My Account
When Dorothy Goudie opened her dress shop in a converted garage in Neville Street, where Countdown now stands, petticoats, garter belts and stockings were a standard part of any well-dressed woman’s apparel and few women wore slacks. Three decades later, Dorothy’s has become a Warkworth institution attracting loyal customers from all over the North Island. Her business has weathered several economic downturns and she has been involved in numerous local campaigns to reinvigorate the town. Dorothy still works part-time in the shop with no thought of retirement. She says she enjoys the interaction with customers and believes a good customer relationship is based on making people feel at home when they walk through the door. Life is good for Dorothy these days, but as she explains to editor Jannette Thompson, it wasn’t always that way …
I was born in Papakura, the youngest of seven children. Dad was a diary farmer, but we also had an orchard in Weymouth Road, Manurewa. It was a rural area in those days – going back there now, I can’t even find where we lived. My father was wounded in World War I and had lingering health issues afterwards. He died of cancer when I was quite young so I don’t really have any memory of him. I lost my mother when I was only three, of what you would have to say was medical misadventure. She went in for a curette, haemorrhaged and died. As a result, a brother and sister and I – the three youngest in the family – were put into an Anglican orphanage. It was like something out of medieval England. It was strict and regimented, and there was no such thing as not doing as you were told. Disobedience earned you a severe whack or a punishment duty, and often both. From the age of five I became extremely good at cleaning windows! No communication was allowed between brothers and sisters, or older and younger sisters. I spent nine to 10 years in the orphanage before going to live with my eldest sister in Putaruru, who has always been more like a mother to me. I guess I have the orphanage to thank for some things though. It taught me the value of sharing, of supporting one another and it certainly made us independent and capable of looking after ourselves.
When I left school, I went to work for a public accountancy office in Whakatane. I found bookkeeping a lot of fun and the numbers just seemed to play out a picture for me. I met my husband Peter, a mechanic, at one of the regular table tennis evenings. By the time we were engaged, we had started building our own home with the help of family and friends who were doing the same thing. We bought a section for £260 and built a three-bedroomed house for £3000. In 1964, Peter got the opportunity to buy the Bently & Hood trucking business, in Warkworth, and went into partnership with Don Munro. The business was a seven-day-a-week operation, carrying cream from the farm gate to the Warkworth Dairy Company, as well as carting livestock, general goods and manure. We had four trucks initially, but this expanded to a fleet of 26. We lived at Kaipara Flats which was a busy little township in those days with its own store, butcher shop and library, and a manually-operated telephone exchange. As my children grew older, I joined the Warkworth Playcentre and trained as a supervisor, worked on the school PTA and also volunteered as a teacher aide.
I got back into the workforce when a job came up with the Warkworth Town Council, based in the old Town Hall. Harry Bioletti was the chairman and our office was where the women’s resource centre was located, opposite the movie theatre booking office. My most vivid memory of those days was the annual calculation of rates, which was all done by hand and each rate demand was typed up individually. It was quite a mission. We also used to register “aliens” – anyone born overseas who moved to the area. Most of what we did was fairly routine, but I do remember us getting a letter from Internal Affairs in Wellington asking us to turn in our guns. According to their records, Warkworth had been issued with rifles and hard hats during the war for the purpose of defending the bridge. The letter informed us that Wellington wanted them returned. Of course, no-one had an inkling where any of this equipment was so we just responded telling them that they were welcome to come and search the town. Needless to say, we never heard anymore about it.
When Rodney County took over from the Town Council, I went to work for Roke Smith, the hardware store, in Matakana. Then a friend suggested I go into business for myself. I’d always been interested in fashion and had done a dress-making diploma. Patsy’s Lingerie and Leisure, in Neville Street, was on the market so I thought ‘why not give it a go’. I started off with $3000 worth of stock, mainly dresses, skirts and blouses, which is what women wore. The lingerie section included garter belts, stockings and petticoats. Dress lengths were below the knee with high necklines, and very tailored and no stretch materials. The average size was 12 to 14, whereas today it is 14 to 16. For the grand opening, we tied the shop up like a chocolate box with a big bow on top. I was there for five years before I moved to the present location. By that time, the business had grown but I was still nervous about taking on the much larger premises. In the end, the landlord gave me a six-month rent holiday, which sealed the deal.
Warkworth’s economy has always benefited from the diversity of industry in the area. In the 1980s, when I chairman of the business association, there was a tremendous downturn and I think at one stage, there were seven to nine empty shops. Several big employers in Warkworth had closed or relocated including the telephone exchange, the dairy factory, the cheese factory and the Waitemata Power Board. It was a huge blow to Warkworth and left us asking what we could do to attract people to the town. Investment started to trickle in over the next few years when Rona Glover developed the River View Plaza and Bob Deans built the Riverside Arcade, but by the start of the 1990s we could see the town really needed a boost. This was when we got involved with the Mainstreet project. We held a public meeting and more than 100 people turned up, which was absolutely staggering. When we asked the question ‘What is Warkworth’s greatest asset’, the overwhelming response was ‘the river’. Newer residents to Warkworth would probably find it hard to imagine what the river was like then, but it was basically the town dump. Five committees were formed to tackle the key issues – pollution of the river, loss of industry and jobs, the need for a tourism strategy, the need for a town square and the need for the business association to undertake a separate rating system. The issue of rates was a sore point because Council had the power to extract rates from the business community without any obligation to spend it where it was taken from. It was during this time that we discovered Council had been given $300,000 to underground the power in Warkworth so one of our committee, Peter Kammler, made a point of making sure it was spent doing the job. It made a huge difference to the appearance of the town. We also held a very successful river cleanup and the old bridge was given a coat of paint. Years later I got a phone call from Council asking if there was any paint leftover because they wanted to give it a touch up! I loved being involved in the Mainstreet. It was a very positive project, with lots of ideas and creativity, and I think it improved the way I thought about running my own business.
When my children, Jane and Paul, went to high school, I decided that perhaps it was time to do something just for myself. I took up flying. Despite some early fears, I got my wings and had some great times with the Rodney Aero Club, flying its Cessna 172. I joined the NZ Air Women Association and on one very memorable occasion, we were invited to lunch with Jean Batten. It was quite a thrill to hear her talk about her aviation exploits. Although I loved flying, I think it was the challenge of actually learning to fly that was the exciting part.
