Mrs Calthorpe chose the furniture for this house carefully from the Beard Watson store in Sydney. She used a store discount to buy good quality lamps and lampshades, carpets and linoleum, furniture for the sitting room, dining room and hall, linen, glassware and china. Two staff even travelled with the order from Sydney to fit out the house.  Her only regret is the dining room table – she is convinced it was not the one she ordered…..but Sydney is a long way away to exchange things.

This is a room for all seasons, where the family gathers for the evening meal and guests come to dine. The girls do their homework here.

A focus of the room is the wireless, much loved for the broadcasts of radio plays. No one dares to talk while Pop listens to the daily news. The family even heard about the end of the Second World War on this radio.

Christmas is the family’s favourite time of year – and the time this room looks best. Although not church-goers, the family holds fast to Christian values, respecting the spirit of the Season. Ten days before Christmas the little  folding Christmas tree comes out from the hall cupboard and is decorated with tiny velvet Santa Clauses, glass baubles and old matchboxes wrapped to look like presents. Little twisted candles are fitted into tin holders on every branch and cotton wool is teased out to look like snow.

The dining room becomes a jumble of cards, streamers, paper bells and balls. Bottles of beer are wrapped and placed under the tree, ready to give to the delivery men, the tradesmen and the postman.

Produce and plants fresh form the garden are part of the family’s Christmas traditions – with fresh potatoes for Mother’s roast goose or duck stuffed with apples, nuts and prunes. There’s even fresh holly for a sprig on the plum pudding. Harry’s special treat to his wife is to pick the first peach of the season – a tradition the family loves, even if its not quite ripe!

Have you ever been naughty? I have. The thing is, nothing is fair. When my parents found out that my sister Del had dropped a book on Pop’s favourite pewter mug and dented it and then hid it in case she got into trouble, everyone just laughed.

But one hot summer afternoon, when my friends called round and asked me to go with them to Manuka Pool for a swim, my mother wouldn’t let me because I hadn’t done my chores. As I dusted, I cried. I cried so much I wasn’t concentrating and knocked a candlestick off the mantelpiece. A candle rolled onto the floor. I picked it up and was feeling so angry that I wrote some words on the wall. They said ‘I hate Mum’. I didn’t really mean it but I was very cross and it made me feel better. I did have a swim later that day after all. In the autumn when the first log fire of the year was lit, we were all sitting around the fire ready to listen to our favourite wireless play on the radio, when my mother glanced up and saw the words I had written on the wall. The fire had made the candle wax melt so the words were shiny. My mother was furious and called me destructive and a disgrace who didn’t deserve to live in such a lovely home. Pop said I was wicked because hate is a word we are not allowed to use. I was sent to bed. The next day, Mother removed those words with a hot iron and brown paper, but I have never forgotten my bad deed.

Some other words I am not allowed to say are ‘lollies’ for ‘sweets’, ‘belch’ for ‘burp’, ‘stink’ for ‘smell’, ‘blub’ for ‘cry’ or ‘what’ instead of ‘I beg your pardon’ – and we certainly can’t swear.