Page 9 - pākuViews Summer 2013
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Charles and Mary Beach
purchased the building from the
Kauri Timber Company in 1923.
Daughter Eva, Charles, and Mary
stand at the store in 1932 after
renovations.
“The store was a grocery shop
and post office originally”, shares
Mary’s daughter Eva Beach
Darrah. “I remember the phone
box inside the store – the only one
in Tairua for locals to use. Children
weren’t allowed into it, but we
would have a sneaky look. ”
“Orders for goods came by boat.
Flour, and sugar came in 70 lb
bags”, says Eva, “with smaller
amounts weighed on the scales”.
(She still has the pictured scales).
“Biscuits were sold loose. Cheese
came in rounds and were cut with
a wire”. Later, Mary added clothes
to the store’s range of goods.
After the death of Charles, Mary
had help running the story from
daughter Eva, Mrs. Martin Heath
and George Petley. However
“honour” played a part. “When
the store was unattended, locals
recorded their purchases in a
ledger book”, Eva explains. “The
23rd of each month was pension
day, a busy day for settling
outstanding accounts”.
Mary Beach walked to her shop
from the Beach homestead on
the hill into Tairua (now owned by
Rick Turner) most everyday for
50 years. “I remember walking
with her when I was 14 during
the Christmas holidays”, recalls
Eva’s daughter Jan Collier. “I was
allowed to help my grandmother
in her shop and camping ground,
which she started in 1949. I still
have the visitors books from
that year”. The grounds included
cabins, tent sites, the shop, and
abolution block and house where
Tairua Residential Care sits now”.
Mary sold the entire property in
1973. The store building was later
moved to its current location at the
base of Paku (see photo).
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7
Simply name the building, other
known details and approximate
date the photo was taken.
Correct entries will go in the draw for the prize.
Submissions need to be received by 15 March, 2013.
Send to:
or PO Box 144, Tairua.
PakuViews contest winner
Beryl Kenyon
accepts the $50 voucher from Erin Adams
(right), owner of Tairua 4 Square. Beryl
submitted the only correct answer.
She and husband Barry, godwits that have been
“migrating” to Tairua each Summer for the last
20 years, are originally from the UK, but have
lived in the Principality of Andorra for 30 years
–a small European country in the eastern
Pyrenees, bordered by Spain and France.
Beryl did her research. She wrote, “The photo is
the old Tairua Store before renovations. After the
Mill closed, Putham, Meyenburgh and Charlie
Beach kept it open to serve the village. The
restoration was carried out by Tommy Webb
and Bill Lopes re-using most of the original
wood in the 1920s”.
LAST ISSUE’S
WINNER
The Beach’s Store
Beach’s Store building still stands and is listed as the oldest
building in Tairua on the historic walk tour. The shop was
moved to base of Paku in the 1980s, where it housed Sailors
Restaurant. Another restaurant followed, then it became the
popular Cypress Tree, which closed last year. The building is
up for sale and must be moved to make room for the marina.
What a great museum it would make — any takers?
COMPETITIONS
