Our visit to Willow Bank, the home of Christine Grieder and Kim Kerslake, seems to have become our preferred Christmas venue and those who have been there will know why. Christine loves old things, from china to any kind of bric-a-brac. She even collects old buildings.
We meet in what was once a small church situated in Collingwood St Nelson, the building of which was funded in part by Nelson’s well-known benefactor Thomas Cawthron. Around this is grouped a number of outbuildings each with a particular function. There is a home-stay cottage, a small store and Christine’s latest acquisition, the ” smoko” room from the old Brookside Mill which now houses her collection of antique china.
A small group of members enjoyed a great Christmas lunch and afterwards joined in a history quiz followed by the traditional “pass the Christmas present” game – 3 chances to get the present you want by swapping it with anyone else in the group.
The committee will meet in January to plan the activities for the first half of next year. Our first official meeting of 2014 will be the 4th Tuesday in February.
[…] backdrop to the visit of over 70 historical society members from the whole of the Nelson region to Willow Bank, the home and historic village of Christine Greider and Kim Kerslake just south of Wakefield on […]