Grandad Warcup arrived in New Zealand in 1864 and worked the kauri gum fields.
Grandad Warcup took his savings from the gum fields to Wellington and went into partnership with RH Hannah: Warcup & Hannah. The Hannah’s brand is a household name today. The sign on the waterfront shop (behind today’s railway station) reads: “Warcup, Pro Boot Maker”.
In 1917 Matthew Hutchinson bought an 820 acre farm at Papatawa, and with his large family crossed the Manawatu River. His son, Ian, spent almost his entire life there, very happily.
Russ Banks surrounded by the bomber crew he led into battle in 1945. “We were splattered by flak and holed several times. I flew back on three engines three times. There were no hits to self or crew.”
The Hutchinsons were at the leading edge of the aerial top-dressing revolution: “It must have increased productivity 100 percent.”
Stan Frost milked cows, shovelled coal and was strafed while driving his train in the fight against Rommel. He came home to lay bricks. But in the end he could look back on a life in Lower Hutt local politics, the chamber of commerce, the Lions and helping arthritis sufferers. It made him smile to shake hands with “ambassadors, MPs and big shots”. Seen here in 1965 with his wife Norma and Prime Minister Keith Holyoake, talking to Lady Fergusson.
