his capture, Ken was eventually transported to Oflag VA camp in Weinsberg, Germany, the same camp where New Zealand wartime hero Charles Upham was imprisoned. Ken witnessed Charles’ attempt to escape, seeing him caught on the barbed wire fence, nonchalantly lighting a cigarette as he waited to be either shot or saved. Ken remembers Upham as a ruthless man well suited to a wartime environment.

Ken’s father died before the war ended. In the 1950s, the family moved into the Eastbourne cottage permanently. Ken remembers having to help move truckloads of sand from the front of the property – sand that had built up over the years. “My brother was not much use about the house – all he did was sleep in it, spending most of his time wooing his girlfriend.”

Ken has only positive memories about living in Eastbourne. “They’re a wonderful bunch. I loved tramping the hills, being on the beach and looking out at Cook Strait.” Returning from the war, he continued working for the Union Steamship Company, but his real love was sport, particularly tennis. He met his future wife Bev at the Muritai Tennis Club, his courtship beginning after they won the mixed doubles. Both played tennis until they were in their 80s. Ken was club champion in the 1950s and continues to be its patron.

He describes the Okiwi Trust as “a very worthwhile organisation”, having enjoyed movie outings, DVD screenings and lunch at the women’s club over many years.

At the end of this interview, Okiwi Trust co-ordinator Pippa de Court and I brought him to Eastbourne for the St Alban’s monthly lunch for older residents. “Good old Eastbourne,” he smiled with some sense of relief as we drove back into the bays.

By Anne Manchester. Photo Pippa de Court

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Maria (Marion) Euphemia Bamford (nee Kolston)

6 March 1953 – 19 March 2021

Marion Bamford, loving mum of Will and Tim passed away in March aged 68 after a beautiful, energetic and fulfilling life.

Marion was born in Upper Hutt to her Dutch parents in 1953, with siblings Frank, Trisha, and Paul following over the coming years. The family spent the next decade there before moving to Linden.

Marion started riding horses aged 10, owning two ponies Gypsy and Blue. The ponies grazed in a paddock straddling the Kenepuru stream, which she cycled half an hour each way daily to feed them. She slowly fell away from horses as she progressed through school, instead choosing to focus on her studies and tramping and climbing. Marion was dux at Tawa College, attending Victoria University after leaving college. She studied Economics and was an active member of the tramping club. After graduating, she moved to Franz Joseph where she worked as Chief Post Mistress.

She then moved north to Tongariro National Park. While there, she trained as a teacher through Massey in Palmerston North. Her first job was at Taumaranui College before she moved back to Wellington to work at St Mary’s in the mid-1980s.

Two years after giving birth to twin boys, she moved to Eastbourne in 1989.That year, she started back teaching at Te Kura (Correspondence School), where she worked