Castor Oil & Milk: Memories of Health Camps
Castor oil & milk makes a catchy but fitting title to Pauline Terrey’s newly published memories of New Zealand health camps.
Inspired by her father Gordon Funnell’s experience of being a health camp child in 1934,
Pauline set out to collect other peoples’ memories.
The idea for the schools was first mooted by Dr. Elizabeth Gunn who worked
in the new medical service to schools in 1912. She was struck by the
number of undernourished children she saw and believed that a good 6 weeks
of regimented fresh air, sunshine and healthy food with regular exercise
would provide a more complete cure than merely addressing medical
conditions.
The author did strike people with unhappy memories but has chosen in this
volume to tell the happy stories where people like her father remembered
the wonderful food (fresh baked brown bread and delicious fresh tomatoes),
the seaside and the (often not experienced) idea of having a holiday.
7 September 2007
