Voice of Byron and KWIMABB regular,Robyn Bannah, shared her Christmas recollections from life in the Bay, back in the day…
Robyn says, “Thinking of some of the things from the old days and it has just hit me…..Santa was always very very drunk!
“I think it used to be Christmas eve when Bill Morrison used to come and pick my Dad and me and my sister up and we would do a slow drive up to the Pier Astor (think it may have been in a pretty schmicko FJ).
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“Santa always seemed to be staggering down the street waving and yahooing.
“We waved back of course. Dad and Bill would go in for a beer and we would have a pink lemonade brought out to us in the car… very very special.
“If we hadn’t seen Santa on our way to the Pier, he would usually come falling out of there all hohohoing and a very merry fellow indeed.
“Why has it taken me 66 years to realise that Santa was indeed a pisspot?
“Another memory is of Tan Brownell coming every year to take Dad out to Lennox Head heath road to collect what we called Christmas bells that grew out along the heath I have no idea what these flowers are actually called but they always filled our house at Christmas time.
“I suppose this land is all houses these days. We used to wait excitedly for the Masonic Christmas party and Santa (thinking back) was pissed again.
“The hokey pokey was always a highlight and bucket ice cream with wooden stick spoons.
“The Sunday School Christmas party was a scary event… carted out to Suffolk Park in the back of an old milk truck… no houses in those days… and we were warned to watch out for death adders as we jumped from the truck. “Suffolk Park is full of death adders” old Canon Alexander used to tell us.
“I reckon he may have been trying to instill the fear of God into us so we didn’t wander too far.
“I wonder if kids of today will have such wonderful memories. Many many more, but have raved for too long.”
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