ALEC GARDINER

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• ALEC GARDINER!

BY TIMOTHY
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• Alec Gardiner was born in the Gisborne hospital
  in 1935.

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SCHOOL

• Alec started school at St. Brigids Catholic
  Primary School in Gisborne at the age six in 1941
  with his brother Peter and best mates Leo and
  Arthur.

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THE PRIEST!
The priest at the time was Father John Gibbons
(an Irish man).
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• From Monday to Friday Alec walked to and from
  school. School began at 900 am and concluded at
  330pm with a fifty minute lunch break at 1200
  noon.

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• Alec attended school in the small timber building
  with fourteen other students in different year
  levels.

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THE TEACHER!

• The teacher and Principal at the time was Miss
  Mary Slattery, a dedicated teacher who spent many
  years at St. Brigids Primary School.

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So what did you learn?

• Miss Slattery taught all the lesson herself. Alec
  remembers having to learn his tables off by
  heart, using a copy book for writing, spelling
  from the blackboard, learning to read from
  readers and basic music and science lessons. A
  school paper came out once a week.

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• Alec used to live not far from school in the old
  house that was recently knocked down that stood
  next to the Telegraph Office.

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• Alec had two brothers, Peter (18 months between),
  and Eddie (four years younger).
• He also had one sister Imelda (seven years
  younger).

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• Alecs parents did not attend St. Brigids Primary
  School. Alecs father, also named Alec went to
  the local state school, and his mother, Norah O
  Sullivan, attended a school in Melbourne.

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• Alecs parents met when Norah became a teacher at
  the state school and met Alec.

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WHAT NOW?

• Alec currently lives in Gisborne and works at
  Gardiner's Garage three times a week.
• He is now seventy-one years of age and came from
  a family which has had a long connection to St.
  Brigids Primary School.