Marjorie was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England in 1924, the fourth of five children born to Arnold Hudson Crossley and Hannah Milne. She had a pretty tough upbringing. Their father was very old fashioned and wouldn’t allow anything electrical like washing machines or radios in their two bed roomed house. He died suddenly with Meningitis when she was just six years of age. However, as a moulder, he had spent the last eighteen months of his life on strike. Hence there hadn’t been much money around to spend on food, let alone luxuries.
As you can imagine, with so many children living in such a small house there wouldn’t have been much quiet time for the parents - this probably being the reason that the children were sent to church three times every Sunday. Marge, who to her mother’s horror was nicknamed Maggie by her Uncle, obviously wasn’t against a religious upbringing, as she herself went on to become a Sunday school teacher.
When she was ten years of age, her eldest sister was stricken with Diphtheria. Therefore, the rest of them were unable to attend school. Gradually the virus passed down through all the siblings so they were all hospitalized at different times. However, her young brother, Bill and she were in hospital at the same time. During this time, they could only see their mother through a viewing window. However, their vicar, Arthur T. Pitt, from St. James Church, Wardleworth, was allowed to see them and gave them a few sweets on each visit to cheer them up.
At fourteen, Marge had to leave school and get some much needed money for the family. She had to walk to and from work and spend a twelve hour day on the weaving looms. Not that she could go home and rest. World War two had broken out and evenings were spent in the air raid shelters. Every penny she brought home was passed to her mother.Eventually, the war came to an end but the grieving continued. Uncles, neighbours and many family friends never returned. Out of her street alone, Marge knew five brothers that went down on two separate ships.
Times move on and young people of every generation like to enjoy themselves. Marge loved dancing to the sounds of the big bands and just as the Trocadero in Sydney was the place to go dancing. The Carlton was the place to go in Rochdale. One famous dancing partner being, Cyril Smith . "Mind you", Marge always said, "he wasn't at all fat back then, and he was quite good on his feet". It was at the Carlton where she met her husband to be, Arnold Shepherd . She often told the story of their first meeting when she, a polished dancer was highly offended by this two left footed man, telling her that she had better watch where she put her feet. Money was still pretty tight then, her elder sisters had married and left home, so most of her wage still went to the upkeep of the house. Arnold had nothing, so in order to marry; he had to borrow a suit and money from his brother before they could buy a ring. It is hard for any of us to imagine it now, but when she married she weighed just six stone and had a twenty one inch waist.
Shortly after marrying, the happy couple obtained a government subsidized job working on a farm near Oxford owned by the Duke of Marlborough. The grounds also hold Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill. Their cottage was far from a palace. There was not even any running water within the house. Nevertheless, they enjoyed the lifestyle there, Dad milked the cows, Mum plucked the chickens etc. What did get them down was the class system which was so evident there. Eventually they decided to move back up north to Rochdale and it was there that Bill was born in 1951.
Rochdale’s skyline back then was full of tall chimneys, all belching smoke from the many cotton and woolen mills. One of which Marge worked at, doing a permanent evening shift after Bill and Arnold came home from school and work respectively. Thick smog often covered the whole town. In addition, as we all know, the weather in the North of England isn’t real flash. These conditions certainly were not assisting Marge’s health and Arnold was genuinely worried about her longevity. As a result, he followed his brother, Frank’s lead and migrated the family to Sydney. They travelled for six weeks upon the Fairsea and arrived on New Years Day in 1965.
Arnold gained employment with The Department Of Main Roads immediately and worked seven days a week in order to scrape together a deposit on a house. Although, moving to a new country was a bit of a strain and with her husband out every day of the week, Marge obviously had periods of home sickness. Only now do we realize how she must have missed her mother. Neither of them owned a telephone then, so contact was strictly by snail mail.
However, when they eventually moved into Myrtle Street things settled down and this was probably the best period of her life. Although not one of the earliest people in the street they were immediately welcomed. Life long friendships were soon developed with the Rosewalls, the Allisons, the Roberts, the Pollards and others. The Allison’s were particularly close and it wasn’t long before Marge and Arnold were also being invited to their family outings, weddings etc. Later, the Lane’s and the Corbett’s built across the road and a great bond was built with them too, especially with John who used to spend many hours both working and talking within the Shepherd household.
When Bill started school at Jannali, he soon made new life long friends. Greg, Phil, Rob and Ian all got to know Marge and Arnold over the years and when Ian and Bill traveled to Europe in 1975 they also became friendly with the Hills. Although Marge’s recent contact with all of these people has been almost non-existent. She always reminisced about the good times she shared with them all and each and every one of them and their families was frequently asked about.
Mum loved her garden. We have cuttings form nearly every one in the street. She loved feeding meat to the Kookaburras and she used to hand feed the Magpies that frequented the place. She even had names for them. In her later years one of her few pleasures apart from having a coffee at Southgate with Mary, was to sit in her rocking chair and watch the Lorikeets, Rosellas and Wattle Birds that devoured the flowers on her Grevillea. (p> As the years went by she graduated from the big band sound. She loved to dance to the Beatles, she liked to twist and in later years,she used to love doing the Chicken dance (whatever that was). She loved all sorts of music and loved to see the various artists that frequented the Sutherland United Serviceman’s club, the place where lots of the neighbours gathered. Another great interest of hers was British Royalty. Not that she admired them all by any means. I’m not sure if she shared this interest with anybody else but she could go back for centuries and tell you who had married who and who and when they had gone to war and with whom. Her favourite was Henry V111. It was therefore a great disappointment to her that when she and Arnold returned to England for a holiday around 1987 that when she got to Hampden Court she had been unable to walk to it from where the bus parked. However, to compensate that frustration, she was able to view his warship, the Mary Rose, in Portsmouth.
In 1988, Bill married Mary. This brought her great joy especially when that union resulted in the birth of Jade and Dylan. Since their birth they have been her major interest in life. She was thrilled when Jade took up ballet and delighted in going to the end of year concerts. She was very happy that both the children also did drama and until this month when she hadn’t felt well enough, she always struggled along to the theatre to watch them perform. She was also elated that both of them took up the piano – an instrument that she loved and started playing herself in recent years. She was proud of Dylan doing so well in Taekwondo and more recently was very happy to discuss his latest love, Rugby Union, with him.
To the family, Nanna, as the children called her, was very generous, loving and always had an ear for our problems and words of advice. To us, she was simply the best!
When going through her possessions, we came across her confirmation book. The bookmark was at the page of a well known hymn; one that she personally chose to play at Arnold’s funeral. Therefore, Marge was farewelled with that same hymn - Rock of Ages.
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