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| Joachim Newsletter
Edition; 12 Date; March 2007 Dear Family Items in this Newsletter ; June 2007 Reunion Memories of My Childhood by Bronwyn Joachim Ferrier Memories of My Childhood Alexander Abraham Joachim married my mother, Maisie Jessie Byron in August 1949. Maisie came from Scottish stock - her mother came to Australia from Scotland as a baby - and was a Presbyterian. Alexander had married a Jewish girl before the war; he enlisted; and on his return the marriage floundered. By this time he was a lapsed Jew. When my parents married in 1949, both sets of their parents had passed away. Although there was no family opposition to the marriage, a marriage between a Jew and a gentile was a little unusual for the times. Maisie initially found family gatherings a little intimidating but, it was obvious that Alex was a loving husband, supportive and protective of her. Over time her quiet, generous and friendly demeanour charmed everyone. Also, there was the not inconsiderable fact that she was a superb cook. Together with the excellent Jewish cooks on Alex’s side of the family, dinners with both sides were certainly culinary successes and I remember many happy evenings and parties together. The quirky humour of Alex and his brother Raynor and Harold Cowen carried the day. When the children were born in 1950 and 1952 – Geoffrey, and the twins, Pamela and Bronwyn - Maisie and Alex decided not to baptise them and interestingly, none were given middle names. As young children, however, we attended the local Presbyterian Church and Sunday School. Maisie usually came to church once a month for communion. She most likely enjoyed the couple of hours at home with Alex on a Sunday morning whilst we were at church – and there was always a delicious roast lunch, sometimes with guests, awaiting us on our return home. The church, St Cuthbert’s, held no special childhood memories for us. It didn’t seem a particularly child-friendly parish. The services were very dry and uninspiring to a child. Growing up, we enjoyed sleepovers with our cousin Melissa Joachim and sometimes attended her synagogue or Sunday school and vice versa. The synagogue – Temple Beth Israel – was a place of fascination for us, seeing unusual customs and choirs. A highlight of our childhood was attending Carolyn Joachim’s wedding, we were wide-eyed at her little gold coronet headdress and the crushing of the wineglass in the napkin. Birthday parties at our cousins, Katrina and Jenny Cowen were legendary! I still remember one of them receiving a pogo stick for a birthday present – now that was a special present! Alex never really spoke at all about his religious upbringing, he just had a disinterest in it. On being pestered, he entertained us with a few stories of his youth – but it was a family joke that he was born grown up! The most naughty childhood prank we could inveigle from him was removing the ladder from the roof when Raynor was up there. It was a bit like asking him about his war experience – he didn’t want to ‘go there’ to use today’s parlance. Certainly, he never wanted to sleep under canvas again – so no camping holidays for the family! Our childhood was therefore shaped in an ecumenical fashion with Church of England and Presbyterian friends and relatives and the Joachim families. I think Maisie and Alex thought we could make up our own minds about confirmation in one religion or another when we got older. As a little girl I would say ‘I am half Jewish and half Christian’ but I were gently chided that to be truly Jewish you had to come from a Jewish womb, a concept I didn’t understand at a young age. Geoffrey went to Haileybury, a Presbyterian school with the twins going to Firbank Church of England Grammar School. In our late teens, we took ourselves off to St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Brighton. It was a vibrant, friendly parish with young people playing an active role in the service. Social activities like the tennis club were a great avenue for young people to get together. The three of us were confirmed at St. Andrew’s in our mid teens. Around that time, Alex came home one evening with an amazing pronouncement: he had that day changed his name by Deed Poll! What to, we wondered? All his life he had disliked his middle name Abraham! So finally, at the age of 60 odd, he changed his name to just Alexander Joachim. Well, that’s a few of my memories of the small matter of religion in our family. I think our parents instilled an ethic of religious tolerance in us, and led by example. I never heard them to speak unkindly of any person, race or creed. They had faith that, by example, we would make the right choices and be good citizens as we grew up. I couldn’t ask for a better upbringing and start in life. Bronwyn Joachim Ferrier Joachim June Afternoon Tea Reunion Jenny and Katrina invite all the Joachim Family to afternoon tea on Sunday 3rd.June at 2.30 pm. As last year, it will be at our home. Just let us know if you are coming so that we can put out enough cups and saucers and yes, please bring a plate of food. Any Joachim is invited whether you still have the Joachim name or if it was your Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather etc who was born a Joachim. Joachim Website Don’t forget the wonderful Joachim website at; www.oocities.org/lzbthjoachim/ What about some feedback? Have you signed the “Guest book”?. Please pass this newsletter onto any family member I may not have emailed and if they are willing, please pass on their email address to me so that they can receive all newsletters. Lastly, please Family, write an article for the newsletter. Katrina |