From Brian and Marie Holmes with Rachelle, Matthew, Greg and Claire and families - Justine, Ella and Oliver, Andrea, Lena and Mitchell.

Hi Everyone

This is part of the story of our experiences with Gerry.

Gerry and Ealey came to Australia in 1972 not long after their marriage. They planned to stay for a couple of years and first went to Theodore in Queensland and settled into the family home with Mum and Dad as they hadn't seen Ealey for nearly 3 years. 

Ealey and Gerry had both settled into jobs - Ealey with the local school and Gerry with the Irrigation Commission where my father worked.

Christmas was the hot part of the year so we did outside activities like walking, swimming and exploring. There are a few photos of these activities one of great interest being some caves with stencils done by Aborigines many years ago.

After Christmas we travelled further north to Marie's people who lived in Mackay, 630 km further north and then returned home to Sydney.

We next saw Ealey and Gerry later in 1973 when they came to Sydney and rented a place in Croyden. It was an inner west Sydney Suburb near the railway as they travelled to most places by train. They secured jobs at a paint factory nearby and worked there for 3 months until the middle of 1974 when they planned to return to Britain.  They enjoyed the jobs, as they were short-term, interesting and they worked with a sociable and diverse group of people. 

We saw them regularly as we could drive in after work, have dinner and then drive home. They would come to our place on weekends as rail access was good. Other times we would go to beaches or places of interest as Sydney has so much in that respect.

Mum and Dad came down for Christmas 1973 and that was very pleasant.

Ealey and Gerry kept busy with their jobs until May 1974 when they returned to Britain. They set up in Dundee Scotland as Gerry was resuming his University studies. Jane was born later that year on 31 December.

They made return visits to Australia and we saw them on our visits to UK.

Gerry was occasionally a quiet but always a reflective and  observant person then and was always keen to argue the case on matters he believed in at which he excelled and was always very good company.  We  enjoyed our visits with them. Please refer to the enclosed photos.

Brian and Marie