Andreassend Family: Alf Andreassend

The first of several birthdays in October,
Alfred Daniel Andreassend was born 1 October 1905 and married
Ivy Georgina Long in 19..
The third son of Albert Marelius Andreassen and Hannah Bertha (Clark).
They have two sons Noel in Christchurch and Gordon in Hong Kong.
The earliest surviving photo of Alf is at the age of 14-15, hopefully
in the near future some more will be unearthed in
long forgotten albums somewhere.

Who better to tell his story than his sons?
`Alf had a minimal education - maybe to age 12 or 13.
First work, I think was as a gardener, and later as a farm labourer, a
coal miner, and as a labourer in the construction industry.
Times were extremely tough ! The Great Depression hit NZ very har
, and Alf had to find work wherever he could. He joined the Territorial
Army on a part-time basis, perhaps to gain experience, and maybe
there was some slight monetary payment. He became a crack shot
as a result of this army training. Must have seemed quite natural for
him to enlist soon after war broke out.
He was smoker, he enjoyed a glass of ale, and he was a very good
billiard player,. Quite musical - played several instruments by ear -
harmonica, accordion, piano - and a few others.

The war took him out of circulation for 6 years or so and his injuries
resulted in him having to undergo a total of about 120 operations in
Italy, Germany, the UK an in NZ, at Burwood and Middlemore
Hospitals.

Post war, he underwent training at St Dunstans in Auckland where
he learnt several new skills to add to the needlework creations he
had picked up while a POW, and in England.
He was very good with his hands, and could fix almost anything.
His big regret after the war was that his skill as a billiard player
was affected due to only having one eye !
Never had a driving license, but could handle a bike very well.
I remember riding on the bar of his bike on many occasions pre-war.

He was tough, and I'm sure he would have lived to a good old age
had he not been killed in a car crash at the relatively young age of 59.`
Gordon Andreassend 1 October 2009

`Alf did territoral training 1937/8 had to find work as where or else no
money (Govt unemployment payout 19/6pence per week
rent 12 shillings WK try living on that) not sure about a lot of things
in that era about adult requirements, I think that he was interested
in the town boxing .There was gynasium down near the railway station.
Other activties seemed to collecting scrap metals etc tuff times
for many and Alf had been over to the west coast on some gold mining
efforts but never heard much about that .Post war things were involved
in rehabilitation care for him and Gordon would have better impressions
about that Auckland era and where he worked between hospital
requirements.` Noel Andreassend 2009